Spotlight on Rebecca Rodriguez, diagnostic breast navigator for Telfair Pavilion
Rebecca Rodriguez
Diagnostic breast navigator at Telfair Pavilion
Nursing for 35 years; with St. Joseph’s/Candler for 16 years starting in interventional radiology before joining Telfair Pavilion three years ago
Education: Louisiana State University and Charity Hospital School of Nursing in New Orleans
SJ/C: Why did you decide to become a nurse?
Rebecca: In high school, I saw it as an area that was growing. There were so many different avenues you could branch off in. It’s just been something I’ve always wanted to do. Thirty-five years of nursing, and I still love it.
SJ/C: What made you choose St. Joseph’s/Candler?
Rebecca: I was living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. We evacuated to Savannah, and I was here for three months after Hurricane Katrina. During that time, St. Joseph’s/Candler reached out through the Red Cross to see if we needed anything, and I always remembered that. I went back to New Orleans for a year or two because I worked for the state hospital, and I wanted to retire from the state, thinking there’s no way it would stay closed, but it did. In the meantime, my mom was here, and I had other family here, so it was the right time and everything came into place for me to come back to Savannah.
SJ/C: What are some of your day-to-day responsibilities as the diagnostic breast navigator for the Telfair Pavilion?
Rebecca: I work a lot with the biopsy patients, getting them ready for the procedure. I do the assessment with them before the biopsy. They are a little nervous at the time. I try to explain what is going to happen. I think what helps is I’ve had two biopsies myself. They’ve both been benign, but I think it helps that I’ve sat in that chair. I know what it feels like to be nervous. Also, I work with patients who’ve had imaging and are coming back for additional imaging. They’ve had their mammogram and the radiologist wants them to come back to investigate a little further with ultrasound or diagnostic mammogram. I help coordinate those patients also.
SJ/C: Where did you interest in radiology begin?
Rebecca: I started off in New Orleans in ICU, and one night I went down with a patient to angio (for an angiogram). I read about angio in nursing school but I had never really been involved, and it was a whole side of nursing that I never really knew existed. I just fell in love so I transferred there until I came to Savannah, and I started in imaging here. That made the transition to Telfair Pavilion a lot easier because I knew the radiologists. I knew the quality of care, and I knew it would be same quality of care within the Telfair Pavilion.
SJ/C: What do you enjoy about this area of nursing?
Rebecca: Here, I am busy, but I have one patient at a time. When I’m assessing that patient, they have my full attention, and I’m able to assess them and go into a lot more. Bedside, you don’t always get that one-on-one as often. Also, when they come back after biopsy, I think it helps to have that familiar face. I get to follow my patients for a little bit, and I enjoy that.
SJ/C: What does it mean to you to work for St. Joseph’s/Candler?
Rebecca: Quality of care, for sure. It was very hard leaving the hospital when it closed (in New Orleans). You went to work one day. You evacuated thinking you are going to come back but it’s gone. You never have that closure. To be at a hospital that long, I didn’t know if I was going to find that home and special place again. But, I found it here.
Another thing, last year, I severed on CEO Council. Once I got on CEO Council, it opened my eyes to how much I’ve always heard about us as a community-based hospital. Hearing about the future of St. Joseph’s/Candler and knowing I’m a part of that, it excites me.
SJ/C: What is some advice you’d share with new nurses or those considering a career in nursing?
Rebecca: For me, it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Working at a hospital that closed – which I never thought that was possible – but I was still able to get a job the whole time. For 35 years, I’ve always worked full-time. I’ve never been without a job. There are so many areas of nursing. You really don’t know until you get into it. Again, for me, that time in ICU, I just went down with a patient for an angiogram, and I didn’t know it was going to open up my eyes to interventional radiology. There are so many different areas – pediatrics, adults, oncology; it’s wide open.
Family: Two grandsons (3-year-old and six-month-old); one daughter
Hobbies/Interests: Traveling, especially back to Louisiana to see daughter and grandbabies