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2026 Conference Agenda
10/8/2026 & 10/9/2026
October 8th, 2026 - Thursday
7:00-8:00 Registration & Breakfast
7:45-8:00 Opening Ceremony
8:00-9:00 Gutsy Nurse Torchbearers: Leading the Resurgence of Professional Nursing Capacity
Maureen Shogan
9:00-10:00 Racing Against Infection: Winning Strategies for Communicable Diseases in Pregnancy
Mallory Novack
10:00 -10:30 BREAK - 30 minutes
10:30- 11:30 Champions for Tiny Tummies: Preventing and Managing NEC
Jessie Cady Kauffman
11:30-12:30 Lunch
12:30- 1:30 The Mental Health Marathon: Supporting Families from Pregnancy Through Postpartum
Stephanie Fitch
1:30-2:00 BREAK - 30 minutes
2:00-3:00 Clearing the Legal Hurdles: Preventing Missteps That Lead to Litigation
Maureen Shogan
3:00-4:00 Champions of Compassion: Providing Whole-Person Behavioral Health and Social Support Through the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM)
Stephanie Fitch
4:30 Exercise Group
Join us for a instructor-led exercise group to move your body after a great day of learning and prepare for an evening of dining, hot pool soaking, and any form for relaxation you can think of.
October 9th, 2026 - Friday
7:15-8:00 Registration & Breakfast
7:45-8:00 Welcome
8:00-9:00 From Start to Finish: Obesity's Impact Across the Perinatal Journey
Mallory Novack
9:00-10:00 Gold Standard Care: 2026 Pharmacologic Updates for Fentanyl-Exposed Newborns
Maureen Shogan
10:00 - 10:15 BREAK/ Hotel Checkout - 15 minutes
10:15- 11:15 The DNA Relay: Connecting Genomics to Better Perinatal Outcomes
Carrie Thompson
11:15-12:30 Lunch
Raffle & Silent Auction
12:30-1:30 The Communication Decathlon: Skills for Navigating Difficult Conversations
Jessie Cady Kauffman
1:30 - 1:45 BREAK (15 minutes)
1:45-2: 45 Podium Power: Resourceful Resilience During an Overwhelming Odyssey of Overload
Maureen Shogan
2:45 -3:00 - Closing Ceremony
Contact hours will be awarded. Billings Clinic is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.
2026 Speakers
Maureen Shogan, MN, RNC
Experienced professional nursing consultant with a demonstrated history of practicing in hospital Level III NICU as well as the health care industry. Known for her energy and refreshing approach to education. She is a whiz at translating "the hard stuff" into easily comprehendible material that can be immediately utilized in the care setting. Skilled in Nursing, Customer Service, Professional Development, Hospitals, and Teaching. Creative, enthusiastic, and committed to evidence based practice. Recognized as a clinical expert on National Institute on Drug Abuse grant projects. Involved national and state leader in neonatal nursing for over 30 years. Focus of clinical practice has been care of the preterm, late preterm and newborn exposed prenatally to drugs and complex family issues. She has practiced as an NICU manager, neonatal transport nurse, parent educator, clinical nurse specialist and liaison to in patient Chemical Dependency Unit for Women with Substance Use Disorders. She is an active member of the WA state Perinatal Collaborative and Perinatal Collaborative of Spokane County. She has served as editor of Association of Womens’ Health Obstetrics and Neonatal Nursing (AWHONN) Neonatal Orientation Education Program (NOEP). Content Expert in the development and revisions of "Weed to Know: Cannabis in Pregnancy and Human Milk" patient education materials. She has consulted to the states of Arizona, Idaho, and Washington Divisions of Child and Family Services on care of children prenatally exposed to substances. She is a highly sought after speaker by national nursing organizations in the US and Canada. Known for her energy and refreshing approach to education.
Mallory Novak, MD
Maternal-Fetal-Medicine Physician
Mallory Novack currently lives and works in Kalispell, Montana as a full-time maternal-fetal medicine physician. Before completing a fellowship in MFM, Mallory worked as an OBGYN physician in Anaconda, Montana for 4 years helping to serve patients with limited OB access. Mallory has a strong interest in providing compassionate evidence-based care to the residents of Montana.
Jessie Cady Kauffman, NNP-BC
Neonatal Nurse Practitioner
Jessie Cady-Kauffman, NNP-BC, joined Logan Health in November 2019. Jessie is a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, specializing in the comprehensive care of newborn infants and their mothers. Beginning her career as a registered nurse with Logan Health, for the past 14 years she’s worked in labor and delivery, the newborn intensive care unit (NICU), and was with the maternal-neonatal A.L.E.R.T. transport team. She is part of Logan Health Children’s and its team of more than 40 pediatric specialists. She earned her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Montana State University and her Masters of Science in Advanced Practice Nursing, Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Certified, from the University of Texas, Arlington. Her professional interests include the education, long-term follow up, and support of patients and families, as well as culture of safety initiatives. When she is not working, Jessie enjoys fly-fishing, rafting, and downhill skiing with her family.
