New York City
Chapter News
December 2008
NYC 2008 Chapter Board
Executive Board of Directors:
President-Elizabeth Rodriguez
President-Elect-Terri Yannaco
Secretary-Denise O’Dea
Treasurer-Mary Schoen
Treasurer-Elect-Susan Moore
Director At Large-Nancy Houlihan
Past President-Mary Pilossoph
2008 Committee Chairpersons:
Membership Committee ChairTerri Yannaco
Nominating Committee-Karen DeVries
Program Committee ChairKristin Cawley, Denise O’Rourke
Newsletter Editor-Mary Schumann
Virtual Community AdministratorSarah Jones
Volume 3, Number 4
Message from the President
As the year comes to an end, I thought it appropriate to
reflect upon just a few of our accomplishments in 2008:
 Consistent with the 2008 Strategic Plan, the
Membership Committee worked diligently towards
several goals. Our first ever membership
satisfaction survey revealed overwhelmingly high
satisfaction with current operations from our
members. However, opportunities for
improvement related to networking and diversity
continue to be addressed. We have laid the
groundwork for an Ambassador program, as well as
established a “New Member Welcome” letter.
Nametags are a new feature at all of our dinner
programs.

We held seven dinner programs that covered a
variety of topics ranging from renal cancer to
chemo extravasations.

We published FOUR chapter newsletters (one in
each quarter of the year)!

Under the leadership of Sarah Jones, we have
completed a robust revamping of the chapter’s
Virtual Community
(http://newyorkcity.vc.ons.org/). The site houses
an archival system for all chapter documents
including (but no limited to) Board Meeting
minutes, Programming information and Treasury
reports. The communication of all chapter
announcements occurs through the Virtual
Community.

Our fundraising efforts have continued this year
with consistent participation of the members in our
50/50 raffle drawings at each chapter program.
The job postings on the Virtual Community
supports a new source of fundraising that we
Contact the Board: nycons@msn.com
ONS National Updates
Awards, Grants, and Scholarships
For those of you interested in oncology nursing
certification in 2008, here is a link to apply for
a scholarship to pay for the exam.
http://www.oncc.org/awards/scofield.shtml
ONS 10th National Conference on
Cancer Nursing Research-February
12th-14th 2009
Registration Now Open for ONS 10th
National Conference on Cancer Nursing
Research, February 12-14 in Orlando, FL. If
you have some late-breaking research to share,
now is your chance as the ONS is accepting
abstracts for the conferences Late-Breaking
Research session. Please log onto the following
website in order to submit your abstract
http://ons.org/meetings/research09/
2009 ONS Congress Abstract
Submission Deadline-January 13th
2009
Submit Your 2009 Congress Abstract Today
as the 2009 Congress Planning Team wants to
hear from you! Submit your innovative, cuttingedge abstract for the ONS 34th Annual
Congress, April 30 – May 3, 2009, in San
Antonio, TX, now. Submit your abstract by
Tuesday, January 13, 2009, by 5pm EST. If
your abstract is accepted, you will be notified
no later than March 2.
http://onsopcontent.ons.org/Meetings/
Abstracts/abstractsubmission/
New Resources Available from ONS
National!
anticipate will grow in 2009.

We have the opportunity to automate chapter
financing (e.g. Fundraising and membership dues)
in 2009 since the establishment of a PayPal
account that is linked to the Virtual Community.

The 2nd Shelley Schuster Memorial Scholarship was
awarded to a NYC area oncology nurse (Rose Ann
Caruso, RN from Smithtown NY) in support of her
attendance at the 2008 Leadership Development
Institute.

