The Cancer Navigation Program is available to all residents across the NWT from suspicion of a cancer diagnosis through to palliation and survivorship. The Cancer Navigation Program is available to help support cancer patients as they navigate the health care system during their cancer journey.
Cancer care can be complicated and frightening, often requiring multiple trips for appointments, tests, and treatments. Navigating the care system will often involve working with multiple health care providers, including but not limited to doctors, nurses, dieticians, psychologists, social workers, physiotherapists, and potentially surgeons.
Within the Cancer Navigation Program there are two Nurse Navigators who are Registered Nurses and one Oncology Medical Social Worker; all team members will work closely with the patient their families, and their health care team to offer assistance and direction through their cancer journey.
A Cancer Navigator (Nurse, Social Worker, or both) will act as the patient’s guide through the cancer care system and can be your primary contact to answer questions and coordinate care between all members of your healthcare team.
The Cancer Navigators will partner with you and provide supports to meet your emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs. The Cancer Navigators will also provide information and resources to best prepare you for appointments, tests, and treatments, and help connect you with valuable community resources.
What does the Navigation team do?
The Navigators will work with the following objectives:
- Guide cancer patients through the health care system
- Expedite patients’ access to services and resources
- Improve continuity and coordination of care
- Facilitate access to health care and community services
- Advocate for patients and family members
- Provide informational, practical and psychosocial supports
- Engage in caring and therapeutic communication and relationships
- Provide information about medications, side effects and symptom management
Who is Eligible for this service?
The Cancer Navigation Program is for any patients and their support networks that are impacted by cancer, and reside in the NWT. This includes patients and their supports across the cancer continuum, including but not limited to:
- Questions about testing and screening for cancer
- Persons with a confirmed or potential diagnosis of cancer (i.e. (+) FIT test, requiring breast biopsy, etc.)
- Persons undergoing treatment for cancer
- Persons in rehabilitation from cancer
- Cancer survivor still requiring assistance related to ongoing side-effects
- Persons with cancer receiving palliative care
- Friends, family, loved ones, and support networks who need assistance in their own lives
Contact
If you are a person living with cancer, you can ask your health care provider to connect you with the Cancer Navigation Team, or you can contact the program directly yourself. You do not need a referral.
Self-refer to the Navigation Program by phone or email:
Phone toll-free: 1-866-313-7989
Email: cancer_navigator@gov.nt.ca or cancer_socialwork@gov.nt.ca
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