The OCNA Conference was held on July 13 - 17, 2012 at the Hyatt on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.
Ovarian cancer patients, caregivers, survivors, medical professionals and family members attend the OCNA conference to get state of the art information about treatments, ovarian cancer research, to get and receive moral support, to learn coping skills and strategies when dealing with chemo to name a few reasons for conference attendance.
Advocacy Day was on July 17. 2012. OCNA conference participants visit their representatives' and senators' offices to advocate for specific topics or "asks" we would like to be considered from the ovarian cancer field. Advocacy Day was intended by Foundation Vice President Janice Swierczak and Trustee Pat Lehnert.
The OCNA conference theme was "Poised for Progress." OCNA and its partner members on Advocacy Day were "poised for progress" in advancing ovarian cancer awareness through working toward a national initiative asking Congress to recognize September as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month; by lobbying Congress to pass the Cancer Drup Parity Act so that cancer patients are able to receive oral chemotherapy at a cost no less favorable than the cost of IV or injected cancer treatments; and, to restore the Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Research Program to the $20 million level.
Those were the Advocacy Day topics (above) and those were the "asks" we brought to our state's representatives and our state's senators for New Jersey. Pat visited her state's representatives and state's senators (PA) with the same "asks."
