2024 Difference Maker: How Lori Bronenkant transformed personal tragedy into a mission of hope

Lori Bronenkant knew even at a young age that she wanted a job where she could help people. But even during her first job out of college, as a receptionist in the Catheter Lab at SoutheastHEALTH, Bronenkant never guessed she would wind up with a healthcare career.

“I was a secretary and that was a great way to help people, and I just thought that's where I would always be,” Bronenkant said. “But life throws you down paths you don't really expect.”

When her father was diagnosed with cancer, Bronenkant and her whole family were heavily active in his care. She said watching the “amazing” care provided by her dad’s nurses and doctors showed her the path she wanted to follow.

“I knew then that I wanted to work with cancer patients because they needed people like me,” Bronenkant, now the experience manager at Mercy Cancer Center in Cape Girardeau, told B Magazine. “Somebody to be there to help them and to advocate for them.”

When SoutheastHEALTH announced they were creating a Cancer Center, Bronenkant wanted to be a part of it. She was hired as the manager and helped create the patient experience program for the Southeast [now Mercy] Cancer Center which opened in 2011.

Bronenkant is deeply familiar with the cancer care journey, having experienced it from every angle, walking through the diagnosis, treatment and deaths of both her father and father-in-law. In addition, Bronenkant and her husband are both cancer survivors. Going through her own cancer journey made her even more passionate about her work.

“It helped me realize that there's no easy cancer diagnosis and we need real people here, helping our patients,” Bronenkant said. “I do what I do because anybody who's diagnosed with cancer needs the entire team on their side.”

Bronenkant leads the We Can Weekends at the YMCA of the Ozarks in Potosi, Missouri for adults who've been diagnosed with cancer and their families. She said the camps provide a break from the daily grind of cancer.

“We just go out there and have a good time,” Bronenkant said. “We talk about all the serious things of cancer and we do all the education we can, but we also allow an opportunity for those families to reconnect, regroup and not have to worry about the treatment that weekend.”

To enable patients and their families to attend the camp, at no charge, Bronenkant has been a supporter of the Cancer Care Fund to support them.

Bronenkant said the biggest thing she and her team does at the cancer center and We Can Weekends is helping patients realize they can still live and celebrate life even with a cancer diagnosis.

Bronenkant is also responsible for building the “Journey Guide” for each patient, which reassures them they have everything they need along the way. Patients are connected to dieticians, social workers and a patient financial analyst where the Cancer Care Fund also provides support.

Bronenkant strives to help others outside of her work at the Cancer Center. She is a member of Trinity Adults in Christ — a group focused on giving back to those who have experienced a tragic event, serves on the school board for United in Christ Lutheran School in Frohna, Missouri and is a member of the Perry County Mental Health Board.

One person who nominated Bronenkant as a Difference Maker said, “Lori has a passion for celebrating and encouraging everyone — not only her patients but their families and caregivers as well. And when her patients don’t have a family? Not a problem; she is their family. Lori makes it her mission to make sure patients are never left uncomfortable. She always makes it a point to have a solution for whatever smaller battle they need help fighting, and makes it known that they are not fighting on their own.”

Editor's note: This story has been edited to reflect Bronenkant's involvement with the We Can Weekend and Cancer Care Fund.