KAPA tries to adjust state EMS conference to hotel situation

By JOHN HULTGREN
Kentucky EMS Connection

VERSAILLES — Due to the unexpected closure of the Owensboro Executive Inn, the Kentucky Ambulance Providers Association has had to change their plans for the 2008 Kentucky EMS Conference and Expo.

"A lack of available and affordable hotel space in Kentucky has made it virtually impossible to put on our normal conference this year," said Joe Bradshaw, conference chair. "We will be back in 2009 with a product of our normal quality, but we don't want to try and throw something together for this year that couldn't meet our expectations."

The conference committee is working on hosting a one-day conference, focused on EMS earthquake preparedness later this fall, possibly in Bowling Green, that would include medical CEUs, association meetings and possibly a state awards banquet. KAPA is working with the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) and it is possible this one-day conference could actually be free of charge.

"Because we can't get the dates we had originally planned for, we have lost our main speakers," said Mark Harrison, KAPA president and conference committee member. "We still don't have negotiations completed with our planned replacement hotel, so we felt that waiting until the negotiations were completed, and then trying to line up quality speakers, may cause the quality of the conference to suffer. And that is absolutely something we don't want to see happen. We know we can put on a conference that meets our high standards next year, and at this point that is what we are going to concentrate our efforts on."

A tentative date for this year's conference is October 16 at the Bowling Green Convention Center, where negotiations are on-going. The KAPA conference committee and executive board are meeting tomorrow to finalize plans.

"I expect KAPA to make an announcement by the end of next week with more information on the 2008 conference," Harrison said.

The Kentucky EMS Conference and Expo was started by KAPA in 1990 and last year attracted 700 attendees and over 70 exhibitors.

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