The Pediatric Endocrine Nurses Society (PENS) held their annual meeting this year May 10-13, 2006 at the Marriott Grand Dunes in Myrtle Beach, SC. This is the first year that the CSRF exhibited at the PENS meeting. Our primary reason for exhibiting was to let the nurses know that the CSRF is there for support of Cushing’s families so they can let the parents and patients know that support is available.
Since the exhibit was in a hotel, the number of exhibits were smaller than at other conventions, which gave the attendees an opportunity to visit all of the booths. About 200 Pediatric Endocrine Nurses attended, and I think we spoke with a very large percentage of the attendees. It would be nice if every show was like that! Most of the nurses had never heard of us and were very glad that we exhibited. Many had 1 to several children with Cushing’s in their practice and they felt that support was needed.
Diane Lee-Smith, RN, MSN, C-PNP, presented a well attended session on “Evaluating the Pediatric Patient with Cortisol Excess- Etiologies, Therapy and Outcomes”. Diane mentioned the CSRF in her talk, and we had the opportunity to hand out yet more information. PENS has 2 publications that may be of interest to parents of children who have/had Cushing’s. One entitled, Cortisol Replacement Therapy ($8.00) is intended for parents and children and discusses replacement, how to handle emergencies and give shots. The second, titled Cushing’s Syndrome In Childhood and Adolescence ($10.00) discusses all phases of Cushing’s and while written primarily for nurses, could also be useful for parents. You can order these publications through the PENS on-line store at: www.PENS.org, or call 850-484-5223 or Toll Free: 877-936-7367. Next year’s meeting is April 18-21 in Portland, OR, and while the CSRF would like to exhibit, funds and personnel will be required to do so.
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.