CHICAGO CHAPTER OF THE ONCOLOGY NURSING SOCIETY
BOARD/CHAIR MEETING
Date 9/15/11
Location: Teleconference call
Call to Order: Dani Gale, President;
Board Members:
President – Dani Gale
Immediate Past President – Lisa Gaston
Secretary – Margaret Pierce
Treasurer – Kathleen Bonnefoi
Present
X
Absent
X
X
X
Treasurer-Elect –
Denise Lapka
Director-at-Large – Jean Ridgeway
- Maggie Smith
- Christa Lappin
X
X
X
X
Committee Chairs:
Program – Kathy Szubski
X
Membership – Mary Lappe
Christa Lappin
X
X
Newsletter –
- Ima Garcia
Carol Knop
X
X
Nominating –
- Lisa Dobogai
X
Research – Barb Gobel
X
Web – Bev Caraher
-Jan Golick
X
Archives – Mary Jo Osowski
Community Outreach – no chair
X
X
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER BY PRESIDENT AT
6:41PM
President Report:
1. Program on Breast Cancer Co-Sponsored with CCONS 10/1/11 at Hotel Allegro.
2.
Article about Sandy Purl in ONS connect
3. New Business-Speaker Mentorship Grant from ONS
Grant Money - $2500 – Speaker mentorship program
- Application passed out. If approved, enroll in ONS online speaker
Training Mentorship Program
4. Old Business: - Need to review P & P – Dani to mail out to Board to reflect
current practices.
Secretary Report- Minutes from Conference call 7-12-11 reviewed. Motion made to
accept minutes made by Marge Seconded by Christa Minutes approved unanimously
with no corrections
July Leadership Weekend- Kathy
Treasurer Report: Bank Accounts: now online, Do have a debit card, but never
activated. Card is needed to cover down payments, so board/committee chairs
have no out-of –pocket expenses
Checking
$ 35,081.99
CD
$10, 000+ to roll over now
$10, 000+ to roll over next year in February 2012
TOTAL
$ 55,429.39
2011-Budget –Kathy/Denise
Add Kathy’s data - from previous vendor fair revenue
Discussion about putting money into budget for party at ONS Congress. This year, Dani
paid out of pocket. Group agreed that she should be reimbursed as money was in budget
for pres to go to Congress – this is legitimate pres expense at Congress.
Discussion held re: spending more money on awards to give back to membership.
2012 Budgets due to Kathy Bonnefoi by 10-1-11
Discussion held about taking CD rolling over & $10,00 and put into CD at .65% for 24
months
Committee Chair Reports

Program: Discussion about vendor squares or tickets for meaningful
conversations – put second half of ticket into raffle. Decided to do Bingo card this
year- Kathy to email Carol Blendowski for template
1. Archiving of program evaluation to be sent to Mary Jo
2. Asking about new site for 10-2012 meeting – possibly West Suburban –
tabled – Program committee to make recommendation to board. Board to
discuss at next meeting
3. Sept 21 at Maggiano - Patient Navigation
4. Oct 19 Vendor fair at NMH
5. Nov. 16 East Bank Club - New Therapies for Malignant Melanoma – 3
speakers.
6. Next year, adding Rush to meetings sites
Board suggested trying new days of week, not just the 3rd Wednesday- this limits
members & speakers from attending– Survey stated that members want choices re: days
& locations. Board feels we need to be more flexible to meet needs of members. Many
don’t have cars and can’t travel to suburbs. Many times members are limited by 12 hour
shifts. Also suggest having smaller pre-fab meetings at other locations that allow others
to attend. Several Board members think 7 meeting is too many- feel that if we offer less,
people may be more inclined to attend when we do have meetings – Bylaws state we
need to have 4 meetings – currently we do these on 3rd Wed. – still do other 3 meetings,
but co-sponsor – less work for program committee- but have different days and
locations. Kathy pointed out neg feedback when changed at last minute, because people
get lost
Kathy thinks committee chairs need to have voting rights. Dani said that per our bylaws,
voting people need to be elected. If more are voted in, it raises the number needed for
quorum to have meetings.
Dani suggested collaborating w/ ONS for regional meeting next year like meeting being
held in Detroit on Survivorship or Primary Care? No cost to us to co-sponsor

Membership: 151 members. Mary Lappe reached out – Liaisons at U of C,
Lutheran, Rush, NMH, Still need Evanston & U of I to post CCONS meetings at
their hospital. Goal is to recruit members to become active – explain time
commitment. Mary to ask at next meeting. Maybe we should have each committee
chair to talk to membership about their committee

Newsletter:
1. Successful completion, electronic distribution, and hard copy printing of 1st self made
Microsoft Publisher newsletter! (With one typo I caught afterwards, ARGH!) Cost of
hard copy printing 10 copies = $93 at Sir Speedy. Consider recognition for Barb
Barhamand for helping us. Dani suggested Gift card for Barb for $50. And recognition in
the newsletter was done in the first issue
2. Next deadline October 15, 2011. Topics for this edition include Proton Therapy and
Fertility.
3.
It is even more vital that reports and pieces for the newsletter come in by deadline. In
developing the newsletter ourselves, we have discovered that each piece that is put in
affects the other pieces and requires a lot of text juggling. This first newsletter took
about 30 hours of work but much of that time is the learning curve. Once we have the
hang of it, less time should be involved than the way it was previously done.
4. Proposal: Fastway has been the printer of our newsletter for many years. Ima and Carol
would like to provide some recognition to them for their loyalty and dedication over the
years. Suggestions??? $$$??? - Dani to send a letter and make a plaque. Suggest
made that we give them a free ad for a year. Ima or Carol to ask for their input on what
they want in the ad. Or offer gift certificate to member for personal stationary.
5. Something special for Josie Howard Ruben who tirelessly contributes high quality
features every quarter- Suggestion: Nominate for Sandy Purl Spirit Award or
outstanding member or create new newsletter award (maybe Best Article of Year
award)
Nominating: Lisa not able to attend see email (Need DAL and Secretary)

Research: no report- no meeting held yet. ONS published in evidence based
book– we can still develop pt. ed document.

VC: postings (see 7-12-11 minutes.) Need policy: VC recommendations Discussion about programs w/ no ceu’s. ONS Edge /industry program does not offer
CE’s - Discussion held re: discrimation if we allow ONS Edge, but no others.
Tabled until next meeting

Archives – no report
DAL Reports
Jean Ridgeway - Awards- All Board/Chairs to think about new awards and e-mail Jean
w/ recommendations send to Jean by 10-10-11. Look at current and if too low, what it
should be, or any new awards like newsletter article. Best article, best column.
Right now, only 1 person applied. Due date 12/15/11. Sent in 8/8/11. Needs to be
resent. Jean to bring hard copies to September meeting and talk at the meeting Marge to
look on hard drive for old list of awards and send to members.
Maggie Smith-Community Service-unable to attend out of town.
Christa Lappin: Vendor fair – 22 vendors currently
Certification Celebration 60 people – Dec 6 Patti Friend to discuss gains of certification
at Café Ba-Ba Reba – Tapas 2 drink maximum. Certified Member bring non-certified
member RSVP – First Come-First Serve
Other: ONS Awards Outstanding Newsletter
Chicago Chapter highest # of OCN’s
Ima received Leukemia Research Foundation Nurse of the year
2011 Membership Meetings:
September 21, 2011
October 19, 2011
November 16, 2011
Meeting adjourned:
Next meeting will be 11/9/1, but Dani states she won’t be in town. Meeting later
changed to 11/03/11.
Respectfully Submitted
Margaret Pierce, Secretary