Health care providers and first-responders across Nebraska are invited to attend a two-day bioterrorism symposium in Kearney May 24 and 25, at the Kearney Holiday Inn, 110 Second Avenue.
Target audience of the symposium are emergency medical technicians, nurses, physicians, and laboratory, infection control, public health, and allied health professionals. Cost is $15 per day and includes course materials, morning rolls, refreshments, lunch, and continuing education credits.
The symposium will include an overview of biopreparedness issues for health professionals, information about resources across the state, awareness of clinical issues of bioterrorism threats and needs of communities for disaster preparedness. The course schedule will build on concepts from past years and offer new topics such as, contamination of water systems, surge capacity, protecting the nation’s food supply, decontamination, and personal protective equipment, just to name a few.
This is the third year the center has hosted symposias across Nebraska. The program, sponsored by funding from the Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services and the Center for Biopreparedness Education, is presented in collaboration with the Nebraska Health Education Consortium. The Central Nebraska Area Health Education Center will be co-sponsoring the event and the UNMC Rural Health Education Network will be coordinating the program.
Keynote speakers will include: Joseph Golden, of Malcolm Pirnie, White Plains, N.Y., a consulting firm devoted exclusively to water and wastewater engineering and public health safety; John Hick, M.D., of Minneapolis, who specializes in emergency medical services and disaster medicine; and Thomas Gouttierre, dean of international students and programs and director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Also speaking will be: Garry McKee, Ph.D., scientific advisor for the Technical Service Center, Omaha, and former administrator of the Food Safety Inspection Service in Washington, D.C.; Michael Anderson, M.D. of Canton, Ga, founder and president of Northside Children’s Pediatric Center; Col. Gerald Jaax, D.V.M., of Randolph, Kan., associate vice provost for research and compliance, Kansas State University and consultant to the United States surgeon general; David Voigt, M.D. and Chet Paul, M.D., of the regional burn and would care center at St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln, Neb.
To register or get an event brochure, go to http://bioprepare.org. For more information, call (402) 559-8106 or email lbronner@unmc.edu.