June 2024

June 2024
Tara McEvoy

(MHA, Health Administration '21)

Q & A:

1. What was your favorite class, who was your favorite professor, or what is your fondest memory of Hofstra?
   It is hard to narrow down to one favorite class because there were so many that I found incredibly interesting. One of my very favorite classes was Risk Management taught by Professor Howard Goldberg. He taught that class in a way that was so interesting that I was ready to switch careers at that moment.
   
   I can honestly say that I had a wonderful experience with every professor that I had the privilege of interacting with at Hofstra, but the professor that I would deem my favorite, and who has had a very strong impact on my professional development, is Dr. Edward Coffield. Dr. Coffield is a very energetic, approachable person. He takes the time to listen and understand what each person is trying to achieve while studying at Hofstra. If there is an area of interest that you have, he will connect you with an appropriate person to expand on that interest. He makes the courses he teaches lively and interactive. He is a support system unto himself, and each student whose path he crosses is that much better off for having made that connection. I have the utmost respect for him and hold him in the highest regard.
2. In one word, how would you describe Hofstra?
   Limitless.
3. What was your first job after graduating from Hofstra, and what was the most valuable thing you learned there?
   My first job after graduating from Hofstra was the job that I had started the program with, paramedic supervisor at Northwell Health. It was my director, friend, and colleague in that role who had given me the encouragement I needed to go back to school and earn my master’s degree. I had been in the emergency medical services field for my whole adult life. Graduating from Hofstra with the MHA enabled me to look beyond my comfort zone in EMS and realize that there were other opportunities for me in health care. So, after 30 years in emergency medical services, Hofstra gave me the knowledge and confidence to step into an administrative role with Northwell’s Cancer Institute.
4. What is your field of specialty, and how did you come to work in the industry?
   My field of specialty is health care, now cancer nurse navigation. I started working in health care because my sister had pushed me into choosing a career path. I started college fresh out of high school but dropped out to work and earn money. I had been working multiple jobs at a time. My sister introduced me to emergency medical services. At first, it wasn’t exactly what I thought I would want to do. I really wasn’t someone who had ever thought of health care. I had wanted to go into the hotel/restaurant management field. That didn’t come to fruition for a variety of reasons.
   
   I spent about six years working as an EMT in lower Manhattan, which was very different from the life I grew up in on Long Island. At 21 years old, I was introduced to a variety of people and situations that I really didn't know existed outside of books and movies. I wasn’t sure it was something I could or would continue doing. Fast forward a few years, I decided to go to paramedic school and provide advanced life support. It was fast-paced, action-filled excitement for a long time working for in NYC, and then at Northwell. Sometime later, I got married, had kids, continued working, and decided I finally needed to finish my bachelor’s degree so that my children would understand that I believed in the importance of education. At 43 years old, I graduated from SUNY Empire State with all three of my children holding signs and cheering for their mom. Then in 2021, they were able to cheer me on again at my MHA graduation.
   
   The MHA program at Hofstra prepared me for my current role at Northwell as a program director at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute, where we have built out a nurse navigation program for this unique patient population.
5. What is a typical day like for you as a program director at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute?
   I can’t say that any day is “typical.” There are many moving parts while developing programs. I am fortunate to have an incredible team that we have brought on. We start each morning with a 15-minute team brief to go over any important information for that day. My team is made up of RN nurse navigators, administrative support coordinators, and managers. The team is unique in that they are there to assist a patient with a cancer diagnosis throughout the continuum of care from biopsy to survivorship and everything in between. As we grew, we made an overarching program – Cancer Care Direct – to make it simple to contact us.
   
   The RNs do many things for a patient, including providing education, emotional support, and connecting to the patient on a very human level. They listen and genuinely care for their patients to support them through this journey. When someone faces a cancer diagnosis, it can be very overwhelming for the patient and their family. Our nurses work hand in hand with the admin coordinator to take the burden of having to schedule different appointments and scans and any next steps off the patient, so they can focus on healing and being with their family. We listen to make sure they are getting the appointments with the providers they choose, and in a timely fashion. We are here for them every step of the way, keeping in contact through it all. Our program is open to anyone that needs us. We are just a phone call or email away: 833-223-4732 or CancerCareDirect@northwell.edu.
6. How did your experience working as a paramedic and EMT impact your career?
   My experience as a paramedic impacted my career by being able to connect with people who are going through what is the worst experience of their lives. As a paramedic supervisor, I was working in Manhattan during the COVID pandemic. As a supervisor, it is a working role where you are often pulled away from your administrative tasks to act as a critical care paramedic or a community paramedic, so at times you are stretched thin. During COVID, there were many instances where the staff really needed someone to be able to stop and listen to them. They were seeing things that they had never had to deal with before, and EMTs and paramedics are often young when they start. Regardless of how long anyone had been working in that field, there was a lot of death, more than some people had ever had to deal with in their whole career, happening in one week, or a few days. 
   
