Nurse Profile: Suzanne McNeil, R.N.

For many patients at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, the cancer journey begins with Suzanne McNeil, R.N.

As clinical care coordinator for the Cancer Center’s Multidisciplinary Gastrointestinal Oncology Center, Mrs. McNeil reviews every new patient, examining his or her medical history and current situation to determine if the patient would benefit from the clinic’s multidisciplinary-care approach. Through this process she reaches all patients with colorectal, esophageal and other gastrointestinal cancers—nearly 300 per year, on average.

“I’m basically an interpreter for patients,” Mrs. McNeil says. “I help get them into the system by making their appointments and telling them exactly what information they need.”

Starting Something New
Mrs. McNeil has been the clinical care coordinator for the multidisciplinary GI clinic since it opened in 2001. Prior to that she spent five years with Alacare Home Health Hospice. UAB was not new to her, however. She actually began her nursing career in UAB’s general surgery department in 1981, after graduating from Atlanta’s Emory University.

Mrs. McNeil was persuaded to return to UAB when Cancer Center associate scientist Martin Heslin, M.D., told her about the creation of the multidisciplinary GI clinic. As he explained it, the clinic would unite all aspects of the patient’s care—from surgery to chemotherapy to radiation therapy—and allow the patient to see everyone needed for his or her treatment at one time. “I thought it was a wonderful concept, and the idea of starting something new was exciting and challenging to me,” she says. “We try to offer everything in one visit.”
           
A People Person
Mrs. McNeil says cancer “has always been a cause close to my heart. I had worked with cancer patients when I first came to UAB and then during my years with hospice.” The disease hit even closer to home when she lost her mother—just 45 years old—to ovarian cancer.

For the many cancer patients entering the GI clinic, Mrs. McNeil is proud to serve as a point-person. “Patients get so much information that it can be overwhelming,” she says. “I’m there to provide answers and even help them ask their doctors the right questions. Even after they move on to other clinics for their treatment, I tell them to call me if they can’t find an answer for something.”

A native of Bronxville, New York, Mrs. McNeil has been married to her husband, Roger, since 1993. They enjoy spending weekends at their house on Lake Wedowee—a house they built themselves over six years. “That was probably the true test of our marriage,” she adds, laughing.

But in her job, she and her patients face a different kind of challenge—and Mrs. McNeil, who describes herself as a “people person,” believes building relationships with patients is key.