If this podcast episode title got you fired up, GOOD. APTA CSM took place this weekend in Boston, & I have THOUGHTS.
This was my favorite CSM thus far, but it also highlighted some major issues within our profession that need to be addressed. Let’s get into it.
Time travel still isn’t an option, but THIS is.
More & more sessions were either pre-recorded or were recorded at CSM, which means they will be available on the APTA CSM platform later this spring.
It takes 17 years for research to be implemented, but that’s not entirely on the clinician
In one of the Oncology Platform Presentations, a researcher was discussing the often-quoted stat that it takes on average 17 years before research is truly implemented into clinical practice.
Of course, some audience members in academia pushed back that clinicians need to be doing better about this.
But what I really loved is that Nicole Stout brought up the institutional barriers that might be contributing, which is totally not discussed as often.
We MUST do better with inclusion, accessibility, & WELCOMING
- Lack of inclusive practices: LGBTQIA+ content all happened at the exact same time, forcing people to choose
- Not accommodating for those with disabilities – no ramp for getting on-stage, lack of accessible podium for microphone access
- How we conduct ourselves as an academy
Congratulations to Dr. Dan Steventon, @TheKidsCancerPT!
PT Dan was this year’s recipient of the 2023 APTA Oncology Debbra Flomenhoft Humanitarian Award.
The Debbra Flomenhoft Humanitarian Award is established by the Academy of Oncologic Physical Therapy, APTA, to recognize persons whose work:
- Has resulted in the advancement of the practice of compassionate oncology rehabilitation.
- Heightened the understanding of cancer illness, and psychosocial rehabilitation issues.
- Demonstrates patient advocacy.
Oncology Rehab: A Pocket Guide was a huge hit!
Y’all were so excited for our brand new release, Oncology Rehab: A Pocket Guide. Shai & I were scrambling behind the scenes to try & get our first edition released by CSM – it came down to the WIRE, but we made it work.
So many more people knew about the pocket guide than I thought, which made it so exciting to hear people talking about it.
If you weren’t one of the giveaway winners, don’t worry: you can still grab your copy at TheOncoPT.com/pocketguide.
The Cancer Rehab Community Conference 2024 is now open for registration!
On November 8-9, 2024, we’re hosting a virtual cancer rehab conference, with dynamic speakers that will teach you how to treat your oncology patients better, how to advocate for your patients, & how to actually make a difference in the world of cancer rehabilitation.
Save your seat at TheOncoPT.com/conference!
But hurry: early bird discounts are only available for a limited time, so don’t miss out.
Want to watch the episode instead?
Watch this week’s episode of TheOncoPT Podcast on our YouTube channel!
Transcript
Elise (00:15.15)
Hey, Onco -PT, and welcome to this episode of the Onco -PT Podcast. We are back from Boston, and man, a lot happened. And I just want to start off this episode by acknowledging that if this podcast episode title got you fired up, then good, because APTA CSM happened literally like got back in last night after a long day of travel. All is well, it was just a long day, and I have thoughts.
That long day of travel gave me a lot of time to think about things and kind of think about what went well, but also what needs changing. And I’m really, really excited to kind of debrief you, even if you didn’t make it to CSM this year. This CSM offered a lot of lessons and opportunities for me to reflect and kind of think about how I want to change things moving forward, ideally for the betterment of cancer rehab and for…
all of us OncoPTs but especially for our patients. I will say without a doubt, this was my absolute favorite CSM that I’ve ever been to so far. And what I really, really loved about the CSM really came down to the relationships. Not just of people that I have known for several years and I’ve met them at previous CSMs or I’ve met them up in person previously, but even some of the new relationships or the newer relationships of people that…
You know, I’ve encountered online, but I’ve never actually met in person. This was the CSM for that for me. And that was really, really cool to be a part of. And I’m really, really excited for CSM next year, a, because it’s in my backyard here in Texas, but also what an opportunity to get to build on some of those relationships that I’ve, you know, like either just started to work on or have been working on for a few years and to, you know,
I’m biased, of course, but to bring them into Texas and be like, hey, you know, here’s what we’re doing here in Texas. How can we make it better? First of all, there’s a lot of ways we can make it better, but that’s for a different podcast episode. So again, I don’t want this episode to be a complete Debbie Downer because there was a lot of really, really cool stuff that happened at CSM that also sparked my, it kind of re -sparked my passion. I will be completely upfront after the cancer rehab community conference, 2023, I was exhausted.
