As the week wraps up I am thinking about our Ride to Conquer Cancer and our de Souza Oncology Nursing Institute. Our ride is just weeks out and I’ll be doing a couple long training rides this weekend with Sheila and Sarah. We’ll ride from Spadina and Queens Quay out to Oakville along the Lakeshore and back. Its about 62 km round trip. We are reaching out to our rider community to remind them there is no day zero registration on Friday this year…..this is a change from last year. Riders will need to do their registration stuff online by checking in at www.conquercancer.ca. It’s an easy process but a necessary one. The online check in will save time and money and will get everyone safely and efficiently on the road Saturday morning. If you know riders who may have not read their email or other communication on this please let them know. I can’t wait for the ride and I am counting down the days until we all clip in and ride off……I am even looking forward to riding up Hamilton Mountain (hey, its just a big hill really) on Saturday afternoon of the ride. For those who are not staying in camp Saturday night, please hang around, have a cold Steam Whistle beer, glass of wine or soft drink and feel the great vibe at camp for a while. Camp is a blast and the riders are a force of nature! If you are riding, please hang out for a while….you’ll be glad you did!
On the Oncology Nursing initiative named after the late great Anna Maria de Souza, I just received the first draft of the first annual report. Mary Jane Esplen and her fine team have done a SUPERB job in successfully launching this important intitaitve. Thanks to everyone who has been involved in the very successful launch year from across Ontario. We will post a summary of the accomplishments from the de Souza Institute when the report is complete. Congratulations to all who were involved and particular thanks to Premier McGuinty for his vision to have agreed to funding this important intitative. We also thank Vanessa Burkoski, Provincial Chief Nursing Officer, for her guidance and support. What a team and what amazing progress on improving the quality of oncology nursing care in Ontario.
Finally, big congratulations again to Dr. Ben Neel who was awarded the Premier’s Summit Award. Our lottery ticket draws will be held on Wednesday morning on Breakfast Television. We are still getting all kinds of positive feedback on the Gattusso Rapid Diagnosis Centre for breast cancer. It has been a busy start to the summer but we are excited by the progress we are making and the new innovations we have planned for the coming months. I am back in root canal land next week, which does not top my list of fun times, but need to get all my dental work done before the bike ride so I can eat one of those juicy hamburgers grilling on the bbq at the end of the ride (thanks Sobey’s)! Good to see Dr. Jon Irish and Dr. Ben Neel both back in the game after their cycling injuries of a few weeks back. Dr. Irish had a broken collar bone and Dr. Neel had a broken wrist. Both are, thankfully, back on the road to full recovery! Nancy Pencer and the Pencer family had another remarkably successful event at the Liberty Grand. Nancy and Holly and the Pencer family have been so good, generous, and thoughtful of PMH and we are incredibly grateful to them!!!
If you are doing training rides, please be careful. If you are doing training walks, please enjoy the warm weather.