CONFERENCE EXPLORES SOCIAL AND MEDICAL ISSUES

The health needs of school children both emotional and medical will highlight "Current Social and Medical Issues in Education," a conference sponsored annual by Southeast Missouri Hospital for teachers, school nurses, principals, counselors and others.

Scheduled for Aug. 11 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Harrison Room at Southeast Missouri Hospital, the seminar is designed to provide school educators and nurses with information that is necessary to assess school-age children on a daily basis.

Seminar planning committee chairman Maricia Eggers, instructor with the hospital's educational services, added that the conference "will also give these individuals the opportunity to informally interact with peers to voice questions and concerns. We also plan to discuss legal aspects of the complex social and medical issues facing educators today."

The seminar program will begin with an update on asthma, given by Jean A. Chapman, M.D., allergy. That presentation will be followed with a presentation by Joan Miller from Lourdes Hospital in Paducah, Ky. on "Helping Children Cope During Difficult Times."

The morning portion of the program will conclude with a session on "Buckling Up for You Health Seatbelt Safety," by Sharee Galnore, coordinator, Cape Girardeau Community Traffic Safety.

Afternoon sessions will be presented by Linda Heitman, clinical nurse specialist and Regional Heart Center Coordinator at Southeast Missouri Hospital; and Joann Noll, training coordinator with the Missouri Parents Act in St. Louis. Heitman will discuss cardiac risk factors in children, and Noll will address methods of easing classroom stress.

Assisting Eggers with plans for the workshop have been Linda Goodman, school nurse with the Cape Girardeau Public Schools; Roselyn Conrad, teacher at Alma Schrader Elementary School; Eva Wilson, teacher at Nell Holcomb School; and Susan Ernst of Perryville, a parent advocate for children with disabilities.

To register, mail the $15 registration fee to the Educational Services Department at Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1701 Lacey St., in Cape Girardeau.

Included with the fee payment should be the participant's name, address and telephone and the name and address of his or her school. Contact hours will be awarded to all nurses through the Missouri Nurses Association, Eggers said.

For more information, call 651-5547.