oncology

Program Description

About the Society for Oncology Massage (S4om)

About the Instructors

Call for Posters

Exhibitor/Sponsorship Opportunities

Program Description

Reasons to Attend
Learn practical information and "take-home" techniques to help people return to their best lives. An opportunity for you to network with colleagues who share your professional passion.

Join other health practitioners, patients and caregivers in a presentation of Jonna's Body, please hold, riotously entertaining, profoundly moving hour-long show that has audiences on their feet! An award winning one-woman-show starring actress Jonna Tamases. Jonna's Body must unite to fight for her life, in a heart-pounding battle that will leave you breathless with laughter and joy.

This years conference will open with Cathleen Fanslow-Brunjes, MA, RN, the popular author of "Using the Power of Hope to Cope with Dying". She'll teach you the power of hope and how to utilize the Hope System, the Four Stages of Hope, to help you understand your clients journey toward healing. This powerful and simple process deepens your connection with your clients' changing stages of hope (facilitating a more realistic therapeutic relationship).

Other topics tentatively scheduled:

Hope - a Dynamic Process in Living - Cathleen Fenslow-Brunjes, MA, RN
Eastern Bodywork Techniques to Support Digestion - Sandy Canzone, DOM
Strengthening Immunity with Bodywork: A Blend of East and West - Isabel Adkins, BA, CMT
Massage for Children with Cancer - Tina Allen, CMT, CPMMT, CPMT, CIMT
Safely Massaging the Client at Risk for Lymphedema - Rene Janeice, LMT, NCTMB, CLT
Working with Spa Guests Affected by Cancer
And much more!

Post-Conference Sessions (Sunday, May 2, 2010)

Mastectomy Massage - Cheryl Chapman, RN, HNC, NCTMB
Scar Massage - Jamie Elswick, LMT, NCTMB

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About the Instructors

Our Keynote: Cathleen Fanslow-Brunjes, MA, RN is an internationally acclaimed expert in the fields of death, dying, grief, nursing and hospice care. Over the years, Cathy has worked with more than 40,000 dying persons, their families, their caregivers and the professional staffs involved with them. She has worked extensively with dying children and adolescents, as well as adults. She is an acclaimed pioneer in the field of hospice: she created the Hospice Program for New York's Visiting Nurse Service. She worked at the first certified hospice in Long Island and created the first free-standing hospice in Switzerland. She was director of nursing at Calvary Hospital in New York , the specialized hospital for advanced cancer patients, considered by many to be the first hospice in the U.S. She has written and published several articles on death, dying, bereavement, and hope over the last thirty-five years including her most recent book, The Power of Hope to Cope with Dying: The Four Stages of Hope.

Jonna Tamases - star of Jonna's Body.

Check back -- More information about other speakers will be available soon!

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About the Society for Oncology Massage (S4OM)

Dealing with cancer is both destination and journey.
Medicine focuses on the quality of the destination.
Oncology massage focuses on the quality of the journey.

Vision
The Society for Oncology Massage is founded to ease the journey through cancer and beyond for patients, family members and caregivers.

Mission
S4OM is grounded in a philosophy of compassion and service. We are focused on connecting cancer patients, their families and their caregivers with skilled oncology massage therapists.

An oncology massage therapist is a massage therapist who, following comprehensive training in general massage therapy, has completed additional “post-graduate” training addressing the full spectrum of cancer-related issues: the physical consequences of cancer, the side effects of various treatments, the psycho-social and emotional consequences. Therapists learn to adapt the extensive repertoire of standard massage therapy techniques to work safely and effectively with people living with cancer.

Our programs are intended to:

1. make all people affected by cancer aware of the healing power of massage and where it is available in their communities.

2. expand the availability of qualified oncology massage wherever cancer patients live and are treated.

3. develop an educated, experienced and cooperative community of oncology massage therapists.

4. establish, promote, and maintain an ethic of care setting a high standard for the emerging field of oncology massage therapy.

5. facilitate and encourage the specialized training of oncology massage therapists.

6. educate the medical community, cancer patients and their caregivers as to the extreme importance of proper training for oncology massage therapists.

7. provide a forum where oncology massage therapists can share the special challenges and joys of their work.

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Call for Posters

A Call for Posters is being issued for presentation at the 2nd Oncology Massage Healing Summit on April 30 thru May 1, 2010. You are invited to present a poster of your recent massage and bodywork research project.

The poster sessions are an integral component of the Oncology Massage Healing Summit. They allow us to bring research to the exhibit hall floor in a professional and educational manner. More and more massage therapists are becoming exposed to research, thanks to our poster sessions. In 2007 over 175 oncology massage therapists and faculty attend this event. More are expected in 2010. If you are unable to attend personally, another member of your research team can present the poster or you can ship the poster to our staff to display on your behalf.

If you wish to participate, please submit an abstract to Curtiss Beinhorn at cbeinhorn@mdanderson.org by January 25, 2010. Click here to print the application form.

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