Plans are well underway for our 25th Anniversary
celebration on January 27, 2009 at the Penn Club,
NYC.
As President of the New York City Chapter of ONS, I
look back at this year with a sense of gratitude. The
opportunity to learn more about our chapter and serve
the membership provided me with many memorable
experiences. I am honored to know all of you. I am
particularly impressed by the energy of each of our
Board members and their commitment to the Chapter.
Their work keeps us moving forward. I look forward to
continued involvement and many exciting milestones
in 2009!
Elizabeth Rodriguez, MA, RN, OCN®
Program Updates…
Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist
Competencies
This document outlines specialty entry-level
competencies for Oncology Clinical Nurse
Specialists (CNSs) who care for adult and late
adolescent patients throughout the continuum
of cancer care.
http://www.ons.org/clinical/professional/
QualityCancer/documents/cnscomps.pdf
October 22nd: Lisa Schulmeister, RN, MA, APRN-BC,
OCN®, FAAN presented on a topic of great interest to
many oncology nurses, “Vesicant Extravasation
Prevention, Detection, and Management”. As an expert in
the field, Lisa shared her experiences with extravasation
as well as some compelling visuals.
Save the date: January 29th 2009 6-8 PM NYC ONS
Chapters 25th Anniversary Program. Please visit our
website @ http://www.newyorkcity.vc.ons.org
New! The Advanced Oncology Nursing
Certification Review and Resource Manual can
be used as both a study guide for advanced
oncology nursing certification and a clinical
resource. Order now and save on a special
introductory discount offer!
New! The new edition of the ONS Career
I am pleased to announce the winners of this year’s
election:
Chapter Election Results
PRESIDENT ELECT: Sarah Jones
SECRETARY: Mary Pilossoph
DIRECTOR AT LARGE: Nancy Houlihan
TREASURER-ELECT: Melissa Bonello
Resource Guide: Marketing Yourself for
Success will help you navigate your career path
in these challenging times.
Save on these books when you order your copy
today! http://esource.ons.org/Publications/
Please join me in congratulating the winners and thanking
the people who ran for office as well as those of you who
took the time to vote.
Sincerely,
Karen deVries, Nominating Committee
ONS Connect Blog
Regional Conferences
By: Jeanine Gordon, RN, MSN, OCN®
Free continuing education dinner program,
January 29th 6:30 pm-8:30pm
Taxane Adverse Events
Salt Creek Grille, Princeton, NJ
Register at www.jhasin.com/taxane
I just wanted to let everyone know that I am a contributor
for the new ONS Connect Blog. Please check it out and
blog with me, my other contributors and other oncology
nurses around the world.
http://reconnect.typepad.com/
I look forward to blogging with you all,
Jeanine
Breast Care Certified Nurse: A New
Credential
By: Marcelle Kaplan, RN, MS, AOCN®
The Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation
(ONCC) has recently developed its first
subspecialty certification credential - that of
Certified Breast Care Nurse (CBCN®). Creating
a certification examination is a systematic
scientific process led by test development
professionals and I was privileged to have been
involved from project inception to completion.
Developing a certification examination begins
with the identification of content experts who
work collaboratively to define the roles and
responsibilities of a nurse who practices in a
particular specialty area at a level of
competency.
To initiate the CBCN® certification
process, a small advisory group of breast care
nurse experts was invited to meet at the ONCC
in Pittsburgh to conduct a Breast Care Role
Delineation Study (also known as a job analysis).
Our charge was to define the roles and
responsibilities of a breast care nurse and then
develop a detailed list of pertinent task and
knowledge statements deemed necessary to
practice as a CBCN® at a level of competency.
Next, additional breast care nurses,
contributing diversity in practice settings,
geographic locations, years of experience,
educational levels, and ethnicities, came
NYC ONS Chapter Membership
Committee Update
The NYC Chapter Membership Committee would like to
remind all members that it is time for you to renew your
membership for 2009. Please send your checks in the
amount of $25.00 to Terri Yannaco, 345 Bronx River
Road, Yonkers, New York 10704. As a reminder, you
are required to be a member in good standing in the
National Oncology Nursing Society. Please be sure to
include your national membership number on the NYC
ONS chapter renewal form included in the newsletter. We
ask that all members please renew your membership as
soon as possible. If you do not renew your 2009 NYC ONS
chapter membership dues for 2009 by March 30th 2009,
you will be dropped from our electronic mailing list and
you will not continue to receive chapter news and
invitations to our 2009 programs.
Gone…but not forgotten.
On November 18, 2008, long time chapter member and
former Membership Chair, Mary “Geri” Boyle, RN, OCN®,
passed away after a brief battle with cancer. Originally
from County Cavan, Ireland, Geri attended the Whipps
Cross Hospital School of Nursing in London, England
before coming to the United States in 1989 to work. A
long time employee of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center, her area of expertise was in caring for patients
with bladder cancer. She attained many professional
accomplishments including podium presentations at both
together in a CBCN® Task Force, which was
tasked with establishing the test specifications
and content outline (the test blueprint) for this
new certification examination.
Following the creation of the CBCN®
Test Blueprint, an Item Writing Committee was
formed to write psychometrically sound,
evidence-based test questions that conformed
to each category of the blueprint. The final
step in the development cycle of the CBCN®
examination was the formation of a Passing
Score Committee which met in Pittsburgh for
two days to analyze each test question and
arrive at the passing score for the examination.
Twelve Committee members were “specially
selected by ONCC to offer a representative
mix of the CBCN® candidate population”. Our
initial critical task was to define the knowledge,
skills, and abilities (KSAs) that a minimally
competent CBCN® candidate would be expected
to possess. Based on this working definition,
each exam question was reviewed regarding its
difficulty for this candidate and a passing score
was recommended for the CBCN® exam. Now
that this lengthy and intensive test
development process is complete, the first
CBCN® examination will be offered as a
computer-based test beginning February 2009.
Further information can be found at the ONCC
website, http://www.oncc.org/getcertified/
ONS and ASCO, and was actively involved in the New York
City ONS Chapter.
Geri was widely respected by her colleagues for her
clinical knowledge and compassion toward others. In
2003, she received the Samuel and May Rudin Award for
Excellence in Nursing Practice after being nominated by
her co-workers. Her compassion reached beyond the
clinical setting as Geri was actively involved internationally
with Habitat for Humanity, travelling to Brazil, Portugal,
and Romania to help build homes for those in need. In
addition, for 5 years she served as the Chairperson for the
Irish Volunteers for the Homeless at the Aisling Irish
Community Center in Yonkers, New York. A friend of hers
wrote “I always joked with her about her being a martyr –
the oncology nurse who took care of very ill patients by
day, fed the homeless at night, and used her vacation
time to build homes for Habitat for Humanity. That was
Geri.” Her compassion enriched the lives of not only
family and friends, but knew no boundaries.
The eldest of 6 children, Geri is survived by her parents,
siblings, and extended family. Donations, if desired, may
be made to the “Geri & ME” Fund for Nursing Research at
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, or to the
Bailieborough Cancer Society, Bailieborough, Ireland.