Mary Kapfer

Instilling hope

David Tyler

As the oldest of eight children, nurturing others was always something that came naturally for Mary Kapfer. “My father would say, ‘when Mary went to college, we didn’t know what we would do,’ because I was the oldest and I was like the second mother,” she said.

That experience, as well as the experience of 46 years in medicine, has made her wellsuited for the role of breast navigator at St. Joseph Imaging in Fayetteville.

“My job is to make sure women – it’s almost always women, but sometimes men as well - get what they need,” she said. “I just want to be there for people in any way they need me. It’s different things for different people.”

Often that includes educating them about their breast health to ensure they are getting regular mammograms and taking care of themselves. Sometimes it is helping them navigate some of the financial supports that are available for uninsured patients. Almost always it is about giving patients hope and encouragement at a time when their anxieties are at their highest.

It is also about being available to patients when they are going through a traumatic, anxietyproducing event – getting them in quickly if they’re waiting, getting them their results promptly, being available to answer their questions.

When a mammogram shows a lump or other cause for concern, Mary walks them through the biopsy process, to include sitting with the majority of patients during the procedure, holding their hand, planting encouraging thoughts.

“I’m giving them that hope when they come in that most of these are benign,” she said, noting that about 80 percent of biopsies are benign. “I think the important message is to always deliver hope.” Renée Moonan is one of the patients that Kapfer sat with during a biopsy of a lump in her breast.

“She just made me feel like everything was going to be okay,” Moonan said. “During the biopsy, she was stroking my leg, telling me I was going to be okay. She’s very intuitive. She was very much tuned in to how I was feeling.”

“Human touch is so important,” Kapfer said. “They’re so anxious that the anxiety is just sending them over the edge. It’s just a different kind of cancer for women. It’s such a personal thing.”

When they needed someone to fill the role of breast navigator, St. Joseph’s Imaging sought Kapfer out. She had worked at St. Joseph’s Hospital previously and they felt she had the skills and personality for the job.

Kapfer initially wasn’t sold that she was the right person for the job. In several decades of experience, she had worked with cancer patients, but this role would have a singular focus – breast cancer patients.

But after the interview, when she spoke with her husband, Kim, she knew she was the right fit for the role.

“I think what drew me to it is these people need somebody and they need somebody who can be patient with them and give them hope and be caring. And I can do that with people,” Kapfer said. “It’s such a personal part of their body and so personal to them. It’s just being able to focus on this one group and take care of them and I really do love it.”

How has the position changed in the 11 years that Kapfer has been a breast navigator?

“I think we’re busier – I think we’re seeing more young people now than we used to,” she said. “I think it’s changed because people are more aware of the services that are out there.”

It’s also helpful that in New York State, even those without health insurance can get free mammograms, she said.

“Even if you don’t have insurance, New York State has provided f or that,” Kapfer said, touting the people at Cancer Services of Onondaga County who help uninsured patients navigate through the financial supports available to them. “There’s no reason for people not to have a mammogram. I guess if I could shout out one thing, if you’re over 40 and you don’t have insurance, it doesn’t matter, New York State will pay for that.”

Living in the world of breast cancer every day certainly has its challenges, but Kapfer gladly accepts those challenges knowing that she is helping patients during one of the most stressful events in their lives.

“I think anybody in medicine takes it home with them. I think about these people a lot,” she said. “It can be an emotionally draining job, but it’s also a satisfying job.” SWM