
Fellow MOEMA Members: I hope everyone is enjoying the spring. The Michigan Occupational Health Conference (MOHC) Planning Committee has been working diligently to ensure that Michigan and other regional Occupational Health physicians and nurses have quality CME near to home. MOHC will be held this year on Friday & Saturday September 23 and 24th In Bay City, Michigan at the Doubletree Riverfront Hotel. This is a fantastic venue right on the Saginaw River in the heart of historic downtown Bay City. If you want to bring your significant other and make a weekend of it, Thursday night September 22nd right in Downtown is Bay City’s annual Wine Walk. The description on the website reads: “Enjoy and stroll with friends old and new while tasting some of the best in vintages throughout pubs and specialty shops in Downtown Bay City.” The Doubletree will be the perfect spot from which to enjoy this event. For the second year, we are being joined by the Michigan Association of Occupational Health Nurses for the fall conference. Last year’s inauguration of this event, planned by Dr. Peter Metropoulos in conjunction with the nurses, was successful, allowing for much-needed interaction between occupational health practitioners in the state. We are pleased that the nurses have chosen to join forces with us again this year. Our meeting has been approved by ACOEM, thanks to efforts by Dr. Saima Siddiqui, for 13 hours of CME. The meeting is also approved for MOC credits by the American Board of Preventive Medicine. Providers should note that starting in August 2011, all ABMS member boards (including ABPM) will be required to report the MOC participation status of all diplomates, including those with lifetime certificates. This is your opportunity to obtain these credits close to home. For this year’s meeting we are taking a new tack with ½ days themes. We are excited to be bringing in many national experts for this year’s meeting. Topics for the meeting include: 1. Work-Related Upper Extremity Conditions: Etiology, Diagnosis, Treatment, Causation Determination, and Application of the ACOEM Practice Guidelines. Dr. Tony Burton is the course director. We are thrilled that Dr. Kurt Hegemann, Editor-In-Chief of ACOEM's Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines will be speaking. 2. Current Topics in Environmental Health. This will include our Carey-Pratt-McCord Lecture, planned by Dr. James Blessman. The speaker will be Industrial Hygienist Roger Wabeke, who will give his talk on Hobby Poisons. Other session topics will include Urban Gardening and Dioxin. 3. First Responders. Speakers will included Dr. Fabrice Czarnecki, one of the authors of the newly published ACOEM Guidance for the Medical Evaluation of Law Enforcement Officers. Additional speaker will be Jerold James, Chief of EMS for the City of Detroit. As part of the meeting, ACOEM will be sponsoring a Faculty Series entitled Shift Work and Sleep –Optimizing Health, Safety, and Performance. ACOEM will be bringing in Dr. Phyllis Zee- Associate Director, Center for Sleep & Circadian Biology at Northwestern University- to present this program. A separate flyer for this program will be sent to you with the conference brochure. No separate registration is needed. In addition to the MOHC, MOEMA will again be sponsoring a half-day session at the Michigan State Medical Society Annual Scientific Meeting on October 26, 2011. Dr. Patrick Stover is planning this meeting and has excellent speakers planned. More information to follow. We are anticipating a large turnout at MOHC this year and hope each of you will be there to share in this exciting event. We look forward to seeing you all in Bay City! Deborah S. Heaney, MD, MPH, FACOEM MOEMA President |
