Hello Friends,

Well, I have already broken my New Year’s resolution to blog twice a week. (Let’s not even mention the one about working out every day. HA!)

One resolution I did manage, was to make available a NEW video series for healthcare leaders everywhere. You can access the intro by clicking on the TV screen to the right >>

See it?

One of my motivations for making the series was my frustration when I am an attendee at a conference. Anyone in the audience will tell you, conference speakers are notoriously BORING!  There is a lot of room for improvement, right?

So,  this  brief video series of tips n’ treasures are tools you  can use to help pinpoint your presentation problems. We call it,  “The 7 traps Speakers Fall Into.” (You scholars, please pardon the dangling participle!).  

Yes, you can download the series right NOW. Listen as often as you like!  I hope you, or someone you know, will benefit by it.

Yours for more engaging healthcare conferences,

Candy

Greetings all~

Kicking off National Prematurity Awareness Month as media spokesperson for the March of Dimes in Northern CA,  Candy the Nurse was pleased to co – host  the Morning in Sonoma (2 hour!) talk- radio show with Ken Brown on Nov 1st.

My first guest was parent of preemie twins (and March of Dimes local representative), Jody Olney, whose micropreemie twins were born  < 2 lbs. at 25ish weeks. The interview will be available here as a podcast in a few days—keep checking back. Thanks for joining us, Jody!

Other guests included fellow actor, Hester Schell, long time friend and now author of Casting Revealed,  soon to be published by Michael Weise Publications. (Yours truly was honored to write the forward, since my kick-in-the-pants helped inspire her to pen it!) Look for it this January…

And last but certainly not least, Steve Doherty, another long time friend, and President of the Sonoma Development Center Family Foundation. Steve works tirelessly to ensure a culture of caring is extended to the mentally disabled residents on that idyllic site of >1000 acres in northern Sonoma County. Watch for news of their annual fundraiser coming in spring.

Thanks to all my guests!

Thanks to our friends at Cinesource ! Check them out: http://cinesourcemagazine.com

Blogger-at-Large

Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features

Micropremature Babies: How Low Can You Go?

Get out your handkerchiefs. Produced and directed by San Francisco Bay Area writer/actress/teacher Candace Campbell, “Micropremature Babies” (http://peripateticproductions.com) introduces us to the world of premature births, as of circa 2003. Campbell interviews mothers, parents and healthcare professionals about their experience of taking care of newborns, starting with those born after 24 weeks of gestation.

Yes, you’ll need those handkerchiefs. The parents relate the rainbow of emotions that arise in response to pre-term birth – the pain, fear, anger, and joy. We learn about survival rates – starting with the 24 week birth and increasing with every additional week of gestation – and the health risks and challenges survivors and their caregivers face. We learn about the improvements in technology that enable improving survival rates. And we see happy, loving children who would not be here had it not been for that technology and for…well…., obviously there are countless parameters that effect both survival rates and the subsequent health of survivors. One of the social workers interviewed commented to the effect that, in her opinion, the most significant factor in survival and optimum health has to do with the environment the child finds at home. One of the physicians interviewed seconded that thought. The message is clear, loving care makes the biggest difference which, of course, applies to all children.

D. Schwartz  October 21, 2010

These and other HOT  topics were covered in the sweltering heat at the SMART ART conference in Las Vegas on Artificial Reproductive Technology (ART). Candy the Nurse was pleased to be one of the Round Table Discussion presenters, hosting the topic (what else?) “Psychosocial aspects of parenting a very low birth weight baby.”

Merck Pharmaceuticals sponsored this three day assembly where some of the best and brightest researchers and clinicians from the US and Canada shared updates on the state of the ART of the science of infertility.

Some nurses were invited to attend thanks to a grant from Merck. We thank you!

Participants agreed  that an ethical continuum exists  on one side, helping families longing for a child, to the other, which   stretches waaaay over to where Eugenics lurks in the midst of murky decisions. Surely, the next ten years of medical technological breakthroughs promise many changes in this young science.

The Renaissance Hotel proved a lovely and quiet refuge to study and discuss. The hotel and SMART ART staff went above and beyond to make attenders feel welcome.

Keep an eye out for interviews with several of the speakers, to be posted soon as your nurse here can eke out a few minutes to edit the audio files.

Cheers!

After months of planning, and a premature launch, I’ve taken the advice of my business coach and re-branded my business name. Peripatetic Productions will remain the corporate name but the brand will be: Candy the Nurse [TM].  Thanks to all of you who volunteered to give your  opinion. I value your input,  that the name suggests the combo traits of kind, intelligent and trustworthy.

The logo  (below) is taken as an alter-ego representation. (I only wish I  had curly hair!) The character first presents in My Mom Is A Nurse and reappears as the mom in Good Things Come In Small Packages (I Was A Preemie). Both books are available on this website, www.CandytheNurse.com website, or on Amazon.com. (There you can also look inside and check out the adorable illustrations by talented artist, Michael Vincent Fusco.)

And if you aren’t aware, there are FREE downloadable stickers and coloring pages for kids on the other website ! (The images are due to be changed soon, so go there now before they are no longer available.)

Michael and I are putting brains together to come up with  an “Activity Book” featuring these same characters. I’m hoping they’ll be available for December, so stay tuned.

Also, another (hopefully by December) project is the first translation of My Mom Is A Nurse, into Spanish. Other languages are planned, but I would really like some input on your opinion of which should be next? Suggestions so far are: Farsi, Tagali and Chinese.

Please write a comment and LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS!!

Thanks so much for your continued support. Your purchases help fund research for babies through the March of Dimes.

Til later, just sign me:

Candy the Nurse

PS

Yes, I know she lost her stethoscope (she is forever putting in down and misplacing it), but she will have one soon, I promise!

Recently returned  from New Orleans to celebrate the Loyola University New Orleans School of Nursing graduation and commencement activities, including induction into Sigma Theta Tau, Nursing Honor Society. New Orleans is known for beauty (and fun),  but touring the environs after viewing the oil spill from the air makes visitors and locals alike shudder.

However, New Orleans did not disappoint, despite the frustration, the heat, and the mess on the shores. Before I left the Bay Area, a friend whose father used to live in N.O. recommended a few grrrreat places to eat. One was closed up for good, but the others continued to make the south a new fave destination stop. Notable were Cochon (great pulled pork and all things carnivore), GW Finn’s (sea food magnifique), and the Gumbo Shop.

Three showers a day notwithstanding, New Orleans deserves to be on your “to do” list.  Tame the humidity by strolling down to the ol’ Mississippi, which flows through the south curve of the area, and take a slushy  drink with you.

Another Adventure used to be the Swamp Tour. Now it’s no fun.

God bless those who are working so hard to clean up the mess, and please, somebody…put the cap back on.

This past month, I have been finishing up writing a few magazine articles and doing research on empowering families of premature babies.

Meanwhile, the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetrics and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) has invited me to join their Editorial Advisory Board for
Health4women and Health4Mom.org. Yes, they will feature the articles I have been writing. (I urge you to sign up for these email magazines!) on the other had, if your email box is already FULL,  just return here and I will reprint (with permission) the articles.

Enjoy the beautiful fall season and stay tuned for November special interest articles surrounding National Premature Baby Awareness Day, November 17th.

To your good health!

Candy