Lynette Hansen has beaten the odds and exceeded expectations throughout her life, from graduating college early to surviving cancer. Now as a health care professional, she works to turn the odds in favor of the people around her.
Hansen graduated with her master’s in organizational behavior in 1975, when she was just twenty-one years old, and says she tripped and fell into her career in health care. Hansen’s jobs after graduation varied from an executive secretary for a major dairy corporation to a music coordinator for the Donny and Marie TV show. She spent eight years as an office manager at a real estate firm before an acquaintance recruited her for a job in health care quality.
Hansen is now a manager over quality improvement and reporting at Altius Health Plans, which provides health coverage to customers throughout the Mountain West. Hansen leads a team to review thousands of medical records and analyzes how to increase compliance and maximize the number of clients taking advantage of preventative health screenings.
Hansen knows a thing or two about early detection. Just after the birth of her first child, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and was told it was unlikely she would have any more children. However, because the disease was diagnosed early, Hansen avoided radiation and chemotherapy, survived the disease, and went on to have two more children.
“For me it’s very easy to teach people the importance of participating in screening programs,” she says, drawing on her own experiences as a thirty-year-plus cancer survivor.
Hansen’s role to educate and change lives is manifested in both her professional and community involvement. At Altius, she oversees more than one hundred health fairs per year and provides several health screenings and educational classes for customers. She also manages wellness programs through her company’s partner clients, which Hansen says is one of her favorite parts of the job because it helps change people’s lives.
Lives are also changed through Hansen’s many community roles, particularly as co-chair of the Utah Cancer Action Network (UCAN). Hansen works with a number of local leaders and organizations to improve treatment for cancer patients through legislation and encouraging early testing. UCAN recently received a highly coveted CDC award for its work with colon cancer screenings throughout Utah and the resulting drop in the number of reported cases.
“Everyone will be touched by cancer in some way,” Hansen says. “Education and knowledge are powerful ways to overcome some of those issues.”
Outside of her work and community commitments, Hansen applies her tenacity in a different sense. Her husband, Mark, is also a cancer survivor. They have three children and live in South Jordan, Utah, where Hansen enjoys gardening, crocheting, and making ceramics. From all she has done in her career in the community, Hansen says her best role is that of wife and mother.
“I hope that what it comes down to is that I was a good mothera great mentor and example for my family,” she says.
