Jane Poskanzer

“I’m a complex patient with a lot of different needs,” Jane says.

She was first treated at NH+C for Crohn’s disease, an inflammation of the intestine. Jane needed infusions of a specialized medication; it required approval from Jane’s insurance carrier to be administered at the Cancer Care & Infusion Center at Northfield Hospital.

“My insurance company wanted me to travel an hour during the winter to get treated,” says Jane, who also has a neuromuscular disorder that makes it hard to drive. “I didn’t want to have to drive that far for multiple appointments when I could travel 8 minutes to Northfield Hospital instead.”

Jane – and her NH+C team – worked hard to get approval for Jane to be treated here. It was important to get this care in a hospital-based clinic in case Jane had a reaction to the medication: “I have sensitivities to a lot of medications. The CCIC team was always able to handle this. I always felt very safe.”

Then, Jane needed treatment for severe osteoporosis, with a new medication designed to help build back lost bone mass. Jane needed two shots every month; the two medications had to be carefully timed. “CCIC was always very accommodating to that, and scheduled at times that worked for me. They coordinate well with my Mayo care team too, and they communicate well with me all along the way.”

Jane is a clinical psychologist who now works with children with autism, after years as an in-patient liaison for chronically ill kids. “I’ve worked in hospitals a lot during my career,” she says. “I always knew to get anything done, go to the nurses.” Jane credits CCIC Director Jodi Wieczorek, APRN, AGCNS-BC, ACHPN, OCN and the CCIC team with coordinating her complex care across providers, across state lines, across pharmacies: “Jodi and the team handled it all.”

Jodi and the CCIC team “have gone out of their way to be helpful to me,” Jane adds. “They can get busy with some very sick people – yet when they were with me, they are totally focused on me. It feels like family there.”

The center itself “is a very pleasant environment – warm and inviting. Treatments last awhile, so we’re in comfy chairs with beautiful views out the window. Those things matter,” Jane says.

Jane’s advice for others who need specialty care: “Know that we have this expertise in our own community. I’m quite a complex patient, and I trust these people. That trust is really important to me.”

“I love Northfield, and to be treated in my own community with such expertise and tender care is wonderful,” Jane says.

That part? It’s not complicated.