Aug. 27, 2004
Media Advisory
To: News Directors and News Editors
From: Veronika Avery, Assistant Director of Media Relations, 342-5444

Advanced Hazmat Life Support Presents Toxic Terrorism Program at ULM

The University of Louisiana at Monroe Continuing Education Department and the Louisiana Poison Control Center, housed on the ULM Campus, will present "Toxic Terrorism", one of the course offerings of the Advanced Hazmat Life Support series. There will be two opportunities to take this class: One session on October 11 and the other on December 6. Both will be held from 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

The course presentation is designed for emergency medical service (EMS) and other health professionals. It will be presented in the University Conference Center on the7th floor of the ULM Library.

The target audience includes nurse practitioners, pharmacists, emergency medical technicians (EMT), first responders, physician assistants, respiratory therapists, toxicologists, paramedics, industrial hygienists, and military personnel.

The AHLS for Toxic Terrorism course includes a manual, didactic lectures and an interactive case study. "This class is a must for anyone in the emergency response field," Mark Ryan, Louisiana Poison Control Center director, said. "We are making this course available here at ULM so that responders and other healthcare providers in our area can take advantage of this excellent course," Ryan said.

Participants in the class will learn about chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism.

The Advanced Hazmat Life Support (AHLS) for Toxic Terrorism program is a five-hour course. Upon completion, the participant will be able to:

* Demonstrate rapid assessment of toxic terrorism patients
* Recognize toxic syndromes (toxidromes)
* Demonstrate ability to medically manage toxic terrorism patients
* Apply the poisoning treatment paradigm
* Identify and administer specific antidotes, antibiotics and vaccines for toxic terrorism patients

Instructors for the course are Mark Ryan, Louisiana Poison Control Center Director; Thomas Arnold, M.D., Chief of Emergency Medicine, LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport, and Carolyn Lee, Strategic National Stockpile Pharmacy Manager.

Participants must register with the ULM Division of Continuing Education. The registration fee is $350.00.

Co-presenters of this class include the Arizona American Emergency Medicine Research Center www.aemrc.arizona.edu and the Academy of Clinical Toxicology www.clintox.org, call, (318) 342-3648, or visit www.ulm.edu/prepare.