Northern Virginia Chapter ONS
Spring Newsletter, 2010
Editor: Geronima Cortese-Jimenez
Chapter Mission: The mission of our chapter is to create a culture within our community that promotes excellence in oncology nursing and quality cancer care.
Chapter Vision: The vision of our chapter is to advance the role of the oncology nurse in the continuum of cancer care which includes prevention, screening, early detection, treatment, palliative care, research and education.
Local Meetings are the fourth Mondays of the month
Future Program Events:
Please keep alert to Gail Harvey’s flyers of the upcoming chapter meetings via email.
2010 has certainly proved to be an interesting year so far with our record snow falls creating some of the most beautiful landscapes and the most challenging clean ups ever. I was grateful that my sons are grown so I did not have to deal with the “no school”- headaches and also because they were excellent with shoveling detail. Our board met on January 30, a snowy Saturday morning, proving they are dedicated and ready to work. We had a short efficient meeting; Lois Sutphin was in charge of watching the intensity of the snowfall so that we did not end up stranded at the American Cancer Society office for the weekend. Plans are under way for the Spring Survivorship program on March 20, the May Nurses Month dinner, Silent auction fundraiser for ONF in November and the book drive for Pediatric Oncology in December.
These programs will not be a success without the involvement of our chapter members. We are always looking for energy and new ideas from our membership. Please consider becoming more involved with our chapter by volunteering to help with any of these events. Also, I would like to remind you that the board meetings are open meetings. Any chapter member may attend the meetings. Please contact me or any of our board members for more details.
Board Meetings
6pm at American Cancer Society office Park Street, Vienna
March 8
May 10
August 9
September 13
October 4
November 8
Sincerely
Chris Althoff
President Northern Virginia Oncology chapter
Get wild and be wowed at Congress, where you'll get the latest cancer nursing education and have a chance to connect to more than 4,000 of your nursing peers. It's the perfect place to sharpen your skills, share ideas, and become part of the ONS community. Plus, San Diego's a great city to spend a few days in.
Learn More about Managing Cancer Symptoms
The Symptom Management Web-course is a new program from ONS that examines uncommon symptoms that patients experience related to both their cancer and treatment. It explores the pathophysiology of symptoms associated with cancer treatments, integrates evidence-based management strategies, and much more. You can complete the course activities at any time! For your convenience, this course is self-paced and may be accessed at any time during the period that your class is active. Register today! This web-course is supported, in part, by an educational grant from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and sanofi-aventis. http://www.ons.org/CourseDetail.aspx?course_id=77
ONS Speaker Training Now In Web-course Format
The new ONS Speaker Training Web-course is for healthcare professionals with a desire to learn how to prepare and present top-quality, balanced speeches and presentations. This web-course focuses on the smooth delivery of nursing content and dramatically improves your speaking skills. Learn to instantly convey information effectively using tools for impressive and memorable presentations. Be confident, enthusiastic, and a more polished speaker. Registration is now open. This program is supported by the ONS Foundation through the ONS Foundation endowment. http://www.ons.org/CourseDetail.aspx?course_id=75
With the growing usage of social media, Facebook is becoming a growing trend among oncology nurses. Facebook is a social network of users who share interests and activities with each other. This social networking site provides the ability for chapters to create group pages. Creating a group page in Facebook will give the opportunity for chapter members to communicate with each other which will create an environment of knowledge sharing and networking.
Chapters are welcome to create a group within Facebook. Groups are socially interactive pages for chapter members to discuss information as well as add pictures from past events.
ONS recommendations for Facebook:
ONS asks that you place links on your group page to the ONS group page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?sid=4b3f03cc77286512395ac253efc6fe8f&gid=58843210572 and to the ONS Twitter account at http://twitter.com/OncologyNursing
In return, ONS will display your chapter’s group page on the ONS group page links section and send out a “tweet” about your page via Twitter. Please e-mail Sean Pieszak at with your group’s URL.
The healthcare debate is underway. Check this area of the ONS website regularly to stay informed of ONS activities surrounding healthcare reform. The media, Congress, and the current administration are beginning to understand that nurses have an important point of view in the reform of the healthcare system. Recently ONS participated in the following activities:
· Conference calls with the White House and other nursing associations where nursing leaders shared ideas on how to make sure nurses are included in the discussions.
