#ThisGirlBlocks does Paris!

It started with a WhatsApp group and a bunch of highly motivated women and ended in the first ever women’s events to be held at a World Congress.

#ThisGirlBlocks is a community that supports and empowers women in regional anaesthesia. We aim to provide platforms where women can connect, communicate, and unite. When ESRA Society offered a space at the World Congress, it was the most exciting platform to date.

Six weeks of pre congress determination, ideas flowed from all over the globe as we assembled a team to represent the rich diversity of our community. Our epic six hour set up on Tuesday was beautifully documented in time lapse by Claire Braganza – hopefully something we can share with you all soon. We were busy bees!

The energy on our stall was infectious. It was the place to be, with some relentless selfie taking as Kavita Khemlani and Rhasna Bhagwanbali handled our community picture board and message board like pros. Substantial queues formed and while we expected to be busy, I don’t think any of us anticipated how busy. My Fitbit tells me I walked 88km in four days and boy, did my feet feel it. The sense of sisterhood we encountered spurred us on. Meeting lady regionalists from around the world was an absolute pleasure and added to the strong sense of belonging amongst us.

Many collected a mug as a little souvenir. It has provided us with much delight to see pictures from all over the world as they find their forever homes, further uniting the ladies of regional anaesthesia internationally.

Thanks to our resident quiz master, Sophie Jackman, a series of games flowed throughout. Congratulations go to Jen Moran who epically named twenty blocks in 15 seconds, making her the victor of our ‘#TGB does Top Gear’ leader board. Isabelle Leblanc guessed closest number of ‘pins in the jar’ at 205, being only two off! Lastly, Reem Assy scored the final prize by winning our female inspired quiz. Thank you to everyone who took part with gusto throughout the congress in an attempt to win a coveted #ThisGirlBlocks T shirt.

As promised, we attempted the biggest ever female ‘RA selfie’. The enthusiasm was captured so beautifully in all of the smiling faces 🙂

I would like to thank ESRA Society for giving us the opportunity to showcase our community in such a special way. Diversity in regional anaesthesia remains challenging and with events such as ‘#ThisGirlBlocks does Paris’, we can create a much needed sense of belonging. Thank you to everyone who came to visit, who wrote on our walls, took a selfie, came for breakfast, had a coffee… we were delighted to meet you all.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to Pajunk UK for their sponsorship and support.

To get involved, you can find us on social media: Youtube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We are always looking for motivated, talented and dynamic women to join our organisational team as we move forward with future projects. If you think that could be you, get in touch!