Bartlett Regional | House Calls | Fall 2018

New guidelines for colorectal cancer screening A rise in rates of colorectal cancer among young and middle-aged adults has spurred the American Cancer Society (ACS) to change its guidelines for when people should start screening for the disease. The ACS now recommends that people at average risk for colorectal cancer begin screening at age 45, five years earlier than the previous recommendation of 50. People who are at increased risk for the cancer may want to start colorectal cancer screening before age 45 or be screened more often. According to the ACS, the most common signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer include: w w A change in bowel habits—such as diarrhea, constipation or narrowing of the stool—that lasts for more than a few days. w w A feeling like you need to have a bowel movement that isn’t relieved when you do have one. w w Rectal bleeding. w w Dark stools or blood in the stool. w w Cramping or abdominal pain. w w Weakness and fatigue. w w Weight loss for no known reason. PICK UP THE PHONE and call your health care provider to schedule your colonoscopy today. in Pelican on the float plane dock you have been trying to reach for a couple of days, but they don’t have a phone or cell service. And you’re racing to get them key information while they’re yelling at you to be heard as their plane is coming in. Or perhaps they don’t have running water on their boat or cabin. Or their home is a tree house up Lynn Canal.” Gregovich also helps patients work through what they are leaving behind during their visit to Juneau. “Even for a mundane colonoscopy procedure, people need to know how to take care of their pets or maybe they’re caring for a family members. Everyone has their issues they need to prepare for,” she says. “And by preparing for that in advance, it helps them have a lower stress experience and enables them to get home with more peace of mind. They know what to expect.” The voice of experience If you are talking to Gregovich, you are talking to the voice of experience. She was a new grad when hired for what was then “a tiny little separate surgical unit. It’s been a while,” she says. Gregovich and her husband, who both grew up in Juneau, went to college and returned home to raise two children here. “We love Juneau, and this was the hometown hospital when I started in 1985,” she says. The unique Alaskan challenges were evident early on. “I had a patient who had been mauled by a bear and a patient with a serious head injury who couldn’t fly out due to weather but still had a positive outcome because the local surgeon was able to stabilize him,” Gregovich recalls. Seeing how patients and staff persevere despite the obstacles is “a wonderful experience for a surgical nurse,” she says. The medical and surgical areas were combined into a single unit, where Gregovich worked with oncology, pediatric, orthopedic and psychiatric patients, all with a variety of medical conditions. She’s been at same-day surgery for 20 years now, “working with patients, getting them ready for surgery and taking care of them until discharge. Now, my focus is the preoperative preparation piece, which I personally find very interesting because everyone has their own set of circumstances,” she says. Over the past 33 years, Gregovich says there’s been a tremendous amount of growth and change at Bartlett. “It’s still got a hometown hospital feel, but it has evolved with how health care has changed,” she says. Looking back on more than three ongoing decades, she sees the significance of Bartlett’s umbrella of services: “We still need to provide and be light on our feet.” on the phone Laura Gregovich, RN, has gathered and relayed vital information and helped patients navigate the unique challenges of health care in Alaska for 20 years. www.bartletthospital.org 11

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