TAMPA, Fla. — A program at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital providing a lifeline for sick kids and their families is looking to expand.

There are currently five nurse navigators at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital who serve as a bridge between patients and providers.

“We act as their one point of contact, that they can reach out to us to facilitate between all of their medical teams,” explained Natalie Jackson, a nurse navigator.

Jackson, also a registered nurse, was paired with the Yeager family, whose four-year-old daughter, Sienna, was diagnosed with a heart defect and rare genetic condition.

“It is a syndrome that affects every sense that we have, vision, hearing,” said Sienna’s mother, Lindsay. “We don’t know if she can taste.”

Yeager said the nurse navigator program has benefited her family in a variety of ways.

“The most valuable thing is her care to make sure that we were taken care of,” said Yeager. “We never walked out anything with lingering questions.”

Questions can come at all hours. Yeager recalls one time needing help with Sienna’s feeding tube.

“It’s like 9 o’clock at night, we called Natalie and we’re like, ‘Natalie, what do we do?’” said Yeager. “She FaceTimed us and we had an extra G-tube to put in, so she helped us through the process of this is what we need to do to put her G-Tube back in so we didn’t have to go to the ER.”

As a nurse navigator, Jackson helps guide families through their child’s diagnosis, manage multiple appointments and treatments, and she consults on complicated medical decisions.

“We’re able to sit down and spend any amount of time with a family that we need to, from five minutes to two hours, depending on the need at the time,” said Jackson.

The hospital hopes to grow the program and is using the Heroes Ball hosted by the St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Foundation to raise $2 million to help fund five new nurse navigator positions to provide critical support.

Nurse navigators currently work in cardiology, oncology and OB departments.

New positions would help patient families with neurology, endocrinology and gastrointestinal needs.

Yeager and Jackson say the pairings go beyond patient care.

“It’s just more of a personal relationship that really made the whole journey just so special in its own way,” said Yeager. “Without her, it wouldn’t be the same.”

The Heroes Ball is Saturday, April 5. Donations and silent auction bids can be made online.