Janet Vogel, ODS-C, was working in the Medical Records Department at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, Florida, when she was approached by the current cancer registrar, Nancy Etzold, ODS-C. Nancy was moving to another facility and the ODS-C position at Blake would need to be filled. Janet knew nothing about the cancer registry and was basically hired as a warm body to fill that seat. Nancy was very supportive and recommended that Janet attend the Principles of Oncology for Cancer Registry Professionals Training Program taught by April Fritz, ART, ODS-C. That was the most intense class Janet had ever taken and after completing that class, she was hooked!
In 1997, Janet earned her ODS certificate and became a ODS-C. She started attending Florida Cancer Registrars Association (FCRA) and National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA) meetings. She read or attended every educational program available and developed a fierce network of fellow registrars, calling on them to help her learn. She will forever be grateful for the numerous registrars who were so patient with her early on in her career and answered so many of her questions! They would be the first of her many teachers in this field, but most importantly they became people she would consider life-long friends.
Janet not only joined FCRA but also served on the board in multiple positions and in 2006 was elected president of that organization. But she didn’t stop there! From 2011 to 2018, she was editor of the FCRA newsletter, the “SunTimes.” When she moved to Tennessee, Janet joined the Tennessee Oncology Data Analysts Association (TODAA) and served on their nominating committee from 2013 to 2019. Currently, she is the NCRA Professional Development Board Director.
Professionally, Janet rose from a novice cancer registrar to a leader in the cancer registry educational field. Beginning in 2011, Janet served as manager of education for ERS until she moved on in 2018 to a position with himagine solutions where she is their current compliance & quality auditor and cancer registry educator. Almost everyone that has ever listened to Janet’s presentations, either live or on the webinar, “Tumor Talk,” can’t wait for the next one. Not only are Janet’s presentations about the complexity of assigning the correct codes in various case scenarios, but they are also filled with humor.
Janet says, “If I’ve learned anything in the last couple of years, it’s not so much what you spend your time doing that’s important. It’s more about who you are spending your time with. Spending time with those you love is the most precious gift of all.”
Her message to the standard setters is, “I wish there was a better way to track the corrections that need to be made to the manuals. It would be helpful to see more examples of common case scenarios in the manuals.” Janet’s message to her peers is: “Never stop learning!”
For fun, Janet enjoys spending time with her family, neighbors, and friends.
