Overlake Nurse Practitioner Featured in Industry Magazine, ONS Connect

Bellevue, Wash. – Nurses, particularly advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) and nurse practitioners (NP) are changing the way oncology care is delivered. One such APRN is Mary “Muff” Heffernan, MN, ARNP, AOCNP of Overlake Medical Center. Heffernan is featured on the cover of this month’s ONS Connect and profiled in the feature “Advanced Practice Nurses Evolve Healthcare Solutions.”

ONS Connect, the official news magazine of the Oncology Nursing Society, is distributed to more than 50,000 oncology professionals nationwide each month.

“We are incredibly proud of Muff and are thrilled to see both her and her work recognized in ONS Connect,” said Robyn LaFleur, Director of Cancer Services at Overlake. “The contributions of advanced practice nurses like Muff greatly enhance the services and care we are able to provide our patients.” 

A Seattle native, Heffernan currently manages Overlake’s breast cancer survivorship program. In her role as a NP, Heffernan assists breast surgeons during mastectomy surgeries and guides patients through their care journey. She delivers preoperative education, sees patients for postoperative care and works with patients and surgeons to develop survivorship care plans.

The model employed by Heffernan and her colleagues allows everyone to focus on what they do best. “This model allows the surgeons to spend more time with patients who require their surgical skill and for me, the NP, to see patients who can benefit from my time and expertise in caring for people with cancer or who are at high risk for the disease,” Heffernan said.