Dear Colleague:

The Northeast Missouri Rural Health Network (NMRHN) continues to grow!

We have added five new sustaining members including the Adair County Ambulance District, Putnam County Ambulance District, Sullivan County Ambulance District, Schuyler County Health Department and Northeast Missouri Area Health Education Center. Soon we will be finalizing our year four strategic plan. We have received our articles of incorporation as a non-profit corporation from the state of Missouri, and the application process for federal tax-exempt status is underway.

This issue of Network News is mainly devoted to reporting on the continuing education courses the Network offered the last few months which included Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Trauma Nurse Core Course (TNCC), and Emergency Nurse Pediatric Course (ENPC) which has never before been offered in the area.

Congratulations to Ray Magers and Putnam County Memorial Hospital (PCMH) on submitting their Critical Access Hospital application to the Missouri Department of Health recently. We wish you success in this endeavor! The Network will continue to assist PCMH as much as possible to help them secure the Critical Access Hospital designation.

Also, pay close attention to our "Network Member Announcement" section. Future issues will feature a current event or project of a member of the Network. We hope to provide each member with an opportunity to increase public awareness of an issue they are currently addressing. This month the Sullivan County Memorial Hospital is in the spotlight!

As you can see from this issue, we have had a great deal of success here at NMRHN. It is our hope to continue expanding and building a high-quality healthcare delivery system here in northeast Missouri from which everyone can benefit. Please do not hesitate to offer suggestions and/or comments at any time. Thanks for your support.

Robert Jackson, D.O.
NMRHN Project Director

We all hope we are never faced with this situation, but if this happens we would like the most highly-trained health care personnel available to assist our loved one. The members of the Northeast Missouri Rural Health Network (NMRHN) understand the importance of maintaining highly-skilled health care professionals that will be prepared for the unexpected.

Thus, in November of 1999 members of the NMRHN Board of Directors approved funding to sponsor the following continuing educational courses for northeast Missouri health professionals. The Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course (ENPC) was held on the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine campus. The other courses were held at the Milan Community Center in order to offer a more centralized location for member participants in need of the training. All totaled, 90 area health care professionals received this valuable continuing educational training!

February 24 & 25, 2000
22 participants, 18 network members

This course, for Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, and Paramedics, focuses on the provision of emergency healthcare to children and adolescents. It helps develop one's care provider skills, gives the provider more confidence in handling pediatric emergencies, and helps identify ways to promote healthy living to adolescents in the community. Participants successfully completing this course are awarded continuing education credits of 18.6 clinical Continuing Education Contact Hours (CECH) from the Emergency Nurse's Association and a certificate of achievement.

Upon completion of this course participants are able to: identify the anatomic and physiologic characteristics of children as a basis for signs and symptoms, describe the characteristics of life-threatening illnesses and injuries in children, recognize the most frequent causes of illness and injury, utilize appropriate nursing diagnoses and anticipate expected outcomes based on the assessment findings, plan specific interventions needed to manage the child with illness or injury, evaluate the effectiveness of nursing interventions related to patient outcomes, and identify health promotions strategies related to the pediatric population. After completing this course these individuals are better equipped to manage a pediatric trauma situation.

The Sullivan County Memorial Hospital has now raised $155,000 of the needed $400,000 for their capital campaign. Since June 1999 various fundraisers have been held to benefit the hospital.

A "Celebrity Night" was held on February 26 which included a dinner, entertainment by the local folks and an auction at which Charlie Pardon, of the Missouri Hospital Association, served as auctioneer. The event netted $4,100.

Three "$1 Million Dollar Hole in One" challenges have been held and the Sullivan County Country Club is holding a golf tourney as a benefit on June 25.

Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine
Robert Jackson, D.O., NMRHN Director
Richard Mercer, D.O.
Frank Colton, Ed.D.

Northeast Regional Health System
Charles M. Boughton
Ranee Brayton
Richard Valuck, D.O.

Hospice 2000
Ron McCullough
Gaylah Sublette

Pershing Health System
Phil Hamilton

Putnam County Memorial Hospital
Ray Magers

Sullivan County Memorial Hospital
Martha Gragg

Linn County Health Department
Dean Gordon

Putnam County Health Department
Nettie Lewis

Clark County Health Department
Janet Nixon

Sullivan County Health Department
Connie Michael

Macon County Health Department
Ida Taylor

Putnam County Ambulance District
Andrew Helbling

Adair County Ambulance District
Don Crosby

Knox County Ambulance District
Linda Banks

Sullivan County Ambulance District
Jim Weaver

Schuyler County Health Department
Janice Shaw

Northeast Missouri Area Health Education Center
Chris Stewart
Michael French