National Conference Agenda

AOHP 2009 National Conference
September 16 – 19, 2009
Red Lion Hotel on the River
Portland, OR

In less than 6 months, we will be meeting in Portland, OR for our annual conference. The speaker committee has met and finalized choices. Thanks to the dedication of Bev Hagar, Betsy Holzworth, Deb Fell-Carlson, Kent Wilson, Dr. Laura Caton and Dana Jennings for taking the time and effort to review the applications and make extraordinary efforts to get high quality speakers at low costs. I hope our program “WOWs” you so you feel you must attend! We hope that our conference will help you grow both personally and professionally.

Conference topic highlights:

A Path to Personal Growth – What Color is My Brain?
Elements of a respiratory protection program
Effective worksite wellness
Immunization update from CDC
Sustaining safe patient handling
The role of a brief FCE (functional capacity evaluation) screening in returning to work
Sharps injury reduction
Worker’s compensation
Disability management
Influenza programs
Ergonomics
Leadership
National Healthcare Surveillance Network

And many other topics and titles too numerous to list.

We need vendors! Please make a personal contact with vendors you deal with on a usual basis. Send the contact information to Annie Wiest at Headquarters info@aohp.org.

Come “twitter” in Portland. Portland became the first U.S. city to launch an official “Twisitor Center.” This cyber-style cousin to the more traditional walk-in visitor information center relies on Twitter technology to connect travelers with those who can answer their questions and help plan their trips. (Twitter is a social-networking service that allows subscribers to send and receive short, real-time updates, messages and questions.) Although many cities are connecting with visitors through Twitter, Portland is the first to set up a virtual visitor center to which people can direct travel questions just by adding a simple tag to their tweets [messages]. Twitter users seeking information on Portland can add #inpdx to their questions; tweets tagged with this code are sought out by Twisitor Center staff members who then send back suggestions. But the beauty of Twitter is that other users who aren’t affiliated with Travel Portland or the Twisitor Center can also chime in with additional tips. Learn more about Twitter and the Twisitor Center and follow us at twitter.com/travelportland. (Source: Travel Portland update e-newsletter, February 17, 2009)

I hope to see many of you September 17-19, 2009. Come refresh yourself, renew your practice, and grow with AOHP.

Denise Knoblauch RN BSN COHN-S/CM
2009 AOHP Conference Chair