Three hundred, twenty five people attended the 21^st annual Combined Clinical Conference on Emergency Care, held August 8 – 10 at the Tan-Tar-A Resort at the Lake of the Ozarks. 

Organizations sponsoring the event were the Missouri Chapter of American College of Emergency Physicians, the Missouri Emergency Nurses Association and the Missouri Emergency Medical Services Association (MEMSA).

Send this article to other Missouri EMS professionals, nurses or physicians

All conference attendees are welcome to sit in on any track.  This provides opportunities to better understand the different levels of emergency care and how one’s role in EMS corresponds with other levels.

Pre-conference activities began on Tuesday, August 7, with an ACLS Experienced Provider work shop – a class that has been developed for people who have certified ACLS in the past and are looking for something more challenging to test their skills.  The golf tournament took place the same day. 

The exhibit hall opened for vendors on Wednesday at noon and that evening a special ‘vendors night’ allowed for product and service demonstrations.

Awards Ceremony

An important part of the conference is MEMSA’s awards ceremony which takes place at the end of the general membership meeting.  Nominations for awards takes place throughout the year and are submitted to the MEMSA office in Jefferson City.  Judges are selected when the board of directors submits two names from each region in the state and the chairman selects one of the names for each region.  The judges remain anonymous.

Special recognition is owed to Representative Mark Bruns from Jefferson City who was awarded as the Legislator of the Year.  Mark is a former paramedic and Fire Captain for Jefferson City Fire Department.  As a legislator, Mark sponsored DNR legislation and worked in support of the death benefit legislation and the peer review legislation which did not pass in 2007.  Presently, he is the chair of the Interim Committee on 9-1-1 services developing critical legislation for the 2008 session.

One of the major legislative successes this past session was the passage of HB 182; the out-of-hospital DNR bill.  This law was passed only because of the collaboration of several associations which met frequently over 8 months to craft the DNR bill and then worked within the political process for passage.  The Missouri Emergency Medical Services Association sincerely appreciated the active support of Susan Klien with Missouri Right to Life, Rita Linhardt with Missouri Catholic Conference, Sam Lee with Campaign Life Missouri and the Missouri End-of Life Coalition.

The 2007 award titles and recipients include the following:

Administrator of the Year goes to Douglas Hooten, Executive Director of MAST in Kansas City, Missouri.

Emergency Medical Service of the year goes to Raytown Emergency Medical Services.

Kenneth E. Cole Jr. Emergency Medical Technician of the Year goes to William  “Bill” Meeker of Grundy County EMS.

Emergency Medical Technician – Paramedic of the Year award goes to Brandon Buckman of City of Raytown EMS.

First Responder of the Year award goes to Scott Jones of Atchison County First Responders Organization.

Jack Lyon Memorial Award for Instructor/Coordinator of the Year goes to Linda Freymuth of Lincoln County Ambulance District in Troy, Missouri.

Nurse of the Year goes to Gail Brown, RN of Golden Valley Memorial Hospital in Clinton, Missouri.

Frank Mitchell Physician of the Year goes to Dr. Janet Jordan of St. John’s Health System, Springfield, Missouri.

Quality Improvement Project award goes to Golden Valley Hospital EMS of Clinton, Missouri.

MEMSA and MAA recognized Jane Drummond at the opening session with a plaque for "Appreciation for her valuable assistance to the EMS community, August 2007."

The MEMSA board of directors congratulates all award recipients on a job well done.