Around here, summer means time for the Annual GrapeVine Conference! This year it was held on July 24th & 25th at the Sheraton Madison Hotel in Madison, WI. The 2017 conference, now in its third year, is a two-day event intended for community partners volunteering in the WWHF’s GrapeVine program to help them prepare to conduct health education sessions in their communities. This year centered around our revised and new GrapeVine units: breast cancer, better brain health, and self-care. Over 50 attendees completed training on these GrapeVine units and had access to many exhibits, respected speakers, panels, and of course fun!
Highlights from the conference included:
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Exhibitors: 9 different exhibitors offered information and services ranging from breast self-exam training simulators to organ and tissue donation.
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Unit Trainings: Our GrapeVine partners were trained on revised units for Breast Cancer and Better Brain Health. They were also trained on a brand new unit for Self-Care. All three focus on disease prevention and healthy lifestyle changes and include interactive activities. The Self-Care unit in particular contains a workbook, which guides women through exercises to improve mental, physical, and and spiritual health. We were fortunate to have many of our academic partners, who helped develop the units, serve as speakers.
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Panel Discussions: We had two panel discussions this year. A panel comprised of local Madison experts on breast cancer helped GrapeVine partners get clarification on the hot topic issues in breast health like genetics, birth control/hormone replacement therapy, and breast self-exams. Conference attendees were also able to enhance their skillset in working with the elderly through a panel discussion featuring state experts in the fields of geriatrics and dementia.
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Breakout Sessions: Many of the breakouts were related to the revised and new GrapeVine units in order to provide additional context and promote a deeper understanding of the topics. Throughout the two-day conference, GrapeVine partners enjoyed engaging presentations on Precision Medicine, Adverse Childhood Effects, Clinical Trials, and Multiple Sclerosis. They even had the chance to practice their own self-care with breakout options for mindful awareness and a guided outdoor walk.
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Book Club: A highly-anticipated part of the conference! We introduced book club to GrapeVine as an alternative way to present health information. Our partners at the Madison Public Library trained nurses on how to successfully facilitate a book club and led a mock book club session using My Two Elaines. We even had a special guest, Martin Schreiber, author of My Two Elaines and former Wisconsin governor, speak and sign copies of his book.
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And what conference would be complete without a great send off? To help our valuable GrapeVine partners relax and rejuvenate after two packed days, we ended our 2017 GrapeVine Conference with a drum circle! (You can see a snippet of it on our Facebook page.) Now that’s what I call a closing!
We thank everyone who attended and made the conference a success! A special thanks to the UW Madison Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for sponsoring.
If you are interested in learning more about GrapeVine or want to become a GrapeVine partner, please visit the GrapeVine page on our website.