CPC held their International Educational event, renamed Public and Healthcare Forum, on October 22 2014 at The Sul America Conference Center in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. With this event, the CPC has continued to provide educational resources, guidance and best practice information to the general public. A new objective of the forum was to include all levels of health care providers and not just the general public as in previous years. There were a surprisingly high number of professional attendees with many lively discussions throughout the event. Furthermore, the forum provided a timely introduction for attendees to the newly formed Brazilian Association for Continence.
Highlights of the Public and Healthcare forum were two panels. There was a panel of experts including nursing perspectives on behavioral therapy for bladder issues from Eliane Fonseca (Brasil). The second panel was a patient panel in which patients and families presented heartfelt personal endeavors with incontinence.
Frankie Bates (Canada) chaired the event and presented the CPC’s vision of Continence Promotion World Wide. A perspective on the management of continence in South America was presented by Caio Cintra (Brasil). Maura Seleme (Netherlands) presented the physiotherapists approach to bladder wellness. An overview of medical management for overactive bladder and incontinence was covered by Urologist, Valter Honji (Brasil) and surgical treatments were discussed by Urogynecologist Maria Augusta T Bortolini (Brasil). The program ended with a wonderful presentation on understanding bladder problems: OAB, SUI and Nocturia, from a very knowledgeable and humorous Bill Gibson (Canada).
Article by Frankie Bates behalf of the Continence Promotion Committee.