Elise (02:37.582)
I did pull together a conference out of thin air. So there’s a reason why there was exhaustion, but I also had a really hard time kind of getting restarted into the work that I like doing. And CSM totally marked my return of like, oh, I feel good. I’m excited. It was so nice to get to see and meet people who have previously only been on a computer screen for me or even have been like a number when it comes to like,
how many episode downloads or how many likes I get on a social media post. This made it all real again and that was so, so cool. But at the same time, I want to acknowledge that there were some major issues at CSM and kind of with our profession as a whole that really need to be addressed. Let’s get into it. First and foremost, we have to start with a non -serious one, but also still serious.
Time travel is still not an option and I am supremely disappointed by this. As usual, there was a bunch of great content that was happening all at the same time, which meant that I had to pick between multiple different sessions all happening at the same time and couldn’t attend all of them. I am pleased to see that CSM is doing more of pre -recorded sessions but also sessions that were recorded
at CSM and I do believe that those are going to be available later this spring on either like the APT -ACSM platform and or website. I’m not sure I would have to look more into that. I can update this when that comes along or at least in the show notes. So that’s really exciting, especially for, you know, if you were like me and torn between seven different sessions happening at once, we have the capability to potentially go back through.
I also saw, I think, almost every session that I was really interested in and marked on my calendar to maybe attend all had handouts. And even just a few years ago when I went to CSM, you know, elsewhere, there were many sessions that did not have handouts, at least at the time of the presentation. And I feel like so many of the speakers were very on board and like very timely in that. So major kudos. Thank you to the speakers, first of all, for doing that because it makes it a lot easier.
Elise (05:00.238)
for the attendees to get to engage with it. But also, I think CSM from a speaker standpoint, they did a really good job of like reminding us and sending out multiple reminders of due dates and also instructions on how to make that happen. So that made things a lot easier. Again, this was my first time ever speaking at CSM, so I don’t have a whole lot of experience otherwise, but I did feel like that was a really, really good thing. I do have to complain, like I said,
that there was simply too much happening all at the same time. And I had major FOMO, absolutely. With that said, I’m really, really happy with all of the sessions that I attended and I look forward to watching or re -watching the sessions that I didn’t get to make. By and large, honestly, I can’t even pick a favorite session. I really, really enjoyed. So Scott Capozza.
Eric Galvez, Leanna Blanchard and Brie DeWitt all did a presentation on AYA oncology. That was amazing. I interviewed them previously on the podcast. I also interviewed the team behind the peripartic cardiovascular health disparities. And I went to that session at CSM. I knew it was going to be good. I was not prepared for how amazing it was and how
jaw dropping the statistics were first of all, on just how prevalent and problematic cardiovascular health issues are during pregnancy and then after pregnancy. And it really brought it home to me because I live in a state and in a county where our maternal mortality rate is really, really bad. And it gave me pause because as I mentioned previously on the podcast, I am not pelvic floor. I don’t treat patients.
after they’ve given birth, except for I treat a lot of younger moms in my private practice who now have a cancer diagnosis. Many of them have breast cancer. Many of them will undergo cardio toxic chemotherapy. And it just served as this extra reminder of, holy cow, there is so much more to consider here that I have not even begun to scratch the surface on.
Elise (07:24.046)
And I really loved, first of all, I loved all the presentation, but I really loved, so in Catherine Sylvester’s presentation portion, she went over kind of the vitals and the stats and the data behind what she’s looking at and what she’s tracking with her clients, with her patients, and what she is doing, not just tracking this, but she is taking that data, she is educating her patients on that information.
which thus equips them to be better advocates of themselves in the physician’s offices or when they go to the hospital or when they’re calling 911 and they’re having issues. And that was really, really cool. And it’s got my brain working. I don’t have a plan yet, but I’m working on my plan on how I’m going to approach something similar in my own private practice to maybe get ahead of some of the issues.
that we often see in oncology. Anyways, that session was amazing. My God, like.
