Hello New England Region WOC Community,

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Well, the long-awaited Spring has finally arrived. The tulips sprouting, the forsythia blooming and shedding the winter coats are all signs of a new season. I apologize for the lengthy email but so much is happening within your New England Region that I feel compelled to share all the great things with you.

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Your board has been very busy behind the scenes keeping us all connected.  I hope you take a minute to look around at this newly updated website. The Communications Committee has done wonderous things for our website with new tabs and opportunities to stay connected.  They were able to download our zoom educational meetings under the “new members” tab.  If you sign up and create a password, you can view the wonderful presentations by Liz McWhinnie  “There’s No Place Like Homecare! The Challenges and Benefits of Providing Wound Care in the Home” and Gisele Castonquay, her wonderful presentation, “Care of the Lymphedema Patient, Dress to Compress”.  If you stay tuned we will soon be downloading Sue Hamilton’s presentation on “Down the Tubes, Protecting the Skin Around Tubes and Drains”.

The board is excited to be able to present to you these educational sessions and if you would like a topic presented, please reach out to the me at NewEnglandWOCNPresident@gmail.com and we will do what we can to make this happen.

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Coming on May 24th at 7pm, Melissa Ayers MS, RN, FNP-BC, CRRN, CFCN, CWOCN from Lahey Clinic will speak via zoom on “When Surgery Is Not an Option, Custom Hernia Belt Fitting a Solution”. For those of us who work in an outpatient clinic with ostomy patients, this is a topic that is so valuable to our practice. I hope you join in and listen to what Melissa has to say. You will receive a zoom invitation closer to the event. Please make sure your membership is up to date, checking off New England Region as the region you belong, so we can send you the invitation.

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Our National Conference will be here before we know it.  June 4-7 in Las Vegas Nevada.  For those who are attending, we hope to see you for breakfast on Sunday June 4th 7-8:30am at the Ling Hotel. Look for us in room Icon E.  It is a wonderful time during conference to get together to network and meet the WOC nurses who are located within your region.  It’s always a fun time to get/stay connected and learn about what our region is doing to foster community, provide education and how we continue to improve and update our website to be more interactive and informative.

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Did you know Youth Rally is live this year? Did you also know the New England Region has funds put aside to sponsor a youth to attend Youth Rally?  Check out their website https://www.ostomy.org/event/2023-youth-rally and if you happen to know of a child with an ostomy that would like to go, please reach out to our youth rally chairs at email: newenglandwocn@gmail.com

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This year we are voting for 2 positions on the board.  One is Treasurer and the other is President elect.  We are seeking candidates for both positions and if you have any interest in becoming more involved, we welcome you.   Please contact Diane Bryant at email:  newenglandwocn@gmail.com if interested.  We would love to have you!

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Last but certainly not least, we have our Education Committee working hard to launch another successful fall conference.  This year we will be returning to Mohegan Sun in CT, October 20-21st. 

 

Be sure to keep an eye on your emails for registration.  Be sure to note the deadlines so you are assured of a room at conference. 

 

Look forward to seeing some of you in Las Vegas.  I hope you can zoom in May24th to listen to Melissa Ayer on parastomal hernia belt fitting and remember, we always have room for you “at the table” so hope to see you then! 

 

Donna Loehner RN BSN CWON

President New England Region WOCN