As I sit here in my office it is a beautiful sunny day, one in series of several we have had recently. However there is no promise that it will stay this sunny or that our winter is over. Those of you especially in the higher or more northern areas are aware of this. I hope you all are enjoying this change from our rain and snow.

I also hope you have had your checkbooks and pens out recently. After the initial mix-up from WOCN you should have gotten your actual bill for your dues. Obviously the dues were not free this year so by now you have sent in your fees. I also hope you noted that you wanted a portion of that money to be returned to PCR as your designated region. We get a substantial amount added to our funds each year from the WOCN but only if you so designate. I cannot stress highly enough the importance of designating PCR as the recipient of our portion of your dues.

That second check should have gone out to PCR as a registration for the March meeting in Sacramento. As many of you have requested a one-day fly in-fly out meeting, that is what is planned for March 15. There will be a speaker, some round table sharing and a business meeting. There are some important issues we need to discuss at this meeting such as the formation of an ethics committee, the issue of advertising on the web page and the update of our policies and procedures. If you are flying in Thursday afternoon or live nearby let me remind you that the Board of Directors meeting is an open meeting. Anyone is welcome to attend. In fact we would love to have more members attend these meetings to remove some of the "mystery" that seems to surround them according to some of the general membership.

For most of us, coming to PCR meetings means sacrifices; use of vacation days in order to get the day off, use of personal funds for travel or hotel if needed and food. In these days of belt tightening in the health care industry money does not flow as freely as it once did for educational and professional uses. There are very few of us who get funds for regional meetings such as PCR and national conference of WOCN. The money for those comes from our personal budgets often with hard decisions of what is important. If we want to be informed and thought of as leaders in our profession we must make these sacrifices to stay current as well as be part of a network of vibrant, active nurses who reach out to others. And share their expertise.

Ok, off the soapbox now. Hope to see you March 15 in Sacramento.

Jo Ellen

Pictures from PCR's Oct 4 Dinner / Auction / Fundraiser / Fun Night

The crowd of nurses, vendors, and family members grooved right into the 60's with the sounds of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the Beach Boys, Otis Redding, etc. The 60's outfits were fabulous! Seen in the crowd were Marge Landry in full hippy gear, a nerd, and lots of long hair! After a wonderful buffet dinner the surprise celebrity guest arrived...Elvis! He belted out his songs and gyrated for the crowd. Elvis is a crowd pleaser and he proved it by causing a cute kid in a pink poodle skirt (Donna Lockhart) to swoon and fall in love with him! After the audience finished up with personal greetings and photos with Elvis, the Live Auction began. Where the heck did those auctioneers come from? The rumor was that Bob Mays and Tim Farmer grew up in the 60's and slipped right into character. They were a riot, joking and cajoling the audience into higher and higher bids on items that ranged from gift baskets (donated by many Peer Groups and vendors) to one-of-a-kind items such as Betty Razor's paintings and a trip for 4 to the Tonight Show.

The silent and live auctions combined raised approximately $2960 for PCR's coffers. Check out the opportunity to be a part of Fun Night next Fall at PCR's conference in Lake Tahoe! Smiling, laughing, eating, and sharing are great for your health!

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UOA Youth Rally Bringing Teens Together

Imagine being alone. All alone. Or imagine being the only English-speaker in a Russian city. Or the only sunflower in a field of daffodils.

That image gives you only a tiny sliver of the way many children feel when they live with a stoma or related condition in a school, neighborhood or entire community where there is nobody else like them. They aren't in any particular danger, they are loved by their family and friends and usually get good medical care, and they may even have older people with ostomies with whom they could relate, but all that really isn't enough to help them develop a full sense of self and a feeling of confidence in their dealings with the world.

It was for this reason that the UOA and the then-IAET joined forces nearly 25 years ago to develop a special program for children with stomas, calling it the Youth Rally. Sponsorship has changed over the years, as has the age range of children and a number of other aspects of the program, but its core purpose remains the same: bringing together children who live with a bladder or bowel diversion so they can live, however briefly, among dozens of others who understand and accept them fully.

The enduring theme of the Rally is "Living Independently for Tomorrow - You Are Not Alone". Seemingly contradictory on the surface, in fact this motto tells much about the Rally and its objectives.

The team of counselors and WOC nurses who come together each year do so with the express purpose of helping the 11- to 17-year olds to understand their situations and learn how they can manage in their widening world of middle and high schools, and later college and careers. Mixed with educational sessions about their bodies and the wide range of options that exist for diverting bladder and bowel, as well as about handling relationships with others, the teens have a chance to relate informally with a range of teens and adults who share their diagnoses and diversions, and are living with or have lived through the same situations.

An incredible array of topics is covered in structured rap sessions and in hours of free time. To list a few: school showers; college and loan applications; pouch covers; email addresses and online resources; dating; driving (and what to do about seat-belts); make-up; sports; which campers are REALLY cute; how to get pouches dry after swimming; how to tell, who to tell and when; where the cutting-edge professionals are and what they're doing; wheelchair maintenance; diet tips; and team building events this only scratches the surface.