Probably one of the more impactful sessions I went to in the sense of I felt charged to do something immediately after leaving and man, that is what I really love about CSM sessions. I also attended my friend Alex Hill’s presentation. So her team did a session on breaking barriers, disparities in cancer care for individuals who are LGBTQIA plus and or BIPOC.
And that was really amazing. If you’re unfamiliar, BIPOC means Black Indigenous Persons of Color or People of Color. And that one was really great because it also provided a lot of logistical kind of actionable strategies that I really liked. Not because like they made me feel warm and fuzzy, but it was, they kind of presented a plan and things to look out for and specific things to maybe change.
Elise (09:21.038)
or implement in my own private practice and that was a good one. Anyways, I’m not going to give a recap of my entire CSM because that we’d be here forever, but there were some really, really good sessions. And I know I’m not naming all of the ones out there. Please don’t take it personally, okay? They were so good and I really, really liked it. I got really lucky this year that all the sessions I went to were like knockouts. So major, major props friend. I would be remiss.
if I didn’t do a brief blurb on my own CSO session that we did. So we went, we presented our pediatric lymphedema treating lymphedema to improve mobility session, 8 a .m. first day on Thursday. And it went really, really well. I have to thank the people who showed up so, so much. It was so lovely to get to see all of you. It was really cool to see how excited people were in the audience about this material.
We had people who stayed after the session was done. Like it was 10 o ‘clock and people were still asking questions, which is totally cool. But what was really cool is that most of the rooms stayed to listen to those answers. And that caught me kind of off guard. And that was like, that was really encouraging to see. There was even one person who came up to me later and said that,
They had signed up for our pre -con, so if you didn’t know, we actually were supposed to deliver this information as an eight -hour pre -con at the 2023 conference, and then it got canceled two days before Christmas, and so we rolled over into a two -hour educational session at this CSM. So we’ve literally been working on this information for the past two plus years at this point. Like, it’s about damn time that we finally presented. Thankfully, it happened.
And so this person said that they registered for the pre -con, it got canceled, and that they came back to CSM this year specifically to see our presentation. And that, oh my God, that was amazing. So thank you all who came to that presentation. It means so, so much. And we’re so, so grateful that you came and you supported us and you were excited and interested in this information because it is super niche. Like I’m very aware of that.
Elise (11:39.502)
but it’s also really needed and I really, really appreciate you showing up for that. So anyways, great educational sessions, still too many to count. I don’t know that there’s a fix for that at CSM, but c ‘est la vie. One of the sessions I went to was the first day of the oncology platform presentation. So the platform presentations are like mini presentations all rolled up into one. Typically it’s on some kind of individual like research.
that a person or a team of people have done. Short presentations, it’s short, it’s sweet. It’s also nice if you’re kind of bored and you’re worried that if you go to one session, you’re gonna get bored with one panel of speakers. If you wait 15 minutes, you’re gonna get a different speaker. And that’s what I needed at that particular time. One of the presentations at this platform was on…
had discussed how on average it takes 17 years from when something comes out in the research before it’s truly implemented widespread in clinical practice. And this is true. Okay, like we see this, it is unfortunately very well documented. And one of the things that I was kind of disheartened to see, I am purely a clinician. I have no…
role in academia when it comes to physical therapy education beyond the adjunct work that I do here in Fort Worth, Texas. I’m not a researcher. I don’t have a full -time appointment. So I very much come from the clinical clinician side background here. And I was really frustrated that after this presentation, someone from the audience got up and they were like, you have the opportunity to comment or ask questions. And they made the comment of like,
You know, well, and I’m paraphrasing here, so please understand. I don’t know what more we’re supposed to do for clinicians so that they actually do this information because, you know, we publish this in a paper. We even put a podcast episode out on the rehabilitation oncology. So that’s our, like our academic journal for APTA oncology. We put it out on their podcast and like we made a social media post.
