Rynna Ollivier has been producing these at PHA Conferences since 2002. Her own experience as a model and a fashion show producer certainly showed. However, it was her experience as a patient that made this something so very special.
I knew that many who have come to Conference over the years saw this event as a real highlight but I had always been too tied up with conference details to attend.
No excuses this year. The Fashion Show had been built into the Saturday night dinner. As Rynna said in giving the history of the show, “it started in a little room that was overfilled with patients anxious to see how others lived and dressed with the pump and oxygen. It grew every time and tonight for the first time, it’s a big part of the big show. Our patient models are here in front of all 1,250 of you.”
It was great to see over 20 models, little ones and adults, walk the runway, while Rynna spoke about fashion, pumps, oxygen and connected all this to the lives of patients, families and medical professionals. Indeed, the medical professionals were a very special part of the final segment of the show. The crowd went wild when Dr’s Mike McGoon of the Mayo Clinic, Fernando Torres of University of Texas Southwestern, Ron Oudiz of Harbor UCLA and Dunbar Ivy of University of Colorado Children’s Hospital came onstage and escorted their patients on the runway.
It was a special moment at a very special event.
Enjoy the Fashion Show slide show at the top right of this blog page (click on View All Images). I'll leave it up for a couple of weeks.
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