Cancer Survivor and Advocate Doretha (‘Dee’) Bounds-Burrell: “Spend an hour with your first time cancer patients…”

Presenter:

Doretha Bounds-Burrell, CC, Dee Burrell Coaching

Meeting:

Best of ASCO Memphis

In her recent presentation at the Total Health ‘Best of ASCO’ Memphis Conference, cancer survivor and advocate Doretha (‘Dee’) Bounds-Burrell issued a bold challenge to our cancer care providers: “When you have a first time cancer patient, have your front desk office schedule a one hour meeting…” for what she calls the “patient-physician fireside chat”.  While such a visit may not seem feasible or compatible with most busy oncologist’s practice schedules, she noted the long term benefit on cancer care for the patient.  Ideally, she believes this first conversation would not focus at all on things like the cancer itself and its treatment plan. Rather, relating her own positive experience as a first time breast cancer patient with her physician, she emphasized “that physician, in that first visit, really took the time to learn about me…” In that first visit, she recalls, she was lucky enough to be able to share with her physician things like her own philosophy and love of life, her family, her children, and grandchild.  She also added that many patients won’t even need that full hour and may just be like, “just tell me what I need to do, and I’m gone… I’ll follow your direction”, but for others, she noted “you may need that hour."  

“When a patient can trust the physician, our world is so much better as a cancer patient.”

Relaying her own initial experience as a healthy person, full of life, and then hearing she was now facing a breast cancer diagnosis, she noted the overwhelming thought that she was going to die from her cancer.  From that perspective, she highlighted that the fireside chat helped her physician understand a little bit about her, the type of person she was, and in turn, she was also able to learn a little about her physician as a person.  As such, when it came time to work with her on her actual cancer treatment plan, the physician was able to have all of this background in the back of their mind.  Her physician knew already, for example, that she was a strong individual, a mother, a grandmother, with a positive attitude and a love of life.  Another benefit of that first fireside chat, Ms. Burrell noted, was that it helped to generate a trusting relationship with her entire cancer care team, the oncologist, radiologists, nurses, and so on, so that she, as a patient, could feel truly comfortable discussing her feelings and concerns throughout her treatment.  Lastly, she noted it can also generate meaningful and positive impressions for your oncology practice, and many referrals for you, as the physician, moving forward.

“Why would I want to listen to the patient? – because it decreases the patient’s feelings of overwhelm and anxiety… It also helps to prevent misunderstandings.”

Ms. Burrell, also an author, read from her breast cancer survivor story, relating a key moment in that first visit, when her oncologist pulled a chair up next to her and said “You know Dee, I’ve learned a little about you through your medical records… but let me tell you a little about me…” That moment, she noted, was pivotal, in that she first really started with her trust of her oncologist, because to him this clearly this was not just a profession, but rather something he was deeply passionate about.  The physician Humanized himself by taking his cell phone out, and showing pictures of his own wife and children, and noted his goal in life as an oncologist was to save as many lives as he could.  Another key statement her oncologist made, once she started treatment, was “You know Dee, I’m not going to be able to tell you how you’re going to feel, but I can promise you, I know how to take care of you…”  Ms. Burrell noted this statement assured her that she was with the right physician for her care, and that, whatever the prescribed treatment was going to be, she would be comfortable and willing to go along with it.

“When patients can express their feelings, concerns and anxieties about their physical health, the communication between the patient and the physician is totally open…”

She related her initial treatment plan, which began with chemotherapy and radiation, and then went on, as per her oncologist’s recommendation, to a clinical trial of Herceptin (trastuzumab) for her disease, advanced, stage II, Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) breast cancer.  She noted that throughout her treatment, she found comfort and strength in her faith, and “prayed a lot”, with a clear goal of wanting to be able to see her daughter become a successful educator, and of seeing her granddaughter grow up to finish high school.  “Cancer was not a mistake for me” she insists, emphasizing that since her initial diagnosis and cancer-free survival of more than 17 years since, she has traveled the world and found purpose as a speaker and cancer advocate, “not just for me, but for all other patients going through cancer…” She also related one of the most difficult challenges while going through her own cancer journey, of seeing her mother pass away from stage 4 cancer.  While going through this particularly difficult stage of her treatment herself, she nonetheless found strength to get up at her mother’s memorial and to speak her eulogy: “my first time as a speaker…” she noted, “and I haven’t stopped since…”

Today, Ms. Burrell continues her mission of speaking and advocating as a survivor, not just for herself, but also for her mom, for her three best friends (also lost to cancer), for all other cancer survivors, and for the cancer healthcare providers in her audiences. Her work also extends to networking, supporting, and working one on one with newly diagnosed patients to help them navigate the many challenges of a cancer diagnosis.  She emphasized that her goal, her blessing, her hard struggles through treatment, were all about seeing her daughter, and her granddaughter, grow up.  As a final thought for her long journey as a cancer survivor, she proudly recants that her daughter is now only 5 years from retirement from education, and her granddaughter is now in her 3rd year of college in California.  “It’s my pleasure to stand in front of every audience and tell the story of a cancer survivor that truly benefitted from an oncologist and cancer care team that truly cared, and took the time to listen...” She also offered her deep gratitude to all healthcare providers “for taking such good care of people like me.”

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Speaker Disclosure Information:  Ms. Burrell had no disclosures for this presentation.