YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — As many as 300 people are expected to attend a medical conference here next week to improve skills and learn the latest methods in treating military patients, especially those on the front lines.
The 38th Parallel Medical and Nursing Societies will host the weeklong conference at Dragon Hill Lodge to help medical personnel better prepare for wartime deployments and for treating medical conditions in South Korea, said Maj. Shawn Lockett, who is helping to organize the seminars.
The theme this year is “operational medicine,” an effort to remind doctors, physician assistants and nurses here that they should prepare for the possibility of working in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, Lockett said.
“They may be there soon, as 2nd BCT learned last year,” Lockett said, referencing the 2nd Infantry Division’s Strike Force brigade that was deployed to Iraq from South Korea last summer.
The conference, which is geared toward military medical workers, will be held in two shifts — April 4-6, and then repeated April 6-8 — so medical staffs throughout the peninsula can come to Seoul to participate.
Medical professionals and workers who take part can use the classes toward their continuing education requirements, Lockett said. The seminars will include U.S. and Korean medical experts. Classes range from emergency medical technician refresher courses to sexual-assault exams to health care in North Korea.
The 38th Parallel Medical Society was formed in 1951 by a group of medical officers serving with the 3rd Infantry Division in Korea. The organization was formed to provide a forum to discuss current medical advances and medical-military issues unique to the Korean Peninsula.
Next week’s conference will be the 54th annual meeting, Lockett said. Call DSN 737-5010 for more information.
