Rebecca Santiago is the hands-on person most responsible for fulfilling the mission of the Curtis D. Robinson Center for Health Equity at St. Francis Hospital.
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Two years ago, an undocumented immigrant from Waterbury, who had no health insurance and was turned away for treatment of prostate cancer at several hospitals, heard a radio spot for the Curtis D. Robinson Center for Health Equity at St. Francis Hospital. The center, as its name implies, was established to address the health disparities among uninsured and underinsured individuals and families.
The man took the risk of calling the center and was connected to nurse navigator Rebecca Santiago, the hands-on person most responsible for fulfilling the center's mission.
Over the course of six months, Santiago, a registered nurse, guided him through the paperwork he needed to qualify for Medicaid; arranged visits with an oncologist and an urologist at no cost; and procured a series of free lupron injections from a pharmaceutical company.
Santiago never met the man the entire time that she worked to have him treated. They conducted all their communication by telephone, until one day a visitor came to her office and said he wanted to finally meet the nurse who saved his life.
“I was so taken by the fact that he made a special trip all the way from Waterbury, that I became emotional,” Santiago said. “At that point, I said to myself, 'I'm doing the job that I was sent here to do.' ”
As nurse navigator, Santiago has two roles. The first is to travel to churches, mosques, beauty salons, barber shops and other locations in Hartford, educating residents — in English and Spanish — about preventive health care and their health insurance options.
“Despite all the fact sheets, websites and media attention about access to health services, 90 percent of the people I speak to say they thought prostate screenings, mammograms, colonoscopies, or flu shots were going to cost them money,” she says. “It's an 'aha' moment when they realize they're free.”
The second and hardest role occurs after tests reveal an abnormal finding. That's when the real navigation starts and Santiago has to explain the diagnosis and walk the patient and his family through the treatments, making certain the patient has food, shelter and proper support during the journey.
“I make sure that they make an informed decision and I have no problem telling them that it's okay to say 'no' to the treatment options,” she says. “Many patients find peace with that because they are allowed to control their own destiny.”
Nurse navigators are not new. They are becoming increasingly popular in other health circles, such as dental and primary care offices. Santiago became the nurse navigator for the Robinson Center by way of her own tragic experience with cancer.
Born and raised in the Bronx, N.Y., Santiago planned to remain there her whole life until Jan. 2011, when her mother was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. As a nurse, Santiago was surprised that her mother never complained about pain and never sought a screening that would have detected the cancer much sooner. As if that weren't enough, her mother's sister had the same illness and both women died within 40 minutes of each other a month later.
To get through the grief, Santiago took time off from her job with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and stayed at the home of a relative in Torrington. Eventually, she decided to start a new life in Connecticut.
As fate would have it, her first interview was for nurse navigator at the relatively new Robinson Center for Health Equity. Businessman Curtis D. Robinson, who founded the center and is on St. Francis Hospital's board of directors, was among those who interviewed Santiago and knew immediately that she was the right person for the job. Currently, she is also Hartford chapter president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and sits on the boards of several nonprofit organizations.
“There was just something about her that's hard to explain,” Robinson said. “She's sensitive. She's loving. She works seven days a week and she cares about her patients. I wish there was somebody I could compare her to other than Mother Teresa.”
Profiles of all the 2015 Healthcare Heroes
Dr. Fernando Ferrer, CT Children's Medical Center
Heather Gates, president and CEO, Community Health Resources
Dr. Pauline Olsen, co-founder Malta House of Care
Dr. Jack Ross, Hartford HealthCare
Rebecca Santiago, RN, Nurse Navigator
Ruth Satterberg, Occupational Therapist
