CACONS CHATTER 2011
SPRING EDITION
President’s Message
Dear CACONS members,
Can you believe we are already 5 months into this year? So much to do and so little time…
I first want to Thank all of you for your continued support of CACONS. As you know I landed this position
a little earlier than anticipated…and your support of the chapter has made it easier than I expected.
So….THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I have a lot of news to share, so I will get straight to the point:
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May 3, 2011 CACONS will be participating in the Vendor’s Fair at UAB Hospital, please stop by our
table and bring some friends to sign up!
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SAVE THE DATE! - Our 30th Anniversary is coming up in May. We have planned an exciting event for
CACONS members only. We will be celebrating at the Birmingham Botanical Garden’s on May 24th. We
will start the evening around 5pm with a program and seated dinner starting at 6pm. I do hope you can
make it!
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SAVE THE DATE!- - June 25th from 7a -445p we will have our annual summer CE Blitz at the UAB
School of Nursing. As a member of CACONS it will only cost you $10 for around 7.5 CE. Where else
can you get a deal like that?
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We will take a break (somewhat) this summer and start back in September. Our schedule is still being
worked out, but look for a half day myeloma workshop in October (3.5 CE)
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This fall we will be in need of volunteers to run for a position on the CACONS board. Please consider
this…it is a great opportunity for professional growth. Be on the lookout for a “call for nominations”
MORE GOOD NEWS!! I am happy to announce that we have increased our membership by 28 members –
making our total membership 84. This is outstanding!! Thanks for everyone’s hard work at recruiting.
Where else can you network and get so many CE opportunities? (ANSWER: NO WHERE!!) Help spread the
word!! Do you think we can make 100 by December??
Remember – we have changed the renewal for membership to CACONS. Renewal will be in January of 2012.
Hopefully, we will be able to coordinate it with our Winter CE Blitz.
NEWS FROM NATIONAL ONS:
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There will be changes in the format of the national conferences beginning in 2012. The Annual
Conference in May (Congress) will be combined with the Fall Institutes of learning and be held every
spring. The Advanced Practice meeting and Research meetings will be combined and held every fall.
Please visit the ONS web site for more information.
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With that being said….I want to personally invite all of you and ask for your support to next year’s
congress in New Orleans. I will be chairing the planning committee and would love to see all of you
there!!! Please join me!
I know several of you have inquired about OCN review course; well there will be one in Atlanta.
OCN Review Course
sponsored by the Metro Atlanta Chapter of ONS
Dates:
June 10 & 11, 2011
Instructor:
Jane Clark, PhD, RN, AOCN®, GNP-BC
Location:
DeKalb Medical Center, Decatur (Near Atlanta), GA 30033
Cost:
$150
Access the OCN Review brochure with details about the course. If you wish to register, please print the application section and mail
it with your fee to the address listed in the brochure.
This continuing nursing education activity was approved for 11.5 contact hours by the Georgia Nurses Association, an accredited
approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
If you need immediate information contact:
Jennifer S. Webster, MN, MPH, RN, AOCN
Clinical Nurse Specialist
Georgia Cancer Specialists
1835 Savoy Dr.
Atlanta, GA 30341
ph. 770-496-9426
jennifer.webster@gacancer.com
Well, I think that is enough for now.  Be on the alert for the invitations for our events. Hopefully they will be out this
week. I hope all of you have a great spring. I look forward to seeing all of you at our upcoming events.
Sincerely,
Debbie Walker
CACONS President
NEW DRUG UPDATE
Ipilimumab
Our new drug highlight this quarter is ipilimumab (trade name Yervoy), a monoclonal antibody which has
just received FDA approval for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. This drug blocks cytotoxic Tlymphocyte antigen (CTLA-4). The clinical trial which lead to the drug’s approval enlisted 676 patients. The
study design was that participants would receive ipilimumab with the vaccine gp 100, or the gp 100 vaccine
alone. The primary endpoint was overall survival, and participants in the vaccine and ipilimumab arm survived
for an average of 10 months, compared to the vaccine only arm with those participants surviving a average of
6.5 months. All of the patients in this trial had been treated previously, and were no longer responding to current
treatment attempts. The gp 100 vaccine activates the patient’s immune response by stimulating T-cells to
recognize antigens on the surface of the tumor.
There are some significant side effects associated with the use of ipilimumab, including fatigue, diarrhea,
skin rash, endocrine deficiencies, and colitis. Severe to fatal autoimmune reactions were seen in 12.9% of the
patients treated with the monoclonal antibody. According to John Kirkwood, MD in the HemOnc Today
publication of April 10, 2011, ECOG will soon open a trial to compare high-dose interferon alfa with
ipilimumab.
New Member Spotlight:
Mary Jerome, BSN, RN
Mary is new to the CACONS Board of Directors and is serving in the position of Nominating Chair. Mary is excited about her new position and is
sharing the following information about herself.
She grew up in Huntsville, and graduated from the University of Alabama at Huntsville with her BSN. She has been working for 13 years at UAB,
presently as a research nurse coordinator assigned to the lung cancer trials. Prior to this position, she worked with the division of gynecologic
oncology for 12 years. Mary is committed to working with the lung cancer patients and to help in the search for promising treatments for lung cancer
because of her personal experiences. She has lost 4 close family members to this cancer. She says the new tyrosine kinase inhibitor, Crizotinib, is
one of her trials, and is looking to be a promising new agent.
Mary is a single mom with 2 sons, one an 11th grader is still at home. She says she is energized by the challenges of raising adolescents! Her
mom also lives with her, as well as 5 dogs and 1 cat. For leisure time activities she enjoys books on CD, walking, gardening, cooking, watching
ovies, art and traveling. She has an extended family, and enjoys the closeness they share. In retirement, she plans to work with the homeless and our
countries veterans.
Thanks Mary for sharing with us, and thanks for serving on our Board of Directors.
2010—2011 CACONS Board Members:
Debbie Walker, President (dkwalker@uab.edu)
Ronda Carlisle, Treasurer (ronda.carlisle@ccc.uab.edu)
Jeanne Dockery, Secretary (jdockery@uambc.edu)
Olivia Bahemuka, Membership
Marilyn Pritchard,Programs (Marilyn.Pritchard@BHOALLC.com)
MaryNell Winslow, Director at Large (mwinslow@uabmc.edu)
Mary Jerome, Nominating Committee (mary.jerome@ccc.uab.edu)
Pam Dixon, Virtual Website/e-Newsletter, (pam.dixon@ccc.uab.edu)