Perhaps it would be possible at Sydney for ILCA to sponsor a booth which displayed a wide array of "gadgets" for LC's to examine.  Perhaps each ILCA affiliate could provide a gadget or group of gadgets for the exhibit.  The exhibit could be manned on a rotating basis by various LCs recognized to have experience and expertise in this area who could answer questions.  It would be a very busy booth, but if everyone took their turn, we could all have a go of it by the end of the conference.  Or perhaps, it could be part of a pre-conference session.  I think that we all need to be as familiar as possible with what is out there, how to evaluate products, how to test pumps and suggest optimum models, flange sizes, etc., depending on each client's situation.  It is part of our profession and we have an obligation to our moms to understand the tools of our trade.

I do not feel able to bring any further contribution to the discussion of sponsorship as the salient points have been made on both sides.  However, I would like to say that the ILCA conference was wonderful - it seemed almost pointless to fill out the evaluations as I was just consistantly marking one column - excellent!  I would urge any of you who did not attend to purchase the syllabus and tapes - perhaps the various affiliates could each buy a set so that their members have access, regardless of financial situation.  Many of us are working hard to find a way to work the Sidney trip into our budgets, and I hope that we are all successful. I am looking forward to a moonlight swim in the Pacific ocean to cap off the week - a group of us did this in the Atlantic in Boca and it was the best way to end the conference!

It may be that in the future we may need to find other ways to do conferencing - every other year, regional vs. continental vs. international, etc.  We need to support our board at ILCA, put forward suggestions, work on committees and pull together to keep this profession going and growing.




Warmly,
Sharon Knorr, BSMT, ASCP, IBCLC
Newark, NY (near Rochester on Lake Ontario)
mailto:[log in to unmask]

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