From personally tying gold ribbons on trees around campus to raise awareness for Childhood Cancer to partnering with a team to energize hundreds of people at Beaumont’s annual Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams event, it seems wherever Lisa Muma goes, joy and comfort follow.
As a nurse navigator for Beaumont Children’s Pediatric Oncology Long-Term Follow-Up Clinic, Muma takes her inspiration from the patients, families and colleagues she works with daily.
“Our patients and their families never cease to motivate and inspire me,” Lisa said. “The courageous battles they fight each day make me want to keep looking for new ways to offer care and support.”
For patients at the clinic, consistency of care and routines are important. So, when the COVID-19 surge hit Michigan and caused a brief pause in visits, Lisa and her colleagues made sure to make themselves available and quickly respond to questions and concerns from their patients and families.
“Our commitment to our patients cannot change no matter what,” Lisa explained. “No matter the changes that are going on, we want to make it seamless for our patients and families.”
Lisa and the pediatric oncology team quickly developed new procedures to keep everyone in the clinic safe and minimize interruptions to care.
With a year as turbulent as 2020 has been, Lisa was encouraged when the first gold ribbon went up at the Royal Oak campus in September. “We appreciated the support from our administration to move forward with our annual Childhood Cancer Awareness month activities. Our children fight so hard every day and they, along with their families, deserve to be honored and recognized.”