The 20th annual Omaha Women’s Health and Wellness Conference will be held Friday, Oct. 6, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the La Vista Conference Center, 12520 Westport Parkway.
The conference, which is open to the public, offers a day of new health insights, empowering messages, health screenings, exhibits, shopping and fun. Topics will include strategies to overcome burnout and stress, how overall wellness influences adversity and applying stress-relieving approaches to reduce the emotional, physical and mental fatigue of caregiving.
The conference is hosted by the Olson Center for Women’s Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Nebraska Medicine, University of Nebraska at Omaha and WELLCOM.
The theme of the conference is "Extinguishing the Flames of Burnout and Stress to Achieve Life’s Balance," and will feature four main sessions and six health education sessions. The day will kick off with a continental breakfast and morning health fair and exhibits with more than 50 vendors offering health screenings, education, demonstrations, massage, consultation and shopping.
Registration deadline is Sept. 29. The cost of the conference is $59, which includes lectures, exhibits, breakfast, lunch, afternoon refreshments and door prizes. For an additional $30, 5.25 contact hours of continuing nursing education credit is available.
Low cost screenings will be available, including: lipid, glucose and complete blood count for $17; thyroid-stimulating hormone test for $7; and flu vaccine for $20.
Breakfast keynote speaker Sasha Shillcutt, M.D., will share her personal story of overcoming professional failure and the value of developing resilience in her talk titled, "In Between Failure: Overcoming Adversities to Achieve Success." She will provide information on how to maintain enthusiasm despite professional setbacks as well as teach participants to foster resilience in their personal and professional lives.
General session speaker Julie Masters, Ph.D., will present, "Who Knew it was a Mrs. Smith’s Pie? The Value of Communication Amongst Family Members as Parents Age." Dr. Masters will provide tips for engaging family members in effective communication, including aging family members and their final wishes.
Luncheon keynote will be JoAnn Eickhoff-Shemek, Ph.D., of the University of South Florida, Department of Educational & Psychological Studies. Her talk titled, "Advancing Women’s Health the Next 20 Years: Shifting the Emphasis to Wellness," will briefly summarize medical advances that have improved women’s health over the past 20 years, and focus on the importance of shifting to a wellness paradigm the next 20 years and beyond.
"Mother of Resilience," is the topic of the closing keynote session featuring Cheryl Harriman, mother of Avery, who has received two bone marrow transplants.
Morning and afternoon breakout sessions include:
"Selecting a Personal Fitness Trainer or Wellness Coach: Important Factors to Consider," a talk by JoAnn Eickhoff-Shemek, Ph.D., University of Southern Florida, Department of Educational and Psychological Studies, will share what to consider when hiring a personal fitness trainer or wellness coach and how to design a personal physical activity program.
"Addiction: Help is on the Horizon," Alёna A. Balasanova, M.D., UNMC Department of Psychiatry, will explore addiction and substance use disorders and their relevance to today’s health care landscape. The session will include local and national trends in addictive disorders with a special focus on opioid use disorder and evidence-based treatments such as Medication-Assisted Treatment.
"Self Care is NOT Selfish: Creative Tools for Transforming Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma," Kay Glidden and Beth Reynolds, Compassion Resiliency, will address the emotional price of doing work in health care and other professions and provide an understanding of compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, burn out and moral distress with hands-on tools and resources for improving resiliency and self-care.
"Keep Calm and Carry On: Dealing with Difficult Patients and Families," Susan Needham, Nebraska Medicine Emergency Services, will discuss ways to identify and diffuse anger and potential violence among patients and family members.
"Emotional Eating: How to Make Peace with Food & Feelings," Kimberly Vacek, Ph.D., Nebraska Medicine Pain Management Program, will discuss the difference between emotional and physical hunger, how to get in tune with emotions and feed feelings without food, and strategies for breaking the cycle of emotional eating.
"Family Caregivers: Who We Are and How We Can Take Care of Ourselves While Caring for Others," Rachele Sledge, will define what a family caregiver is and how to find resources and ways caregivers can care for themselves in the midst of the stressors of caring for others.
For more information and registration, call 402-559-6345 or go to www.omahawomenshealthandwellness.com.
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