APFED 2019 Conference Updates

The hotel is completing renovation in the dining area and lounge in the lobby. This will not impact our planned event catering (see below for information about Hotel Dining).

The hotel is very accommodating with our needs and we are not anticipating construction noise to interfere with sessions.

There are two elevators in the hotel, both of which will be operational for our event. There are many floors of this hotel, so please be sure to allot enough time for elevator service as they run a little slow.

The Doubletree Hotel is renovating the dining/lounge area. This will NOT impact our event catering. Please see below for more information.

Dining Onsite

*The hotel’s regular breakfast service will be offered to all Doubletree guests each morning in the Montgomery Room on the third floor from 6:30am-9:30am. This same room will be available after breakfast to APFED conference attendees who have brought or purchased food and would like a place to sit and eat.

*There is a bar located on the rooftop level of the hotel offering a happy hour to all hotel guests from 5:30pm-8:00pm and will have a complimentary snack. Use your discretion to determine what food choices offered work for your diet.

*Breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Friday are on your own. APFED will offer coffee service on Friday morning.

*The hotel will offer a small concession station on Friday with lunch items available for purchase. Use your discretion to determine what food choices offered work for your diet.

*APFED is serving breakfast and lunch to attendees on Saturday 7/27. There will be light fare served at our Social Mixer that evening. Foods served at this Mixer include allergy-friendly (e.g., plain chicken, plain burger patties, plain rice, bacon, plain steamed veggies etc., and then condiments/sauces offered separately for those who want them).

*A special room service menu featuring allergy-friendly options will be available for APFED attendees Wednesday, 7/24- Saturday, 7/27 from 11am- 10pm. Grab and go salads and sandwiches are available 24 hours a day through the front desk every day.

*In-house dinner service will be offered exclusively through the room service menu.

*A hospitality suite will be available onsite for conference attendees needing to refrigerate or heat up food.

Dining Offsite

The hotel’s partner restaurant, Guapo’s (Tex-Mex cuisine), is adjacent to the building and offers a 10% discount is provided to Doubletree hotel guests.

There are many other restaurants within walking distance of the hotel. Be aware that APFED has not worked with these restaurants to provide special menu offerings. Use your own discretion to determine what food choices work for your diet.

Thursday, July 25
11:15am-3:30pm

If you purchased a bus ticket during conference registration: Our bus will depart from the Double Tree at 11:15am. Please meet in the lobby of the Double Tree at 11:00am to check in. Please consider wearing your APFED conference badge on this trip so that we can easily recognize people in our group when we arrive onsite.

Arrival
Our bus will drop off us on Constitution Ave. at the entrance to the museum where museum staff will greet us and provide an orientation. They will divide us into smaller groups and one group will enter at a time.

Please limit what you plan to bring inside the museum to emergency medications and feeding tube supplies so we may utilize an expedited screening area. Items may be left on the bus, however, neither APFED nor the bus service are responsible for lost or stolen items.

The group entrance typically does not allow any bags, however the museum has made accommodations to allow us to enter through the handicap entrance (also the exit) and be escorted through the screening area to allow for small bags containing emergency medication and feeding tube supplies. Clear bags are encouraged for medication, but not required. All other bags will be required to use the main entrance of the museum.

If you have secured your own transportation and want to find our group onsite:
Please plan to meet our bus as we arrive on Constitution Ave. We are expected to arrive at 12:30. While we have factored in traffic, be aware that we may arrive a little earlier or later than planned. Our bus will have an APFED sign in the window and our coordinators will be wearing conference badges and holding an APFED sign.

Otherwise, we will have an APFED delegate stationed at Constitution Avenue Lobby on the ground floor at 12:30 to help connect you with other attendees.

You are welcome to explore the museum at your own pace and arrive and depart as you wish. Please make your own plans for lunch (either eat prior, after, or dine onsite at the museum. Two onsite dining options listed are the Ocean Terrace Café on the First Floor or Atrium Cafe on the Ground Floor; use discretion about ingredients that are suitable for your diet.