Elise (13:57.742)
And literally, I don’t remember if it was at the same time or not, across the conference at some point, Jimmy McKay was literally part of a presentation team that was discussing this exact thing. And one of the things that he has said multiple times on his own platform and on others is that research isn’t done until it’s understood.
Elise (14:26.51)
We’re not done doing this research until it is in the hands of the consumer, whether that is a clinician or even patients or the greater populace, until it’s in their hands and they know what to do with it and how to do whatever they need to do with it. It’s useless. And I understand research is really hard. That’s why I’m also not in research.
But publishing a paper is not the end of the journey. But unfortunately, because of how academia works, that’s where most people start. And so it was supremely ironic that this conversation was happening at the Oncology Platform presentation. And across the conference, Jimmy McKay is having this exact conversation about here’s what we need to actually do in order to ensure that…
science is communicated appropriately, it is understood to then be acted upon in some capacity. And here are actual strategies that researchers can use to do this. We’re not asking researchers and academics to become TikTok influencers overnight, but there’s an aspect that is appropriate, maybe not like the influencer with 5 million followers or anything.
but we need to be going where our people are for you and me, if you’re listening and you’re a clinician like me, we need to be able to communicate that information. First of all, understand it and then implement it and communicate it with our patients and with our communities, right? So as frustrating as that was to hear, I really loved that also during the same Q &A session after this platform presentation, Nicole Stout got up.
and kind of called to attention this concept of, you know, like, yes, there’s definitely like clinicians need to be able to implement this information earlier, but it’s not just the clinicians that are being lazy, for example. And she brought up this concept of institutional barriers. Now you might be super familiar with this and like, yeah, Elise, duh, but genuinely, this was the first time that I’ve really…
Elise (16:51.854)
heard this discussed in this capacity. And it made me think back to my own experience. So when COVID started in spring of 2020, the institution I was working at made the decision to offer telehealth for patients. Great. That’s appropriate. But what happened was it was kind of an email that went out and was like, we’re going to offer telehealth now. If your patients want telehealth,
Here’s the system, here’s the video system, go. And I remember I sat on the phone with a patient who I had seen in person previously. And I literally sat on the phone with this patient for probably 25 minutes trying to get her to log on to the telehealth conferencing software in order to actually have our telehealth session.
only to find out that she didn’t actually have a computer. And she was trying to do all of this on her phone, which was not like, you know, I have an iPhone, which is basically a computer in my hand, right? We weren’t working with that level of technology. And so everything that we were trying to do was like, okay, is there a workaround for this? No, there’s not a workaround for this. Like, what can we do? And this was not an isolated event. And I’m sure you probably had other experiences that were similar and or worse at that.
point of trying to figure out like, yes, we have the software to technically do telehealth, but I didn’t know the first thing about trying to do a telehealth evaluation. Like, can I actually do range of motion with my patients? Is it safe for us to do kind of balance assessments and balance exercises if my patient is weak and deconditioned?
and has CIPN and lives alone and doesn’t have anybody to like come help if they have a fall, for example, right? So I really, really appreciated that Nicole got up and said that there are these institutional barriers. Now that’s one example of an institutional barrier, right? Like we did not have the resources and the training as the staff to be able to implement this new policy that they said. But one thing that I really liked, and I’ll tie this back around, is the time.
Elise (19:15.438)
and the support to implement whatever the research is, right? I think we all have either heard of or have personal experience working in an institution that is go, go, go. You are struggling, maybe even drowning, trying to stay on top of everything you have to do as a clinician for patient care, and then you throw on the extra documentation and all these other projects that your supervisor or your, you know, again, your…
employer wants you to do, at what point are we supposed to logistically be able to sit down with this information, learn it, and figure out how to apply it on our own? So anyways, while there’s not necessarily a fix to that that was presented at this platform presentation, I really did appreciate that this was discussed because I do think, I don’t think, I know based on what I’ve seen and what I have
discussed with other clinicians that there is such a gap between academia and actual clinical practice and that was extremely apparent I think more so than I’ve ever seen at this particular conference because of some of the comments that were made by people who are more in academia more in research and like oh Why aren’t clinicians doing this and then there’s clinicians on the other side who are like we don’t have the time or the support to do this thing?
