CAHNFERENCE 2021

CAHNference 2021 Planning Committee: Leeya Brind’Amour (Chair) Elizabeth Lee (President), Lesley Gallagher (Vice President), Donna Zukowski (Past President), Danae Jensen (Administrator)

CAHNference 2021 was a great success. It was wonderful to see so many people sign in to CAHN’s second virtual event. The conference planning committee thanks each and every one of the 124 people who attended and participated!

The CAHNference theme, Riding the Waves, was very applicable as we all continue to navigate our way through changing healthcare challenges, one of which is adjusting to living in an ever-increasing virtual world of conferences and zoom meetings. For the conference, we were privileged to have well-informed, interesting speakers, some touching on new topics, some giving great updates, and some were our very own members giving case studies and others sharing touching accounts of working on the front lines. Discussions following the presentations were always engaging and anyone fortunate enough to win one of the many great door prizes was most appreciative!

The conference started Saturday morning with a most informative live presentation by Dr. David Wong, giving a ‘Hepatologist’s Perspective on COVID-19’ and liver disease. He gave tips on how to talk to patients about the vaccine and what the new omicron variant has in store for the world.

Dr. Juan Abraldes presented on ‘Risk Stratification of Patients with Cirrhosis’, speaking about the updated Baveno 7 and the new recommendation to treat with Carvedilol which generated discussion on provincial pharmacare coverages.

‘The Vaccine Perspective’, presented by Cherlyn Cortes, discussed giving vaccinations to people with liver disease and gave tips on encouraging the COVID vaccination for our liver patients.

Leigh Collins presented ‘Obesity Guidelines Related to Fatty Liver’, enlightening us to the pathology of obesity as well as the role of Semaglutide and bariatric surgery.

Dr. Jane Buxton spoke on ‘The Opioid Crisis’, giving us in-depth data and discussion points: why this healthcare crisis is happening, why the deaths are occurring, what we are doing about it, and the need for good data to continue monitoring and to facilitate timely knowledge translation.

‘Impact of COVID on Frontline Workers’ included two presentations: one by Lisa Looy on how the pandemic has personally affected her as an emergency room nurse in High River, Alberta, and one by Wendy Schaufert on how her hepatology practise has been implicated by COVID-19. Both these presentations were heartfelt and very moving, having a resounding impact on attendees. We also heard from someone living with Hepatitis C, Matt Bonn, on the ‘Impact of COVID on People Living with Hepatitis C’.

Once again, we thank three of our CAHN members for the informative and educational case studies they presented to us: Sarah De Coutere, NP, spoke about non-invasive assessment tools allowing for the determination of liver fibrosis without the use of a fibroscan; Colina Yim, NP, presented a case study on portal vein thrombosis in cirrhosis; and Stephanie Eiloart, RN, presented a case study on hepatitis C reinfection.

Our Diamond Sponsors, Gilead and Abbvie, provided two thought-provoking symposiums on treating hepatitis C in the disengaged population. As always, we thank our sponsors for their ongoing support.

The final words were given by Lindsay Myles on a ‘Global Meeting Update’, in which she presented the main points taken from EASL in June and AASLD in November.

We concluded our CAHNference 2021 with a networking event that gave members a chance to see and chat with each other within the virtual platform. This was an informal affair with no specific topics or questions, just a lovely opportunity to see everyone’s smiling faces!

Although CAHN’s members show great skill in meeting the new technological expectations brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, on one point we all definitely agree – we are really looking forward to when we can meet again in person!!

Prize Winners

Laurie Clarida, Tiffany Turnbull, Alannah Cooper, Tracey Kusk, Roxanne D’souza, Christine Blomquist, Kelsey Secord, and Shelly Archibald! Prizes are sourced from local businesses coast to coast.

Member Packages

Thank you to The Country Emporium for helping us spread extra love to CAHN members with these awesome member welcome packages.