I had the best time in SanAntonio!!! It is a beautiful city and Congress was great as well. I enjoyed meeting new people and learning new things............Thank you ONS

So, got any tips on how to make the most of this experience? I am a little overwhelmed... where should I start? How do you network when there are so many faces? I would like this to be an educational experience something tangible I can walk away with. ( and NO I don't mean "stuff", I mean knowledge, hands on, user friendly, working knowledge!) Any tips

Mindy, RN: Be prepared! Plan your attack. Look at the schedule and highlight what really interests you, and don't look back. There's way too much to absorb in a weekend. SCHEDULE time (at least a couple hours) to peruse the exhibit hall, and take in at least on... [read more]

Melissa Mitchell-Earnest: So I finallly found a way to open up to the person standing next me (it's weird, we are so isolated, with our computers and our cell phones) and I am richer for it. It was fun to have conversation, find out where people come from , what they do and h... [read more]

Kudos to the early runners, walkers, and wheelers who participated in the ONS Foundation/Pfizer Fun Run/Walk & Wheelchair. Then we were on to the 28th Mara Mogensen Flaherty Memorial Lectureship presented by Mary Hughes from MD Anderson - "Sexuality and Cancer: The Final Frontier for Nurses." Mary's talk framed this topic well and gave attendees many tips on how to support their patients. Our annual Business meeting and Town Hall was well attende... [read more]

An early start to the day was the ONCC breakfast at which honors were given to Heather Mackey - AOCN of the year, Faith Chennette - OCN of the year, Elaine Sein - Pearl Moore Certification Champion, and Roswell Park Cancer Institute - Employer Recognition. Barb Bancroft was the keynote speaker - Livin', Lovin' and Learnin' through the Years. She was outstanding and everyone left feeling good about our professon. The Bench to the Bedside lecture -... [read more]

Hi, I heard there are nurses coming from China, and I would like to network with nurses from China. I stay at Emily Morgan hotel 514. Guiyun Zhou

This is my first Congress as president and I thought I would post impressions each day for members not here to "experience" Congress. If you are here and read this, add to my impressions. First, as everyone can see, we are monitoring information about the H1N1 flu and not only posting information on the Congress site, but have information available onsite for attendees. Everywhere I turn, I see hand sanitizers and everyone I talk with say they ar... [read more]

Welcome to Texas! ONS is continually monitoring updates from the CDC, the State of Texas and local officials. Currently, there are no bans on travel within the U.S. nor has there been any announcements curtailing public meetings in Texas. The latest official information can be found by going to www.ons.org and clicking on the links to the CDC and Governor Perry's Office. If you have questions please feel free to stop at the ONS Booth or ONS Resou... [read more]

If anyone needs a hotel room for Thursday 4/30 through Sunday, 5/3 (3 nights), I prepaid for the Emily Morgan Hotel and could transfer the reservation to an interested party, as I will no longer be using this reservation. Please email me at carrie.stricker@uphs.upenn.edu if you are interested. Carrie

Does the shuttle pick up at the Sheraton Gunter?

There will be a Focus Group session for nurse survivors who are attending Congress on Thursday, April 30, 2009 from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. in Room 215 of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. Below is a message from the Focus Group Coordinator with some discussion questions. She will not be at Congress and I am honored ot subsitute for her at the meeting. The Board is interested in knowing what ONS might be able to provide to support our members ... [read more]

Debra Thaler-DeMers: I am interested in a Nurse Survivor Focus Group but will be at the Survivorship SIG meeting at 11:30 on April 30. I would like to know how many people would be interested in a survivor blog. I have one on google http://cancersurvivorx3.blogspot.com. ... [read more]

Okay....are we at all concerned about the current "possible pandemic" in Mexico and in San Antonio, Texas???

Sandy Powell: I surfed over to the CDC website: no travel advisories for San Antonio right now. Here's the link: www.cdc.gov/travel

Karen Hochberg: ONS is carefully monitoring the Center for Disease Controls (CDC) updates to the Public Health Emergency related to the swine flu. We will continue to monitor CDC recommendations and connect with public health officials in San Antonio to recieve the ... [read more]

Andy Guinigundo: We should all be concerned about possible global pandemics, but not necesarily in regard to Congress. I'm from Cincinnati, OH and there was a confirmed base in Cleveland, OH! I don't have my HEPA filter mask on yet! Everyone always talks about the bo... [read more]