Report from the European Rhinologic Society Congress
Sue and Ruth
Fifth Sense had a stand at the European Rhinologic Society Congress (ERS) on 22-25 April, which gave us a great opportunity to engage with clinicians with an interest in rhinology (diseases of the nose and sinuses) from around the world. Volunteers Ed Shardlow, Ruth Sullivan and Sue Clarke and our founder Duncan Boak represented Fifth Sense at the event. Here’s Ruth’s report on the event.
The European Rhinological Society held its conference at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster last week and I had the pleasure of volunteering with Sue Clarke at the Fifth Sense table on the last day.
The conference is an obvious highlight of the ENT world, full of experts attending talks on various specialisms then chatting over a fish ‘n’ chip lunch standing next to displays of surgical instruments and graphic photographs of nasal passages… There was a whole host of companies presenting their research and development which made it a fascinating event to wander around, even though much of it was beyond my comprehension. As a lay person, it was thrilling to meet those who work in the field, with specialists from all over Europe telling us how useful the Fifth Sense website is when talking to patients – not only as a platform for sharing information but a pioneering community of people offering support and togetherness.
We had a little test for those who stopped by, asking them to eat a jelly bean sweet with their fingers pinching their nose, then getting them to guess the flavour. Nope, no one could do it! A useful tool for normosmics to gain a little insight into our world.
All in all it was a very successful few days which I hope we can continue to contribute to in the future.
We’d like to say a big thanks to Ed, Ruth and Sue for giving up their time and doing such a fantastic job of representing Fifth Sense at the event. We’d also like to thank Prof Claire Hopkins and the conference organisers for giving us the opportunity to be there.
