Judy C. Kneece RN, OCN, course instructor for Strategic Planning and Breast Health Navigator Training, is a certified oncology nurse with a specialty in breast cancer, and President of EduCare, Inc. She has trained over 1900 nurses internationally to serve as breast health navigators to coordinate the clinical, educational and support needs of patients, and has consulted with some of the nation's leading hospitals to develop comprehensive breast health programs.
Judy is the author of Your Breast Cancer Treatment Handbook, a patient's guide through the breast cancer experience, and Helping Your Mate Face Breast Cancer, a book for their support partners. Both books have been critically acclaimed by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute as being an essential need for those supporting a recently diagnosed patient. She has also authored a CD-Rom featuring 356 patient teaching sheets on breast health for clinics, hospitals and physician offices, along with numerous other booklets and pamphlets on benign and cancerous breast conditions.
Judy has also served as Secretary for the National Consortium of Breast Centers and has published over 35 national articles on breast health management and psychosocial support of patients and their families.
Deirdre Young is a certified oncology nurse and also a trained breast health specialist. She currently serves as the Coordinator for Cancer Programs in a community based, not-for-profit hospital where she partners with all physician specialties to develop and implement new cancer programs and services. In her 25 year nursing career, all of which has been in the area of oncology, she has worked as a staff nurse, nurse manager and case manager for women diagnosed with breast cancer.
In 1998, at the request of her hospital, she left her position as the nurse manager of the inpatient oncology unit to assist the hospital in developing and implementing a rapid detection to diagnosis initiative for women who had a breast abnormality and needed diagnostic intervention. The result was "Five Days from Detection to Diagnosis", a budget-neutral program that proved to be highly successful which continues today. The program was presented at national conferences and prompted inquiries from hospitals in all parts of the country, largely due to the fact that it could be implemented in hospitals of any size, required little financial investment, and resulted in tremendous patient and family satisfaction. Her hospital allows free site visits to encourage other hospitals to improve their breast cancer services, and the basic blueprint of its program has been implemented in hospitals in all parts of the United States.
Her ongoing goal is to use the lessons and success of the breast health program to improve care for patients with other types of cancers, especially prostate and lung cancer.
