Page 16 - Healthcare News 2023 Healthcare Heroes

HEALTHCARE HEROES OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Emerging Leader I
Ashley LeBlanc
By George O’Brien
obrien@businesswest.com
t’s been seven years now, but Ashley LeBlanc clearly remembers the day Dr. Laki Rousou and Dr. Neal Chuang asked her to consider becoming the nurse navigator for their thoracic surgery practice at Mercy Medical Center.
She also clearly remembers her initial response to their invite: “absolutely not.”
She was working days in critical care at the hospital
at the time, and liked both the work and the schedule: three days on, four days off, she told BusinessWest, adding that it takes a while for a new position like this to get approved and posted, for interviews to take place, and more — and the doctors used the following weeks to make additional entreaties, with reminders that she wouldn’t have to work any weekends or holidays.
But the answer was still ‘no’ until roughly six months after that initial invite, when she had one particularly challenging day on the floor with a very sick patient. Challenging enough that, when Rousou tried one more time that afternoon, ‘no’ became “I’ll update my résumé and hear you out.”
“He got me at a weak moment, and it was the best decision I ever made, because they have been amazing mentors, and they’ve opened my mind up to this whole other world,” she said, adding that her career underwent a profound and meaningful course change, one that led her to being named a Healthcare Hero for 2023 in the Emerging Leader category.
Indeed, during those seven years, LeBlanc has emerged as a true leader, both in that thoracic surgery practice, which she now manages, and in efforts to promote awareness and screening for lung cancer — one of the deadliest cancers, and one she can certainly relate to personally. Indeed, she has lost several family members to the disease, many of whom would have qualified
for screening had it been available at the time of their diagnosis.
“He got me at a weak moment, and it was the best decision I ever made, because they have been amazing mentors, and they’ve opened”my mind up to this whole other world.
In many respects, and in many ways, she has become a fierce advocate for patients related to lung cancer screening, treatment, and research, and concentrates her efforts on ways to decrease the mortality rate of lung cancer and break down the stigma of that disease by educating the community, connecting them to resources, and, in many respects, guiding them on their journey as they fight lung cancer.
When the screening program was launched, those involved didn’t really know what to expect, LeBlanc said, adding that, in the beginning, maybe a handful of people were being screened each month. Now, that number exceeds 250 a month, and while only a small percentage of those who are screened have lung cancer, she said, each detected case is important because, while this cancer is deadly, early detection often leads to a better outcome.
This is turning out to be a big year for LeBlanc, at least when it comes to awards from BusinessWest. In the
Practice Manager of Thoracic Surgery, Nursing Director of the Lung Screening Program, Mercy Medical Center
She Has a Proven Ability to Take the Bull by the Horns
H16 2023 << 2023 HEALTHCARE HEROES >> BusinessWest