Heart of Sailing participated in the annual DAN! Conference held October 12-14 at The Hyatt Regency Orange County in Anaheim California. Executive Director George Saidah represented Heart of Sailing and was accompanied by Eric Hamblen, the Program Director for PACE Place, one of Heart of Sailing’s new partners and the coordinator for our new chapter in Portland, Oregon.

The Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) Conference is one of the best ways parents and practitioners can obtain the latest information on the safest and most effective biomedical interventions for treating austim-related disorders.

As stated by DAN! Conference Coordinator, Maureen H. McConnell, RN, there is no other conference that devotes its entire agenda to teaching parents and practitioners how nutrition, intestinal disorders, detoxification and other metabolic issues impact behavior, attention, speech and the general health of children on the autism spectrum. The Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) Conference focuses intensely on these important issues.

One of the features of this year’s conference was the highly anticipated appearance by actress and author, Jenny McCarthy, who has received extensive media exposure for her recent book discussing her son’s autism diagnosis and her success in achieving treatment and development milestones through various therapies. Executive Director George Saidah had the opportunity to chat briefly with Jenny while she was part of the TACA (Talk About Curing Autism) booth, the organization for whom she is national spokesperson. Check out the photo of George with Jenny, who was happy to sign her latest book.

Another highlight of the conference was the increased traffic and recognition Heart of Sailing received. Although still a relatively new organization, HOS was pleased at the number of visitors to the booth who had heard of the program or were referred by friends who had sailed with HOS at one of the 15 locations across the US and Canada. Attendance at conferences such as DAN! and our earlier appearance at the Autism One conference in May 2007 are essential to spreading the word about Heart of Sailing’s unique therapeutic program. George and Eric were able to talk with conference attendees about the success HOS has experienced by introducing sailing to children with autism and other special needs. George and Eric also focused on informing families how beneficial the program is for the family as a whole, not just for the participating child. A Daysail experience is a relaxing and enjoyable experience where the entire family gets to participate, and while the emphasis is on the therapeutic aspects, families realize how much fun they have as well. The integrative nature of sailing is one of the tangible benefits of sailing as a form of recreational therapy.

After the DAN! conference, George remains in California for the remainder of October operating the Dana Point region before he heads to Portland, Oregon to join Eric to wrap up the 2007 sailing season there, after stopping by San Francisco to conduct HOS Maiden Voyage.

For more information about Defeat Autism Now! or TACA, please visit their websites: http://www.autism.com/

http://www.talkaboutcuringautism.org/index.htm

We are sailing this fall from the following locations:

Dana Point, CA - Houston, TX - Panama City, FL - Portland, OR - San Diego, CA - San Francisco, CA - Seattle, WA - Tacoma, WA - Ventura, CA

If you would like to see when and where you can sail with us, access the following link: http://www.heartofsailing.org/Sailwithus.asp

Also, please check our event schedule for this fall at: http://heartofsailing.org/nextevents.asp

We will be exhibiting at the Walk Now For Autism in San Diego on the 3 rd of November and in Irvine on the 17 th of November. Please stop by to talk to one of us.

For more information about our new locations or to sail with us, please visit the link “Sail with Us” at our website: www.heartofsailing.org.

Contact us by phone at (812) 935-7245 or by email at news@heartofsailing.org for any question or if you have a story to send to us