· Carlton Brown, PhD, RN, AOCN®, ONS president-elect led an ONS delegation to the White House where President Obama spoke about his plan to reform America’s healthcare system.
· The Oncology Nursing Society joined with others in the nursing community to put forward healthcare reform solutions for improving access, cost, and quality.
· ONS President Brenda Nevidjon, RN, MSN, FAAN, authors Op-Ed Commentary: "Death Panel" Rumors Are False Full story on CNN.com
This is a new year and with it come new opportunities for the chapter to grow in members as we grow professionally. Membership in this chapter provides ongoing educational programs with a variety of networking venues with oncology nursing colleagues. Chapter strength is evident in the members encouraging membership to new members.
Welcome to the following new members:
Candace Choquette, Susan Cunneen, Donna Doucet, Leah Dudani, Joyce Dunlap, Christine Genter, Jocelyn Jensen, Catherine Lively, Tricila Ronquillo and Nadine Sample
We look forward to getting to know you and providing you opportunities to grow professionally and participate in the chapter activities.
Joining or renewal during the membership campaign timeframe that began January 2010 and runs through March 2010 will make you eligible for a free chapter membership in 2011. The drawing for two free chapter memberships will be at the April chapter meeting.
Requirements for chapter membership are verification of current National ONS membership, completed chapter form for 2010 and $25 dues paid to the chapter. Maintaining national ONS membership throughout the year is required to maintain chapter membership. Attendance of chapter meetings requires presentation of current National membership, otherwise a $15 fee will be charged for attending the chapter meeting. Tracking current National membership can be quite time consuming, so members compliance is greatly appreciated.
Currently the chapter membership is at 133 and that includes: 91current chapter members of which 10 are new members and 80 members that have renewed for 2010. The 80 members that have renewed represent 64% of the chapter membership from 2009 (123 members). If you have not renewed for 2010, you will be contacted by the membership committee to encourage renewal. We need you to be a part of the chapter and look forward to your returning to an active status.
The membership committee, Karole Nielsen and Wanda Shehan have made the registration process smooth and efficient. The first meetings of the year, when everyone is renewing, paying dues and joining is quite a challenge. Your compliance and support has been appreciated as we strive to make you welcome at the meeting. It is a great opportunity to meet colleagues, put names with faces and renew friendships.
Gail Harvey, the program chair, is to be commended for the outstanding contribution of taking reservations for the meetings. Donna Eichna is to be thanked for nametags made for new members and updated for those who have name changes.
It is a privilege to serve as Membership Chair for an outstanding and highly professional chapter. Promotion and support of oncology nursing colleagues benefits each other and the incredibly courageous patients and their families as they strive to regain their health and quality of life.
Networking is one of our goals with our monthly meetings. To facilitate this we will be sitting members in a way that they will be able to meet and get to know others they are not familiar with. We will be placing colored dots on the name tags to correspond with a color on the dinner tables for the March meeting. We very much appreciate every one's cooperation. Thanks.
Save this date
Saturday, March, 2010
Join the ONS local Northern Virginia Chapter in its second annual Survivor Retreat.
Please join us for the 4th Annual Cancer Survivor Retreat on Saturday, March 20th, 2010 from 8am-3pm at the OLGC Church in Vienna. There will be a Life after Treatment panel and several workshops.
Members are encouraged to check in at the registration desk and volunteer if needed.
Please invite any patients or friends who have completed treatment to register at 703-558-6213 or e-mail:
This is your newsletter, please use this as a vehicle to create an approachable, user-friendly communication mechanism for Northern Virginia ONS chapter members to share information and provide access to timely evidence based information they can use in their clinical settings, research efforts and in the education of both the public and health professionals about cancer and its treatment.
We look forward to expanding the content of the newsletter. It would be great to add articles about what is happening in your world! Comments and editorials may be sent to
Summer Newsletter submissions due June 25, 2010
2010 Officers and Board
Please contact a board member with any ideas or suggestions
Title / Name / EmailPresident / Christine Althoff /
President Elect / Christine Helou /
Secretary / Sofia Rotter /
Treasurer / Lois Sutphin /
Legislative Committee / Alana Jaffe /
Membership Chair / Donna Meyer /
Newsletter Committee Chair / Geronima Cortese-Jimenez /
Nominating Committee Chair / Janine Prime /
Program Committee Chair / Gail Harvey /
Scholarship Committee Chair / Karilyn Pittman /
Special Programs / Jean Sullivan /
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