Anyways, we’re gonna get into that a little more here in a bit. So I’m seeing progress, but we need more. Okay, we need more, right? In general, so kind of zooming out and shifting to a different part of the conference. Y ‘all, we are movement professionals, right? We are physical therapists, we are PTAs, we are students, we are excited and passionate about physical therapy and helping people move better.
And we sure don’t show up like that, especially at this conference. We must do better with inclusion, accessibility, and general welcoming of people into the fold, especially at this conference. I was really disappointed to see on the schedule that there were two sessions.
Elise (21:38.67)
that were focused on LGBTQIA plus issues. So it was Alex Hill’s session, so on copelic PT session with her team. There was another one that was actually taught by one of my physical therapy school professors that I was like, that would be kind of cool to see. Those two things happened at the exact same time, exact same session. Like you had to, like if you were gonna go to one, you had to go to one or the other. And then I learned later,
because of people who are involved with this, that at the same time as this is when the PT Pride Special Interest Group meeting was scheduled to take place. If we are really trying to increase awareness and implementation of principles pertaining to accessible, equitable, justice, healthcare practices into motion for all of our patients,
we need to stop making people have to choose between what like, okay, you basically get one LGBTQIA plus content for the conference and like, that’s it. So that scheduling I think was hopefully an accident, but needs to be rectified in the future. At worst it was intentional and malicious and I’m really hoping that was not the case. But like we need to be doing better about that.
On a related note, it was very cool to see many more people that I was aware of at this particular conference of people who were in wheelchairs or in power scooters, or I saw a lot of crutches too, and also like boots.
So pretty significant population who have some kind of mobility impairments and whatnot. And most of the stages, actually all the stages that I saw in the individual sessions, there were no ramps, like it’s stairs. And that’s pretty typical for conference stages in this capacity. But I’m surprised that, again, for a physical therapy conference, why do we not have ramps?
Elise (23:49.198)
Why are we not working with these conference centers to make sure that not only is it accessible for the attendees in the audience, but also for the presenters, right? Like it’s totally unfair and frankly kind of flabbergasting that we’re relegating or expecting people who have some kind of mobility impairment to just be in attendance at the conference and not actually contributing.
to the communication and presentation of this information, of this knowledge. So that was a pretty big deal. And again, very much revealed opportunities to do better in this capacity. And I wanna kind of finish up with the welcoming aspect. So what I mean by this, I went to, again, another platform session, and in short,
the speaker and some of the audience members got into it, like had a voices raised, bordering on shouting match at each other, and that was really inappropriate. And it didn’t come from one side, it was definitely two -sided. But what surprised me most of all is that not only were there students and new professionals in oncology, in the audience, in attendance, watching this all go down, but there were also some students,
who had presented earlier in this session who were seeing all of this happen. And I’m gonna call you out. This is my platform, I can do that. That was supremely disappointing to see & entirely unprofessional. And I think it really goes against this concept that we say, that we speak verbally that, oh, we want students and new professionals to be a part of this.
And then we go, and I’m using the royal we here, and then we go and act a fool like this in public at our professional organizations national conference. That was completely unacceptable. And what worries me most about this is that there are students and new professionals who are seeing this and not just, wow, that was super not cool, but is also discouraging them.
Elise (26:11.342)
from participating in the future. And that is one of the biggest disservices that we can do to ourselves because we know that the participation of our, especially newer members, is crucial if we are going to have a membership that is thriving and continues throughout their entire career. Just based on what I can see of who actually attends these conferences, a lot of times it’s…
really new clinicians or early career, you know, onco -PTs, students, and then there is a big gap. And there are not a lot of mid -career, excuse me, clinicians who are coming to these conferences. There’s lots of factors, but I know that a significant contributor here is that they probably don’t feel super included and welcomed in all of this. And then on the other end of that we see,
a lot of people who have been practicing for many years, and of course our researchers and academics, and know, like attending conferences, presenting at conferences is part of their like academic job requirements. But this interaction, and some of the others that I saw throughout the conference by some of the more senior members of APTA, and especially in the oncology section,
was really disappointing and solidified this concept of this is kind of an old, I’m not gonna, it’s not kind of.
