When older adults are diagnosed with cancer, they face unique needs and challenges. That’s where Leana comes in: She’s an expert in understanding the specific experiences of geriatric cancer patients and finding caring and practical solutions for this vulnerable group. Her practice and research enable older people with cancer to get the treatment they need in holistic comfort and dignity.
Leana’s practice involves multifaceted problem-solving—everything from maintaining patients’ mobility during treatment, providing wrap-around medical and social support, and dealing with transportation and access challenges. Even before the pandemic, Leana was researching how telehealth can close those gaps, because older people in rural areas often struggle to travel long distances to their providers. Leana was determined that geography should not be a barrier to getting personalized treatment, and she’s found innovative ways to use telehealth technology to ensure that her patients can get specialty care.
Another major challenge that geriatric patients come up against during cancer treatment is that they may lose mobility while in the hospital. Specialized nursing care can help: For instance, nurses can make sure a patient has a chance to go for an assisted walk each day. Leana worked with an interdisciplinary team to create a tool that helps nurses assess a patient’s ability to walk, and that tool is now built into the Epic nursing shift assessment, allowing nurses to keep mobility care top of mind. This is a stellar example of how a nurse leader can reimagine technology systems to work better for both the nurses and patients. Leana also educates university nursing students, ensuring the next generation will be ready to care for our growing population of elders.
Leana was the co-founder of City of Hope’s Aging Wellness Clinic, a program staffed by advanced practice nurses dedicated to holistic, wrap-around care for older people with cancer. At this extraordinary clinic, people can get nutritional support, mental health counseling, memory support and social activities. It is exactly what you would want for your loved one or yourself. All of it is thanks to Leana’s vision of a better world.