State Chapters
AAEMLa Update

AAEMLa Has Active Summer

by Larry Weiss, MD JD FAAEM

The Louisiana state chapter of AAEM has a busy summer schedule. Last month we officially registered our political action committee, LEMPAC, which will allow us to move forward on implementing our legislative agenda. Also, we just distributed our third issue of our newsletter AAEMLa Notes. By the end of August we will send a packet of information to the CEO of every hospital in Louisiana containing a letter describing the benefits of hiring board certified emergency physicians, a copy of the AAEM pamphlet on board certification, and a copy of an article from Common Sense describing the increased liability that hospitals face if they do not have properly trained physicians in their emergency departments.

We will hold our second annual membership meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Orleans on November 8, 2001. We will offer four hours of CME credit on the topic of "Critical Care in Emergency Medicine". These national-quality lectures will include a two-hour overview of mechanical ventilation by Bob Sigillito, and a lecture on the use of vasopressors by Peter DeBlieux. Both Drs. Sigillito and DeBlieux completed critical care fellowships after their Emergency Medicine residencies and have lectured extensively on these topics. Jorge Martinez will give a lecture on cardiac imaging in Emergency Medicine patients. Dr. Martinez will review the large number of diagnostic modalities available to our patients and the indications for each procedure. Dr. Martinez completed residencies in Emergency Medicine, internal medicine, and a cardiology fellowship before going to law school! Drs. Martinez and DeBlieux have given their lectures to national audiences. We expect a very high-quality program.

We invite all AAEM members to our CME program and meeting. October and early November is usually the nicest time of the year in New Orleans (last year was an exception!). For those of you planning on attending the meeting and staying though the weekend, please call the AAEMLa office and we will gladly provide you with hotel information. Please see our advertisement in this issue of Common Sense.

AAEMLa is the Louisiana State Chapter of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Larry Weiss is the President of AAEMLa and can be reached at ldweiss@aol.com