This all reinforces the "not alone" part of the theme as well. Campers learn they have a support network that is much larger than their family, medical team and community. They make fast friends, and throughout the year will write, phone and email to each other. Some visit each other during the year, and some take part in a Yahoo online club aptly named "imisstheyouthrally", with regular chats. They also interact with their counselors - or their parents do - to follow up on suggestions that may have been made during the Rally.

How important is the Rally in the lives of these children? In a video of the Rally produced in 2000, one girl in a party dress explains that the dance on the final evening each year is in a very real sense her Prom - she may have spent only 4 days with this group of teens, but the intensity of feeling and meaning in her life...and in the lives of all the attendees...fills the event with significance.

The Rally is almost as important in the lives of the counselors, who are true volunteers - they presently pay their own way and even their own registration, for the privilege of getting very little sleep for 6 days. Arriving two nights before the kids, they spend a full day in orientation and team-building, and prepare the site, donated items, games and crafts for the next few days. T-Shirts, knapsacks and water bottles are grouped for easy distribution as arriving campers register. Donated supplies are settled into a supply room, where the nurse counselors can choose from a wide array of items to help solve specific management problems they may find as each camper's stoma, diversion or management program is assessed. (It isn't necessary to have a stoma some campers are on bowel management programs and others are living with Crohn’s Disease or ulcerative colitis they can all benefit from the experience.)

We are blessed with an increasing number of counselors who were themselves campers some years before. Almost all the graduates want to come back as counselors - hoping to recapture the sense of camaraderie and closeness they experience in the Rally setting. After two years, if life has not taken them in another direction, selected former campers may return as a Junior Counselor. Some of them have become our strongest counselors, going beyond their personal needs and instead using what they have learned to really help the younger kids have a positive experience.

Early on the first real day of camp, one team of counselors hustles to the airport to begin meeting each child's airplane. After collecting luggage, they gather in a central spot until there are enough to fill a bus. As buses arrive at the Rally site, another team helps them unload and check in. The kids are registered, are assigned to one of a dozen or more groups of 7 to 9 campers (each with a nurse counselor plus a male and female UOA counselor) and begin the process of getting acquainted or renewing friendships for the previous year.

Throughout the next few days the teens will live in dorm rooms, share bathrooms, learn to live with a room-mate and keep their rooms neat for room checks, attend functions in college lecture halls and learn their way around campus. There will be informative activities (usually modeled on popular game shows such as Jeopardy or Survivor) and rap sessions on themes like relationships and the options for managing various diagnoses. Also, there is plenty of free time for sports, shopping or just hanging out and talking. Teen and counselors take part in a visit to a local theme or amusement park, a picnic supper; karaoke; group photo sessions; a "beauty shop" on the last afternoon; and finally a dance for all and a graduation ceremony for those in their last year of eligibility. Lifelong bonds are forged in this short span of time, and invaluable lessons tucked away.

Throughout the camp, the counselors will be there for the kids. They will take turns as they carry cafeteria trays, help with showers, load and unload the special buses, patrol the halls on "late night duty", share their personal feelings and experience with the campers in rap sessions or informally, dance with the little ones and wallflowers, clean-up bathroom messes or teach bed-making to a camper whose Mom has always done it, face stoma and diversion nightmares and find ways to make the child more comfortable, walk a sick child back to the dorm (and miss out on some of the program or the fun), carry someone's stuffed animal prize back from the amusement park, hold the hand of a homesick child, help another to enjoy the swimming pool, judge door-sign contests, haul luggage, get 3 kids onto two planes at opposite ends of the terminal (thanks to a late gate change), and much, much more. And when it's over, they will fall into a heap, probably get a little choked up (or a lot), AND make sure they have the date and location of next year's Rally. Which, by the way, is July 13-17 (staff in on July 11) at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

The UOA Youth Rally could sure use YOUR help with all of these functions. Do you work with a pediatric population and wish to share your skills? Do you know a teen-aged patient who would benefit from the Rally? Do you know an adult with a diversion plus the experience and skills to make a good counselor? Do you have ties to a fraternal or charitable organization that could help sponsor a child or a counselor? Can you participate in your WOCN Region's fund-raising efforts for the Rally? We will all be most grateful, and you will have helped many young people immeasurably, to know they are not alone, and to know they can look forward to an independent and happy life.

Linda K. Aukett,
UOA Past President and 9-time Rally counselor

Outstanding Contributions Recognized

Being selected by your peers for an award is the highest honor one can receive, according to many past award recipients. This time was no different. During Pacific Coast Region's fall conference held in Ontario, CA, last October, four key awards were presented.

