Welcome to CANSA Blog and Discussion Site!

If you are a member of CANSA, please see the topics that are posted below on our blog for discussion. The goal is that this site will become a regular place for open communication for all CANSA member agencies to discuss ideas and ask questions among each other as we work to serve in the best interests of our clients.

Maybe you would like to revise services and need some assistance with logistics? Maybe you want to start a new adult support group or survivorship program? Perhaps you’re interested in events for children fighting cancer? Whatever the topic or question may be, please use this blog as a great means of communication. With over 50 CANSA agencies across the United States, this will serve as a one-stop, convenient spot for discussion.

Contact the Webmaster, Kristie Carline, for more information.

CANSA Conference Registration Now Open!

We are gearing up for the 2010 conference September 22-24–and online registration is now open! You can click HERE to view all of the details about the conference, including hotel accomodations, speakers, seminar topics and more. You will also be getting a packet in the mail for those who would like to register by check. Please let us know if you have any questions. We hope to see everyone here in Baton Rouge in September!

Three Great Announcements

Hello group! We have 3 announcements!

First, Susan Dusseau with Cancer Services Midland sent me some information about a new entity–Cancer Support Community–which is a partnership between two existing organizations, Gilda’s Place and Wellness Community. They are combining to form what will be a national organization that provides support and education at various locations across the country. If anyone is interested in more details, please visit their website here.

Second, we were informed about a possible fundraising opportunity for any interested agencies. Stephanie Withers of Cancer Services of Gaston County told us about Letters to God, a movie/documentary on a pediatric cancer patient. The production agency is offering a chance to screen the movie in various communities as a fundraising opportunity. For more information, visit their site here.

Finally, as we end this year and move toward 2010, we hope everyone is looking forward to our CANSA conference in September! We will continue to post updates about the conference, as well as updates on our name and mission changes. It would be great to finalize these before the conference, but if we need more discussion, this might be a good topic for the business meeting portion of that week. We will keep you informed.

We wish everyone a very safe and fun holiday season and a Happy New Year!

New Name for Cansa?

Hello group,

Since our last postings, we now have 2 suggestions for a new CANSA name and a few suggestions about a possible Mission Statement for the group.

The suggestions so far are:
1. LCSA: Local Cancer Support Alliance
2. ACSA: American Cancer Support Alliance

Mission statement:
1. Cancer support organizations committed to bringing help and hope to cancer patients and their families in our local communities.

PLEASE PLEASE participate in this discussion and give us your thoughts and/or additional ideas for an acronym and a mission statement.
This is “our group”–and it would be great if everyone were actively involved in this process. Thanks!

ALSO: Rebecca with Cancer Action is looking for your feedback! They are re-vamping their wellness program and want to know if anyone has suggestions on evaluation tools (pre-test/post-test) to show the impact that the program will have on clients. Any one else have a wellness program that is being eveluated?? Thoughts???

Thanks everyone! This blog is a great tool for us–keep the ideas coming!

Post Topic Questions Here

With wordpress.com, only the administrator of the site is allowed to post a new topic for discussion. However, anyone can post a comment. Please leave your “comments” here with any new topics that you would like to discuss and we will then post these questions as “topics” for members to participate in.

For any questions, contact the Webmaster Kristie Carline at kcarline@cancerservices.org

CANSA Logo and Mission

Now might be a good time to come up with a formal mission statement and logo for our association. Any thoughts, ideas, concerns?