Stephanie Fitch, MHA, MS, PCLC, LAC, PMH-C
Behavioral Health Specialist
Stephanie Fitch is a Montana based mental health and addiction counselor whose career centers on strengthening the systems that support parents, infants, and young children. Drawing on dual master’s degrees in healthcare administration and clinical mental health counseling, she develops and leads statewide perinatal and pediatric behavioral health initiatives that expand access to integrated, relationship centered care. Her work is grounded in the belief that families thrive when services are compassionate, culturally responsive, and easy to engage with – especially in rural communities where resources are limited but human connection is strong. As a foster adoptive parent, Stephanie understands firsthand how early experiences, trauma, and systemic barriers shape the lives of both caregivers and children. This lived perspective fuels her commitment to designing programs that honor family complexity rather than penalize it. She is guided by a personal motto of “finding a way to say yes,” ensuring that families feel welcomed, supported, and seen as worthy of help. A neurodivergent leader, Stephanie approaches challenges with creative problem solving, non linear systems thinking, and a grounding sense of humor. These strengths help her build trust, lower defenses, and make difficult work feel more human qualities that have become central to her leadership in perinatal mental health and early childhood systems development. Stephanie’s long term vision is clear: to help cultivate a culture where every parent is recognized as deserving of support, every child grows up surrounded by stable and nurturing relationships, and communities measure their strength by how well they care for those facing the greatest challenges.
Carrie Thompson, DNP, APRN, ANP-BC, CPNP-PC, OCN, ACGN
Genetics, Oncology, Gastroenterology, Pediatrics, Primary Care - Nurse Practitioner
Carrie Thompson, DNP, APRN, ANP-BC, CPNP-PC, OCN, ACGN, joined the Logan Health staff in 2011. She practices at Logan Health Genetics & Genomics as a quadruple board-certified and doctoral-trained nurse practitioner with over three decades of experience in oncology, genetics, gastroenterology, and pediatric primary care. She currently serves as the Director of Genetics Development and Director of the Advanced Practice Provider Cancer Genomics Course, spearheading Logan Health’s genetics and genomics services and mentoring the next generation of genomics professionals.
Dr. Thompson received her Master of Science in Nursing at University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, before earning her Doctor of Nursing Practice in Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. She then received her Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Primary Care postgraduate certificate from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She is an active member of multiple professional organizations, including the Collaborative Group of the Americas Inherited Gastrointestinal Cancer, NAPNAP: Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Association, American College of Medical Genetics & Genomics, International Society of Nurses in Genetics, and Clinical Cancer Genomics Community of Practice.
2026 Learning Objectives
Maureen Shogan
Gutsy Nurse Torchbearers: Leading the Resurgence of Professional Nursing Capacity
1. Discuss projected forecasts for RNS who will be 35 to 49 in 2035.
2. Describe 2026 outlook for RN workforce.
Clearing the Legal Hurdles: Preventing Missteps That Lead to Litigation
1. Relate 6 common sense basic failures that can cause harm.
2. Describe 6 common sense failures that may end in a Board of Nursing investigation.
Gold Standard Care: 2026 Pharmacologic Updates for Fentanyl-Exposed Newborns
1. Describe pharmacologic components of fentanyl that create complex newborn withdrawal.
2. Explain aggressive initiation and titration of morphine for babies experiencing withdrawal from prenatal fentanyl exposure.
Podium Power: Resourceful Resilience During an Overwhelming Odyssey of Overload
1. Explore the Heisenburg theory and disrupting impact of continual changes that compromises the 9 provisions of nurses’ code of ethics. 2. Review practice changes during the unknown that lead to positive creativity.
Mallory Novack
Racing Against Infection: Winning Strategies for Communicable Diseases in Pregnancy
1. Be able to identify the common communicable disease in pregnancy.
2. Be able to initiate treatment for most common disease.
From Start to Finish: Obesity's Impact Across the Perinatal Journey
1. Be aware of challenges with obesity in pregnancy.
2. Be able to counsel patients regarding weight gain and diet in pregnancy
Jessie Cady Kauffman
Champions for Tiny Tummies: Preventing and Managing NEC
1.
2.
The Communication Decathlon: Skills for Navigating Difficult Conversations
1.
2.
Stephanie Fitch
The Mental Health Marathon: Supporting Families from Pregnancy Through Postpartum
1.
2.
Champions of Compassion: Providing Whole-Person Behavioral Health and Social Support Through the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM)
1.
2.
Carrie Thompson
The DNA Relay: Connecting Genomics to Better Perinatal Outcomes
1. Recognize how prenatal genomic testing can influence diagnosis, treatment options, and care planning before and after birth.
2. Identify ethical considerations that arise from prenatal genomic testing and support informed decision-making for families.