NEWS from The Corvallis Clinic
July 16, 2017
Kathy Nepper, RN, OCN, is the new nurse navigator for The Corvallis Clinic’s Project H.E.R. Ms. Nepper succeeds Joann Stutzman, BSN, RN, OCN, who held the position for 12 years.
Ms. Nepper brings nearly four decades of nursing work to the position as well as personal experience with severe and ultimately terminal illness in her family. She describes the role of a nurse navigator as a person who offers education and individualized assistance to patients and their families to help overcome healthcare system barriers.
The role speaks to the mission of Project H.E.R., whose letters stand for Help, Enlightenment and Resources. Project H.E.R. provides women in Benton, Linn and Lincoln counties education and support from the time of cancer diagnosis through survivorship. It was once limited to breast cancer, yet the program now is open to women with different forms of the disease. Project H.E.R. has also expanded to include caregivers as well as patients.
“It has been my passion in my 39 years of nursing to develop and maintain relationships with my patients through care coordination,” Ms. Nepper said. “I have the ability to listen to a patient and hear what their needs are. I can address these needs, find solutions and communicate a plan.”
She said that having such a plan saves time for patients and relieves stress during what’s already a trying process.
This is Ms. Nepper’s third position at The Clinic; she was nurse manager of the Oncology Department from 2016 to 2017 and an RN in Care Coordination from 2015 to 2016. From 2008 until 2013 she was a pediatric staff nurse as well as a float nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St. Charles Hospital in Bend. Her experience with cancer care includes a 10-year stint in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Pediatric Oncology and five years at Michigan State University’s Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Clinic.
An Oncology Certified Nurse, the northern Minnesota native earned her nursing degree at Lutheran Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing in Minneapolis in 1979. Her mother and older sister were also nurses.
While growing up, her father had serious health issues, and she and her family would spend months at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. “My father was very ill with diabetes, renal failure, and kidney transplant complications,” she said. “The nursing staff and doctors we had come to know over many years and their support was incredibly helpful to our family.”
Due to this experience, she chose careers in nursing that would allow her to establish long-term relationships with patients. “I feel honored to be able to support and care for my patients who are going through similarly stressful times,” she said. “I cannot predict the outcome, but I can be there to support and make the journey easier for them.”
Ms. Nepper, who has three grown children, said she enjoys cooking and spending time with family and friends. “I am well known for my brood of dachshunds,” she said. “I started with six of them 17 years ago and am now down to one, Big Dewey.”
The Corvallis Clinic, an independent, physician-led medical group, is a comprehensive multi-specialty organization, serving Benton, Linn and Lincoln counties. It offers more than 100 board-certified providers and advanced professionals in 27 specialties at 10 area locations. As the fourth-largest area employer, The Clinic has 600 employees.