   Being there to help with the emotional support of the staff during that crisis had a huge impact on my career. Along with dealing with my own reactions to having to work in that unknown, it was a crazy time of uncertainty. I had dealt with other scary moments in history, such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic when I started my career. COVID made that seem like nothing. Trying to make sure that my staff was OK at the beginning, middle, and end of their shift during this time made me stronger as a leader. I learned how important it was to allow people to speak and actively listen. Not everyone needs an answer; sometimes, they just need an ear. This lesson has allowed me to grow on a personal and professional level.
7. What is the single most rewarding/exciting experience in your career thus far?
   The single most exciting experience of my career so far has just happened. Northwell has a President’s Award that is given out each year. Last year, our breast navigation team was nominated for the Teamwork award and was the Regional Finalist for the award. I was very excited and proud of that moment. Though we were not the overall winner, we were proud to stand next to the two incredible teams that won. We just learned that our navigation team is up for the Teamwork award and we are the Regional Finalist this year. We will find out later this year if we are the overall winner.
   
   We have only been a department for two years, so to have this honor two years in a row is incredible! I could not be prouder of this group.
8. What was a major obstacle you were able to overcome to perform your job?
   The major obstacle that I was able to overcome to perform my job or even get to the job that I have now happened just as I began my Master of Health Administration journey. I started at Hofstra in September of 2018 a bit nervous at being an older adult student. In October of 2018, I had routine blood work done and was told that I needed to see a hematologist. I had many things going on at the same time – recently divorced single mother of three grade school kids, working crazy paramedic hours, and fitting college in between everything in my life – that it took a few days to realize what the doctor said, and I panicked. Hematology/oncology flashed through my brain, and I feared what I was going to find out. I worked for Northwell and went there for care. The doctor was very kind, though I was panicked, and told me he suspected that I had chronic leukemia. Never having heard of chronic leukemia, I was terrified. I decided I did not want to scare anyone and did not tell anyone what was going on. I was not sure that I would be able to finish school; I was not sure I would be able to finish anything. I went and had a bone marrow biopsy and waited for the results.
   
   That waiting time is torture, and you try to figure out what is going on. I was using Google to try to diagnose myself. I had paid $5 to an “ask a doc" website that gave me answers ranging from “I had a cold” to “I had about 3 days to live.” It was a terrible $5 spent. All the while waiting for the results of the bone marrow biopsy. I don’t look back to see how many days it was, because it felt like years, but I did finally get the call from my doctor. He asked if I was driving, and I said I had pulled up to the school to pick up my daughter from basketball (in my head, that was me passive aggressively telling him I was driving). He said, “Good, I don’t like talking to people when they’re driving. Your bone marrow biopsy is back, and you have the Philadelphia chromosome like I suspected. You have the chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) that I spoke to you about. I am going to give you some tablets that you will take for the rest of your life, but you will be fine. You’ll live your whole life.” And I sobbed, the only word I heard was leukemia. I thought I was going to have to quit Hofstra, and plan for my children’s future without me. Instead, he was right, I take medicine every day, but my blood work has been undetectable for the cancer cells since 8/23/2019.
   
   That experience makes what I am doing in my current role at Northwell Health Cancer Institute that much more important to me. I have lived the experience without a nurse navigator. I spent many tortured hours alone with Google convincing me that I was going to have a worse outcome. Too much time alone in my head. I do not want any patient to ever have to go through that, and this is why my team is here every day. Our mission statement is that every cancer patient will have a nurse navigator if they would like one to assist them. We are open to any patient, whether they are just diagnosed or have already been seeing providers, started treatment, etc. Whatever point of care they are at, we are happy to assist in any way that we can.
9. What advice would you give to Hofstra students?
   Believe in yourself. You can do whatever you set out to do. Don’t let anything stop you.