10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Coffee Bar
11 am. – 4 p.m. Food Service

Atrium Café
(Ground Floor)
The museum’s largest café, featuring Butcher Craft Burgers, Flatbreads, Pasta, and a Chef’s Market Table.
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Departure: Our bus will leave promptly at 2:30pm. Please plan accordingly. We expect to arrive back to the hotel by 3:15/3:30pm, depending on traffic.

Thursday, July 25
8pm -?

If you are an adult patient and would like to meet other adult patients for discussion, plan to join community members Shelly Parks and Jeremy Sable as they host an informal gathering at the hotel’s rooftop pool area. Look for APFED signage to locate them. A cash bar will be available.

Our coordinators and volunteer guest speakers have planned a great weekend of fun and education for middle-schoolers. If your child doesn’t want to participate in portions of the programming and wishes to leave, parents will be notified via text or call from either your child or the group leaders, and you will be asked to either come to the room to pick them up or to provide your permission to release them. You will be asked for your mobile number upon badge pick-up onsite.

On Friday, our program for tweens will conclude at 3:15pm. We will release participants from the program and, with your permission, they are welcome to our Tween Coordinators at the hotel pool at 3:30, where we’ll swim until 5:00pm. If your middle-schooler will be joining them, please either pick them up or have them meet you when our Coordinators leave the pool area so that they are not left unchaperoned.

We are seeking focus group particpants for the following focus group taking place on Friday, July 26, from 11:30am-12:45pm

Transition of care from pediatric to adult providers (open only to teens and young adults with EGID, aged 15-24)
If you are a teen or young adult (aged 15 to 24) diagnosed with an eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorder (EGID), such as eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), and either (a) are currently seeing a pediatric healthcare provider and will be transitioning your care to an adult provider within the next several years; or (b) have already transitioned your care to an adult health care provider, you are invited to participate in a focus group. The objective is to better understand the experiences, perspectives, and potential challenges you have faced or may face related to transitioning from a pediatric to an adult care team to develop resources to help support the successful transition of care for EGID patients. A $100 incentive will be offered to participants upon completion of the discussion. Lunch will be provided for all focus group participants at 11:30 AM and the focus group discussion will last from 11:45-12:45 PM.
If you are able to participate, please contact Mary Jo at mjstrobel@apfed.org.

Friday, July 26
5:30pm -10:30pm

Those who have pre-registered their teens to attend the Sandy Spring zip-line field trip are asked to meet our Teen Coordinators in the hotel lobby at 5:30pm sharp to board the shuttle to take us to the park. We will be at the park from 6:30-10:00pm, plan accordingly. You may want to consider bring bottled water, bug spray, a light jacket.

The dress attire is as follows: Wear well-fitting clothing that does not allow anything to hang loose or get tangled in cables and rope. Long hair and jewelry should not be left loose. Sneakers or hiking shoes are recommended. Closed-toe shoes are required — heels, flip-flops, and sandals are not acceptable. https://sandyspringadventurepark.org/faq/

An email was sent to all those who registered for this special trip on July 21 that detailed information about the venue’s waiver. If you have any questions, please contact Lisa Brunet at lisa@apfed.org.

If you registered to attend a focus group onsite at our conference, thank you! Your feedback and perspective is important and we appreciate your participation! A reminder issue will be sent to all participants the week of 7/22. If you registered for more than one group, you will receive separate emails for each group you signed up for. Please arrive to the designated room on time.

If you registered to participate as a virtual attendee to our conference, you will receive a special link and password access via email between Tuesday, July 23-Thursday, July 24. You will be able to access the live feed via any device that is equipped with internet access and able to stream video. If you participate live, you will have the ability to ask questions of presenters via the online portal. If you are not able to access the live feeds on Friday 7/26 and Saturday 7/27, you will be able to access a recording of the event using the same log-in information that was provided to you for the live-stream access.

Many have asked about how they might be able to help onsite. A volunteer-sign up is posted here: https://volunteersignup.org/HAFTX. We’ll be in touch with those who sign up with specifics.

If you find that all open slots have been filled, we could always use a hand with welcoming our attendees onsite and helping them to feel supported. For example, if you see someone sitting alone at lunch or at our Social Mixer on Saturday, introduce yourself and ask if they’d like company!