Lainie's Angels Presents At The APHON Conference in Louisville, KY
Posted on Oct 09, 2013
In September, Lainie’s Angels board member Diane Scott and I were in Louisville, Kentucky, making a presentation to the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON).
*Scroll down for the video of the full presentation*
The conference had 800 participants from hospitals all over the country and over 80 nurses attended our presentation. We also met representatives from these hospitals and had the opportunity to participate in an exhibitor’s day with our own booth. There, we handed out materials and spoke with many nurses about our program and Lainie’s Angels.
The goal of our presentation was to educate and inform the nurses about our peer support and parent advocacy program. The presentation was well received, with many of the nurses commenting how important it was for parents to be getting this type of support. Most were unaware this type of program existed and were excited about being able to send parents to us for support.
During the presentation, we explained how the program works and how they could collaborate with Lainie’s Angels to provide this service and help the families. Nurses are the front-line caregivers to children and often are asked by parents for help, only to find that they don’t have a reliable resource to give them. We stressed how our program is “by parents, for parents” and they were excited to have an organization they could trust. We stressed the fact that our support is given by parents whose kids have had cancer and share a common experience with the moms and dads they work with during therapy.
Ultimately, we asked the nurses to collaborate with us, by sending their parents to our website and to encourage them to call us or participate in our on-line support service. Many of them spoke to us after the presentation, and it was great to hear things like “this is a great thing you’re doing” and “I’m going to take this back home and present it to my director.” Since returning home, I have had a number of inquiries from nurses and other foundations, so I can say with confidence, the goal of getting the word out about Lainie’s Angels was accomplished in Louisville!
Love,
Stathi