A huge congratulations to Joann Stutzman, who was voted the
winner of the Mid-Valley MOM Makeover. Joann will be pampered and
featured on the cover of the June/July issue of MOM Magazine. Here
is the nomination that was sent on Joann's behalf:
There are many true heroes who work in health care. At the
top of my list is Joann Stutzman. "We learn so much about living
from our patients," Joann says about her job as breast cancer
educator at The Corvallis Clinic. Perhaps it's from her patients
where Joann draws motivation to touch the lives of thousands of
women with her empowering message of health and hope. For all the
care she gives to others, including her family, I can think of no
one so deserving of a little pampering as Joann. As a certified
breast cancer nurse navigator and breast self-exam educator, Joann
guides women through the continuum of cancer care, from diagnosis,
through treatment when she shows up after surgery with a pink box
of gifts, to the day she can celebrate with her patients being
cancer-free for a year. "That's what I love about this job," Joann
says, "being able to encourage other people." Joann also volunteers
as a faith community nurse and recently returned from a women's
mission trip to Ghana, Africa. She says that God has called her to
this work. "It's more than a job. It's much deeper and stronger.
This is what I was born to do," she says. Joann's mentor, Sue
Merrill, describes her friend as loyal and caring. "Joann is
compassionate, professional, a good listener and is always looking
for ways to become better educated in her profession," Sue says.
She hand-picked Joann to continue the nurse navigation program that
she developed at The Corvallis Clinic, a position Joann has held
since 2006. To the patient sitting next to her or on the other end
of the phone, Joann is someone who can coax a response beyond, "I'm
fine." She has an ability to allow patients to really open up and
confide their fears and concerns about cancer. "We're each
individual and different. Each of us is important," Joann says.
Sarah Blanton works with Joann as coordinator of Project H.E.R.
(Help. Enlightenment. Resources.) a comprehensive breast health
services program available to women in Benton, Linn and Lincoln
counties through The Corvallis Clinic Foundation. Sarah describes
Joann as kind, caring, conscientious and thorough. "Joann is
generous with her time and makes herself available outside of her
office hours for consultations and questions," Blanton said, "Joann
is also very resourceful, making use of any and all avenues to
provide help." A nurse for more than 35 years, little things along
the way brought Joann to a career in oncology. Joann was inspired
as a teenager to become a nurse when her grandfather was diagnosed
with pancreatic cancer. Back then, there wasn't much that could be
done to treat the disease. "In my idealistic way, I thought it
would sure be neat to be able to do something more," she recalls.
Joann went to nursing school in Portland and graduated in 1976. One
of her first patients was a 16-year-old boy with a brain tumor.
Joann sought advanced certification as an oncology nurse and
completed her BSN degree at Linfield before joining The Corvallis
Clinic as an oncology nurse in 1994, where she worked with
oncologist Stephen Neville, M.D. On New Year's Day in 1996, Joann,
her husband Gary and Joann's mom paid an impromptu visit to bring
cheer to her elderly aunt. Joann could never have imaged what
happened next. The woman looked at her and asked, "Do you want a
baby?" It came as a complete surprise, but the relative's teenage
granddaughter was pregnant and looking for adoptive parents. The
answer was absolutely yes. Just 2 ½ weeks later when she received a
call at work that the girl was in labor. She went to the hospital
and Edmund was born the next day. Being a mom was so new and
unexpected, Joann recalls asking her family doctor what to do. Dr.
Bruce Thompson told her, "You take him home and rock him." Edmund
is 16 now, and he and his mom are still very close. "Edmund has
been a blessing in our lives," Joann says. They play Ping Pong and
Wii sports games, especially basketball. "I'm not good at that, so
I don't get to play often," Joann said. Her coworker Sarah Blanton
said Joann delights in encouraging and providing for Edmund's
development. "She makes an effort to make sure that he is engaged
in exciting and new adventures and learning opportunities. She
beams when she talks about him and his accomplishments." In her
free time, Joann enjoys gardening, canning and quilting. She
typically has 7-9 projects going at once. To some, the process may
appear cluttered when she lays out all her quilt pieces on the
floor. To that, Joann replies, "If life was perfectly ordered, we
wouldn't be free to do the things we are called to do. "We don't
always get to see the end results, so to me the process is what's
important."