Minutes -Agenda Business Meeting 8/4/09

Minutes -Agenda Business Meeting 8/4/09 5:30pm-7:30pm

NYS Capital District ONS

Welcome & Introduction of board members (updates/progress for first half of 2009):

Donna Offenbacker, President Elect: Went to the ONS Mentorship Weekend and discussed with group what she learned there. Donna received a $1000 grant from ONS on behalf of our chapter at an awards ceremony. The grant is for the NYS Capital District ONS Seminar:”Genetics, Genomics & Embryology of Cancer: Our Role as Patient Advocates” on Saturday Oct 10th 8am- 12N @ the Carondelet Hospitality House, Delatour Rd., Latham. (Half Day Seminar -3 CEU)

Jeanne Monin, Treasurer: Total of $20,008 in our accounts. Review of expenditures.

Christine Oathout, Secretary: NYOH will be hosting an Oncology Community Resource Fair. I reviewed what the fair is about and some of the organizations that will be there. Invitation to ONS members and clinical staff extended. Dee DeLollo will send a copy of the external invitation flyer to her contacts at the American Cancer Society (ACS). Other members to pass the word on also.

Norma Neapolitano, Membership Chair: TIME TO RENEW LOCAL DUES. Applications are available to print and mail in on our Website. No need to make a copy of your National ONS Membership Card anymore. Membership numbers reviewed.

Mary Jo Tomlinson, Nominating Chair: Secretary and President Elect up for nominations in January. Will use Survey Monkey for nominations instead of paper ballots.

Dee DeLollo, Education/Program Chair: Reviewed upcoming dinner meetings for September (PHN) and October (Gut Motility). Plan for Radiation Oncology Panel meeting in October. Half Day Seminar also in October as noted above. Maureen Baxter, President mentioned that Janet Garguilo to speak on the nurse’s role in genetic counseling referrals. There are few certified Genetic Counselors state wide. Linda Pulver says MVP Healthcare has a referral process and maybe she can get a list for them. Dee says she gets call at the ACS from patients/families asking where they can go. It would be nice if we could generate a list.

In regards to our Half Day Seminar, Maureen plans for Vendors to be present with non promotional trinkets. Instead we will ask them to donate educational books. We are looking for interested vendors. Can anyone think of vendors to be involved? We would like Myriad to be there.

Pat Morris, Legislation: Discussed the three different Health Care Systems in America. See our lastJuly Newsletter for the full storey!!! It has been uploaded by Maureen Baxter on our Website under “What’s New.” Pat also mentioned she has an appointment to represent the Patient Advocacy Program.

Linda Kennelly, Clinical Practice Chair: Discussed plans for Oral Agent Adherence Committee. Maureen will give her the Capital District ONS membership surveys results from earlier this year as requested.

Jacqueline Howard & Regina Griffin, Fundraising Chair: Absent tonight, however we all concur that they did a great job in fundraising. Both would like to resign, so we will be looking for their replacements.

Barbara Blanchard, Newsletter Chair: She will be looking for new ideas and stories to be sent to her via email. She will then edit and upload onto our Website. Contact Barbara or Maureen with Newsworthy events or articles, including OCN Certifications. We would like to recognize those who have been recently certified. We would like to start the “Member of the Month” feature.

Maureen Baxter, President: Maureen did a demonstration on ways to get to our Virtual Community Website and how to navigate it once you get there. What a great job Maureen did in achieving this long standing and ongoing Strategic Goal!!! Maureen went through each area on our website and discussed possibilities for the future.

Maureen will be working on updating the Strategic Plan Newsletter to send to National ONS. We will look over Strategic Plans in future meeting. We need to make improvements on Community Outreach and would like to get back to doing things as a group, to represent Oncology Nurses. September 24, 2009, Saint Peter’s Hospital will be having free Prostate Screening per Pat Morris. We will be looking for volunteers. Making Strides will be on Sunday October 18, 2009. We would like to do this as a group, so save the date!! We plan on buying t shirts and wearing reusable banners.

Maureen talked about Gilda’s Club Lunch and Learn. This is difficult for most nurses to volunteer for unless they are representing their employers. Maybe we can send out a survey monkey and ask our members if they are willing to do community work?

We discussed membership directory and employment opportunities. We would have to get permission to from each person to put this info on our Web. National ONS has a directory on their web, but it is protected. Also, employment opportunities may be posted on the web.

We found out that Dee DeLollo is part of the Advisory Diversity Panel for the National ONS. As a group, we have to be more open to diversity. What can we do to enhance diversity in our region? There are Lesbian sigs, International Nurses sigs, and Mentorship Program sigs for example.

Keep Maureen or Barbara updated on what our local members are doing in National ONS for “What’s New” on our Website.

Review of Upcoming Programs of Interest: 1) NYOH Oncology Community Resource Fair on September 16, 2009, 5:30- 9pm, Patroon Creek Blvd, Albany. 2) Core Curriculum for Oncology Nursing is on September 23 -24, 2009 @ AMCCenter for Learning & Development, 58 Hackett Blvd, Albany. 3) The ONS Chemo and Biotherapy Course is on October 7 -8, 2009 @ Glens FallsHospital. 4) The NYS Capital District ONS Seminar is on October 10, 2009, 8-12noon @ Carondelet Hospitality House, Delatour Dr., Latham.

Lastly, Jolene Dirolf gave us a clinical update on the Erbitux label change. She did a power point presentation named “Investigative Future Treatment Strategies with Targeted Therapy in MCRC.” Points to remember: Wild Type K-ras is good for patients to have. K-ras mutant is not good- bad prognosis….found in 40% Colorectal Cancer (CRC), 90% Pancreatic Cancer, and 4% Head and Neck Cancer. Erbitux label change that this must be checked before treatment is only for CRC.

Attendees: Maureen Baxter, Barbara McHale, Carol Shenise, Felicia Ansah, Jolene Dirolf, Linda Pulver, Donna Offenbacker, Pat Morris, MaryJo Tomlinson, Norma Neapolitano, Jeanne Monin, Theresa Fennelly, Dee Delollo, Christine Oathout, Linda Kennelly, Barbara Blanchard

Next Meeting will be regular Board Meeting on 8/19/09 at the Latham NYOH office at 5:30pm.