It is still very much an old boys and girls club.
Elise (27:49.422)
and there’s not a lot of intentional effort on a widespread…
like by many members of the academy to really foster those relationships and to keep students and new professionals in and engaged for the long term, like beyond the first five years of their practice. And that was really disappointing to see. And I really hope if you are one of the people, student, new clinician, et cetera, who presented at CSM or you want to present at CSM,
I hope you know that I welcome you. I’m really excited that you’re here. I’m really excited you have this passion. I want you to be involved because we need you. And it makes me really bummed that that is not more of a vibe throughout our section. So anyways, I literally, I got home yesterday. My husband was so kind. He had a bottle of wine and a bath waiting for me.
And he literally, I forget exactly what he said, but I said, oh, I just want to shower. It’s been a long day of travel, whatever. He’s like, well, I got the wine and I got a bath because I know you said you had a lot to talk about and I thought this would be a good way to talk about it. And so he sat and listened to me rant about this for an hour last night when I got home from my trip. Anyways, green flags all around. I’m so lucky, but I’m not going to go on my hour long rant that I did last night because I think I’ve condensed it down to the most important points.
So anyways, very disappointed to see how we conduct ourselves as an academy. And I’m challenging us, again, this is the royal we, because I am a part, I am a member, I’m a paying member of APTA Oncology. We need to get our act together for next year’s conference. That was unacceptable. And maybe it’s gonna take more of us who are the members and not in these necessarily like leadership positions.
Elise (29:56.238)
to speak up and say, this was not cool, this is unacceptable, and we refuse to conduct ourselves in this capacity. And we are also going to hold people accountable to not act like this, especially when they’re in a leadership position or they’re in a more senior position within our academy. Anyways, all right, there’s my soapbox. Let’s finish with some happy things, okay? First and foremost, we have to start.
with a major congratulations to Dr. Dan Steventon, who you may know as the Kids Cancer PT. PT Dan, as he is affectionately known by his local community and the global cancer rehab community, was this year’s recipient of the 2023 Debbra Flomenhoft excuse me, what is it? The Debbra Flomenhoft Humanitarian Award. So this award was established by APTA Oncology to recognize persons whose work, this is from their website,
has resulted in the advancement of the practice of compassionate oncology rehabilitation, heightened the understanding of cancer illness and psychosocial rehabilitation issues, and demonstrates patient advocacy. I don’t know someone who embodies that more than PT Dan. So major congratulations. This award is well deserved. The biggest bummer.
is that he was not there to receive it in person. I’m sure he had a great reason for it. Okay. I’m not mad at him, but like, damn, it would have been really great to see him get that award in person and to hear the thunderous applause that like he should have been there for. So anyways, super congrats. I’m so, so excited that he got that award. Um, I think it’s also super cool that the past two,
winners. So Scott Capozza was the year before and now it’s PT Dan. What great human beings who are doing so much for our profession and are being recognized appropriately for that. Even if it’s just a smidgen, right? It’s a piece of paper and a plaque. At least they’re getting that recognition because they are the ones who are out there in the trenches day after day making a difference for cancer rehab. And that makes me so excited. On a more personal note,
Elise (32:18.262)
Oncology Rehab, a Pocket Guide was a huge success and hit at the conference. So last week, Shai Sewell and I released the culmination of the past two years of work that we have been creating this pocket guide. So it’s called Oncology Rehab, a Pocket Guide. And y ‘all, we were frantically working behind the scenes to make sure that it was ready for print.
and it came down to the wire. Oh my God. I got the first physical copy like the day or two before I actually left for CSM. So it was real close there, but we made it. And that’s what matters. Like we’re good to go. And so I was able to actually hand out a few copies as in like, I’m gonna send them to people after the conference, cause I only had one physical copy. That’s all we could make happen.
