Omaha Women’s Health and Wellness Conference targets stress

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 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.

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.

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. For more information and registration, call 402-559-6345 or go to the conference website.