Evelyn Waldera, at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. Photo Credit: Lorrie Pismenny
The Bertha S. Okun Lectureship was led by Brenda Elsagher, a comedian and an ostomate herself. She had the audience in the palm of her hands, played to the crowd and had everybody in stitches. Hollister provided everyone in attendance with a signed copy of Brenda's book "I'd Like To Buy A Bowel Please".
Everything from the Meet & Greet evening, the Grand Opening, the Awards, the Exhibits Hall, more Awards, and the Raffle & Auction made this a very memorable event. The workshops were varied and the presenters had a lot to share. We laughed and we learned.
The two areas that I was especially interested in were "Dealing with the Media" lead by Joel Jacobson and the "Chapter Presidents' Meeting" lead by Doug Graham. There were many points brought forward in these workshops that I feel we will be able to use in the future within our own chapter. The three manufactures, Coloplast, ConvaTec, & Hollister wined & dined and entertained us as usual with great evenings. Coloplast bused us out to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum for dinner on the Thursday.
Rolf Benirschke was guest speaker at the ConvaTec evening. Our own Evelyn Waldera had her story submitted, and she won ConvaTec's Renaissance Great Comebacks Award for the Western Prairie division. Champagne was flowing at Hollister's evening as they are celebrating their 50th Anniversary this year.
Most of us were ushered out of the hotel into the pouring rain one evening around 11:00pm due to a fire alarm. There was a problem with one of the elevators, no one was hurt but there sure were a lot of jokes going around about delegates in their PJs and the hotel's intercom system.
At the National Council Meeting, we ushered in new members and said good bye to past members. The main discussion arose over the motion to hold conference every two years rather than annually mainly due to costs. The motion was passed and the next conference will be held in Sydney, N.S. in 2010. Due to the bylaws, a short yearly general meeting is still required and the details have yet to be sorted out.
Respectfully submitted by
Lorrie Pismenny
