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The UNC-Mission Hospital Cancer Partnership, part of the UNC Cancer Network, welcomes Candace Cox, RN, OCN, to the program staff.

Nurse navigators help cancer patients, their families and their caregivers with both medical and nonmedical concerns. The navigator’s goal is to address barriers to care, helping patients and their loved ones with the challenges they face after receiving a diagnosis of cancer. Cox joins Becky Pitts, MSN, RN-BC, another UNC-Mission Oncology Nurse Navigator, in providing education, assistance with scheduling appointments and navigating lung cancer patients through the often confusing healthcare environment.

Before coming to Mission, Cox was research coordinator at Cancer Care of WNC, working with UNC Cancer Centers Trial Network. She completed an orientation at the UNC Cancer Center to observe their multidisciplinary thoracic clinic and resources available for patients and families.

Cox earned her BS in Biology at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia and her associate’s degree in nursing at Macon College. She is currently completing her BSN at Western Carolina University. She has been an Oncology Certified Nurse for more than 10 years and holds certification as a Certified Clinical Research Professional.

Mission Hospital and UNC Health Care announced in 2009 an affiliation agreement for cancer care and research, with the overall goal of enhancing the quality of care for cancer patients in Western North Carolina, including providing access to new therapies and innovative research programs under development at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and UNC Cancer Care. Initial programs under the agreement include improving community screening for earlier diagnosis and prevention of lung cancer through the efforts of oncology nurse navigators, participation in UNC’s statewide cancer telemedicine network, and offering access to research projects and new treatments developed at UNC Lineberger.

ABOUT MISSION HOSPITAL

Mission Health System, Inc., based in Asheville, NC, is the tertiary care regional referral center for western North Carolina and the state’s sixth largest health system. It is a not-for-profit, independent community hospital system accredited by The Joint Commission and the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. Mission’s member hospitals are governed by volunteer boards of directors representing the communities they serve.

The main hospital in the system, Mission Hospital, is licensed for 730 beds on its two adjoining campuses in Asheville, Memorial, and St. Joseph. The medical staff has more than 700 physicians representing most specialties and subspecialties. There are more than 6,000 employees and nearly 700 volunteers. It is the busiest surgical hospital in N.C. and has been recognized for outstanding quality care in cardiology and cardiac surgery, the treatment of strokes, orthopedics, and endocrinology.

Mission Health System also includes Blue Ridge Regional Hospital, which serves Mitchell and Yancey Counties; McDowell Hospital, which serves McDowell County; Asheville Specialty Hospital, the region’s long-term acute care hospital; and Mission Children’s Hospital, providing specialty pediatric inpatient and outpatient care from two locations in Asheville.

ABOUT UNC LINEBERGER COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER AND UNC HEALTH CARE

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only public comprehensive cancer center for the State and the people of North Carolina. Our mission is to reduce cancer occurrence and death in North Carolina and across the nation through research, treatment, training, and outreach. Our clinical home is the N.C. Cancer Hospital – part of UNC Health Care.

The UNC Health Care System is a not-for-profit integrated health care system owned by the state of North Carolina and based in Chapel Hill. It exists to further the teaching mission of the University of North Carolina and to provide state-of-the-art patient care. UNC Health Care is comprised of UNC Hospitals; the UNC School of Medicine; community practices; home health and hospice services in seven central North Carolina counties; Rex Healthcare and its provider network in Wake County; and Chatham Hospital in Siler City, N.C. Nationally, UNC Hospitals is ranked among the top 100 for community value by Cleverley & Associates, 3rd among academic medical centers for patient satisfaction by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Provider Systems, among the top 50 in several specialties by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals issue, 2nd in Family Medicine, and 20th in research in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Medical Schools issue.