Illustrations by Steph Stoller. If you have not seen them, they are to die for. They’re so good. So many compliments on that. And I really, really appreciate everybody who came up to me and was super excited about that. People were posting on social media about that, which was so, so cool. And I think my favorite part is that it was a lot of people outside of oncology who heard about it and were excited. Like,
They probably treat patients with cancer or have encountered patients who have cancer in their own practices or know that it’s really important for them to have a basic understanding of cancer and cancer rehab principles because they could encounter those patients someday. So a massive, massive thank you from the bottom of my heart for each of you who, you know, congratulated us, who came up and took a selfie with me.
and the pocket guide. If you are not one of the lucky winners, then you can get your copy at the AnkoPT .com slash pocket guide. It’s pretty rad. It was really, really cool to see it come to life and to be able to take one to Boston and share it with people. Like that was really, really cool. So thank you so, so much for that.
Elise (34:37.166)
One of my least favorite things about CSM every year is that it ends, right? We have so much excitement and there’s so many cool things and good things that happen around CSM. And for me, it really orbits around the relationships and the people who show up to make this such an amazing experience. And then it all ends and we have to go back.
And then we kind of have to wait for another year until CSM comes back around. But not this year, because the doors for the Cancer Rehab Community Conference 2024 are officially opened. That’s right, we literally opened registration already today because we simply cannot sit on any more of the excitement that we have been planning for the past several months. I don’t know if you know this.
But immediately after the Cancer Rehab Community Conference 2023 ended, Kelly and I were already planning for 2024. And so we’re finally ready to start revealing some of the secrets, super top secret, exciting things that we’ve been working on. We still have a few surprises up our sleeves. For example, we are going to be dripping out who our speakers are over the next few weeks. And then,
In April, we are going to do a big announcement on who our super secret celebrity keynote speaker is. And when I tell you that you are going to lose your mind when we announce who our speaker is, I mean that with all sincerity. So Kelly Sturm and I are the ones, you know, know, Kelly, she’s part of, she’s the brains behind Cancer Rehab PT.
We came together and we put together a list of what is our absolute big, hairy, audacious, moonshot goal of a keynote speaker. And so we agreed upon, okay, we’re gonna go for it. We’re gonna see if this person’s gonna say yes. And y ‘all, they did. And we’re still kind of shocked and surprised by it, but we got them on lockdown. So stay tuned.
Elise (36:54.766)
We will be revealing that in April, like I said, but we will be letting you know who our other speakers are leading up to that big announcement in April. So stay tuned. You can save your seat for the Cancer Rehab Community Conference 2024 at TheOncoPT.com/conference. And you definitely don’t want to delay on this because we have an early bird discount happening right now that is only available for a short period of time. We are
also going to be submitting not only for PTCEUs this year, but also y ‘all, we’re starting the OT process. We are working with AOTA to get OTCEUs. That’s an adventure. Stay tuned on that. But we recognize that, you know, CEUs are a big deal. And again, we all have licenses we have to renew. And so that was something we really wanted to make happen this year. So tell your friends, we are so, so excited. We have so…
many surprises that we will be revealing shortly, but I can’t do it yet. And I’m going to stop talking before I accidentally reveal all of the secrets because I’m pretty notorious for that. So anyways, you can register for the Cancer Rehab Community Conference at TheOncoPT.com/conference. And you will notice that the conference takes place November 8th and 9th, 2024, which means that this is a two -day course.
because we literally could not contain all the cancer rehab goodness to just one day. It is taking place virtually. Again, we’re gonna use the same conference platform that we used last year, which turned out way better than I thought it was going to. I had high expectations and they exceeded every expectation. So it’s working really well. We’re super, super excited. Mark your calendars for November 8th and 9th, 2024 and get your ticket.
discounted with that early bird pricing at theoncopt.com/conference. Thank you so, so much for an amazing CSM. If you didn’t make it this year, I sincerely hope that I will get to see you next year in Houston. And until next time, this is Elise with the OncoPT. And remember, you are exactly the physical therapist that your patients with cancer need. So let’s get to work.