EMERGENCY SERVICES CONFERENCE SET

Southeast Missouri Hospital and its LifeBeat Air Medical Service will host "Emergency Update '94," a conference for physicians, nurses and allied emergency personnel today.

The all-day conference will be held at Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau.

Southeast's Director of Emergency Services Pat Pennington said the annual conference will examine a wide range of issues, including the handling of hazardous materials, the impact of violence on emergency medicine demands and rapid triage assessment.

Coming to Cape Girardeau for the conference is Sally Friese, a clinical nurse specialist and consultation-liaison nurse at St. Louis University Medical Center in St. Louis. She will address conference participants on "Guns, Knives and Gangs."

Later during the conference, Friese will speak on "Humor in the Workplace" and its important role in helping to relieve stress among emergency medical services personnel.

Cape Girardeau physicians on the conference faculty include Dr. Steven C. Bailey, a cardiothoracic surgeon. He will discuss chest trauma. The topic for Dr. Jesse R. Ramsey will be "Fits, Sticks, Bugs and Water."

Also on the program agenda are LifeBeat Flight Nurse Joy Goodman, who will discuss "Early Burn Management;" Southeast Outreach Educator Karen Mazzola, whose topic is "Rapid Triage Assessment;" and LifeBeat Flight Nurse Brad Golden, who will focus his remarks on how to handle hazardous materials as part of EMS work.

The delivery of emergency care to the region has been an integral part of Southeast's mission since the Hospital initiated its Emergency Services program in 1977. LifeBeat was inaugurated in August of 1987 and serves a 125-mile radius of Cape Girardeau.

Last year, LifeBeat responded to approximately 800 requests for emergency service. Of those requests, 51 percent were in Missouri and 47 percent were in Illinois. The remaining 2 percent were in Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.

For additional information about "Emergency Update '94," contact the LifeBeat Dispatch Office at Southeast Missouri Hospital, 651-5855.