PCR's Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Betty Razor, RN, BSN, CWOCN, for a lifetime of commitment and her contributions to wound, ostomy and continence nursing. It was noted in Betty's nomination, "Betty has served PCR in nearly all aspects. First she served as a board member for many years. Next Betty has been a mentor, an educator and a personal supporter of our programs and conferences. In addition to all this, Betty has served as an excellent example of what a CWOCN should be. She's been published, has developed innovative care improvements and she has brought her patients quality care for more than 20 years, 10 of which she worked for the City of Hope Hospital, and the past 10 years in private practice.

While Betty considers herself "retired,"she is still active in PCR. She lives with her husband in Minden, Nevada, near Las Vegas. That is further then most of us live from meetings held in California; still, Betty attends all of PCR's meetings. As the owner of Razor Collaborative Nursing Service, Betty keeps her hand in up-to-date treatment protocols, and she still accepts assignments and challenges when called on. When asked what has had the most significant impact on her career, Betty pointed out "{that} within our profession, the networking with our peers has always been our best resource."

When asked what she plans on doing in the next five years, she responds, "I'd like to really retire and give some time to others; you know, give something back to my community, like the support and love I have received from many people over the years." After spending 23 years as a WOCN member, Betty has, indeed, earned the chapter's lifetime achievement award.

PCR's Professional Education Award was presented to Mary Anne Dilloway, RN, CWOCN, who lives and works in San Diego.
Mary Anne takes great pride in her profession and demonstrates this by not only providing outstanding patient care and teaching, but working within her own professional organization as a member of PCR's education committee. She strives to maintain current in the profession by continuously attending educational programs across the country. Mary Anne passes on what she learns by providing educational programs throughout the United States for all levels of the nursing profession, as well as WOCNs.

She is always willing to assist with educational needs when asked. Mary Anne has organized several workshops and in-services, as well as provided many resources for the bi-annual PCR conferences. She is an active member of WOCN and she has attended all PCR meetings for the past several years. When asked what has had the most significant impact on her career, MaryAnne stated, "active involvement in my professional organization."She travels extensively, speaking to many, varied audiences, but Mary Anne also finds time to work with Children's Hospital of San Diego, assisting in home care teaching and follow up.

In giving Mary Anne the award, PCR noted, "Mary Anne is an outstanding example of a professional educator, an outstanding clinician, and an asset to not only the nursing community, but to PCR and the healthcare profession as a whole."

"A mentor is an experienced and trusted advisor. Over the past 15 years of WOCN practice, we all have had individuals whom we have admired and learned from. However, there is always one person that each of us can remember as having a powerful impact on our professional career. For me, that person is Marge Landry,"Donna Lockhart said in her nomination of Marge. The board of directors agreed wholeheartedly.

PCR was pleased to present Marge Landry, RN, CWOCN, with its Mentorship Award for 2001. For the past 5 years, Marge has been the clinical resource manager for KCI. Marge sites "the dramatic changes in wound care products"as having the most significant impact on our profession in the past 5 years. She hails from Pasadena, CA.

In making the award, PCR noted that Marge is an outstanding clinical preceptor, one who has demonstrated her love of not only the WOC specialty, but also her love and dedication to her patients and students. She can be found at any moment teaching, showing, demonstrating and sharing tricks of the trade, short cuts, creative problem-solving and, most of all, her love for each and every life she has touched.

Perhaps Donna said it best, "Marge taught us to see what each of us could becomeŠan ET in shinning armor, a mentor, a teacher, a friend and an angel of mercy. Marge Landry is like the Duracell Bunny: She keeps on giving."Marge continues to teach, mentor, support and provide whatever is needed by anyone who is willing to ask.

Every year PCR members work with a number of outstanding manufacturers of fine quality products that make an WOC nurse's job much easier than it otherwise would be. But every once in a while, a manufacturer steps up to do a little something more that sets them above the crowded field. HEALTHPOINT is one of these companies.

"Healthpoint has been involved with the WOCN's community for many years, and this past year it went above and beyond the call of duty. Healthpoint has continually provided WOC nurses with educational tools. In addition, Healthpoint sponsored speakers for the regional and national conferences. I believe that Healthpoint is on the leading edge of advancing effective wound care in many ways,"Christine Herb, said on her nomination form for Manufacturer of the Year.

Consequently, PCR's board of directors honored HEALTHPOINT with its distinguished Manufacturer of the Year Award. Accepting the award on behalf of Healthpoint was Christopher Wiggins, Tissue Management Representative for Healthpoint. Christopher is based in Orange County, CA.

Healthpoint was selected because for its outstanding customer service, support of PCR-WOCN education and field representative efforts on behalf of PCR. All of this is above and beyond what is expected from our friendly manufacturers. In response Healthpoint stated, "Healthpoint takes great honor and pride in recognition of the PCR award. We as an organization strive to provide the best in customer service, education and support. It is so gratifying for us to see our efforts recognized."

The Winners	Mary Ann	Christopher Wiggins	Betty Razor	Marge Landry
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