2009 AfterCare Education Day

POGO is committed to providing ongoing education and discussion opportunities as part of the provincial aftercare program. This year’s POGO Education Day was held Friday January 16th, 2009*. The topics and speakers were determined by an Education Committee composed of representatives from each of the pediatric and adult tertiary partner sites. The target audience was the provincial interdisciplinary AfterCare staff.

A record number of registrants attended from our tertiary centres. Delegates from BC Childrens Hospital, British Columbia and IWK Health Centre, Halifax attended in response to outreach to these centres.

The day is coordinated to allow the centre staff to network, discuss common issues and collaborate on program initiatives and priorities.

Key themes included: the impact and management of disfiguring treatments from physical and body image perspectives, using craniofacial reconstruction in survivors of facial disfigurement as a paradigm; economic impacts and insurance implications of survivorship; the controversy surrounding treatment induced growth hormone deficiency in childhood and beyond; and post traumatic growth in survivors.

The success of the Education Day was made possible by the outstanding selection of speakers whose presentations were exceptional for their clarity, comprehensiveness and extraordinary distillation of vast amounts of information.

A list of speakers and topics and CDs of the Education Day are available at no cost for educational purposes– please contact Jill Forsythe, Conference & Educational Events Coordinator at jforsythe@pogo.ca for details.

Participant feedback has provided the committee with recommendations for the next Education Day. Please forward an email to Jill Forsythe at jforsythe@pogo.ca to add your comments or suggestions for future education events.

A Survivor Conference will be hosted by POGO in 2010 for survivors of childhood cancer which will afford survivors an opportunity to network with one another, and to learn more about issues and challenges of survivorship at their own pace. Session topics are under consideration. The POGO website will be updated as more information comes available. Please contact Jill Forsythe, Conference & Educational Events Coordinator at jforsythe@pogo.ca for further details.