Frances Lee
August 2020
Frances
Lee
,
RN
Oncology Nurse Navigator
USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute

 

 

 

She has a way of showing compassion with her gentle approach and her genuine concern for others. She knows just what to say because she knows the patients personally. To Frankie, patients are not a disease they are people.
Mitchell Cancer Institute is lucky to have Frances (Frankie) Lee as a part of our team. There are many positive attributes she displays on a daily basis. Frankie has a way to motivate staff with her positive energy and respect she gives to everyone. She's responsive to the needs of others and is always willing to help. She is dedicated to supporting the needs of patients and follows through to see that their needs are met. She has a way of showing compassion with her gentle approach and her genuine concern for others. She provides stability with our organization through her dedication and commitment to the patients and staff. Frankie is the first to step in when a need is identified. For example, during the challenges associated with coronavirus (COVID 19), Mitchell Cancer Institute was not immune to one of our own testing positive for this virus. Being the team player and leader she is, Frankie stepped in and took over the caseload of the infected coworker, making sure that the needs of the coworker's patients were being met, while also attending to the needs of the patients assigned to her caseload. Frankie goes out of her way to help others. Thank you Frankie for being the extraordinary, exceptional nurse you are!
***
Who says we slow down when It is close to retirement? Frankie would disagree. She has been an RN for forever (a long time). I have gotten to know her about 7 years ago when I joined the staff of MCI as a seasoned RN but having never worked in outpatient oncology. Frankie did my orientation to oncology and was my mentor. She taught me how to do all the technical and procedural processes, but I was most impressed with the compassionate, individualized care she provided in a busy oncologist's practice to patients and family. She provided personal, individual care, and instruction to them. Frankie really knew the patients, remembered their challenges from appointment to appointment. You could see in her patient's eyes how grateful they were to receive such personal care. She provided an excellent example and standard for me to live up to as I moved to my position in the medical oncology clinic.
A few years later, I transferred to Nurse Navigation. Frankie and I rarely worked together after my transfer, but she was still with me in spirit as I carried the hallmark of personal care to my new job. Frankie made me a better oncology nurse.
Eventually, Frankie came to join the Nurse Navigation team too. In navigation, she continues to use her clinical skills, demonstrates a commitment to improving our patients' experience with cancer care, offered extraordinary service through face-to-face and telephone calls to smooth the path for new and veteran cancer patients, and is a reliable team member.
Today, I am still impressed with her personal approach to caring for patients in the setting of Nurse Navigation. An example is her ability to listen to the patients' fear and worry. I have seen Frankie pick up patients' spirits, encourage patients through passing on knowledge and provide reassurance that treatment side effects and "feelings" are normal. She knows just what to say because she knows the patients personally. To Frankie, patients are not a disease they are people.
For these reasons, I am most fortunate to have learned outpatient oncology from Frankie so that I could carry her hallmark of personal care to my own patients.