President's Recap of The 15th Annual MiARP Fall Conference

The 15th Annual MiARP Fall Conference was a success. We received a lot of positive feedback about the diversity of the speakers and the relevance to our field.

Susan Alcock, RN, presented for Dr. Randy Russo, MD as he had an unexpected funeral to attend. Susan is Dr. Russo’s nurse and works hand in hand with him treating patients. She did a great job; we really appreciated her stepping up to the plate. Dr. MacInness, Ph.D., spoke on mild closed head injury. His presentation elicited a lot of discussion as to treatment and case management. Attorney Lori Ittner presented on how to manage and handle attendant care. She was so interesting that we allotted her an additional 30 minutes. The audience was allowed to ask as many "what if" questions as they wanted, which they did in earnest. Lori is always a lively and passionate speaker. Attorney Thomas Cypher, of Cypher and Parent Law Firm discussed the Sington v. Daimler Chrysler Remand and how it has affected Workers’ Compensation case management in Michigan. Dave Campbell of the State Department of Workers’ Compensation gave us an update on tracking comp claims and answered some of the most asked questions to his office. Vendors spoke during lunch, which was very useful as the participants were able to hear more about the products that the vendors were displaying. Participants were also able to ask questions and a couple of vendors raffled off prizes.

We had 4 people sign up to be on the two committees that we are starting. Roger Riley and Wendy Conduti have agreed to participate in the Legislative Committee. Cathy Brenemer and Karen Katko will be on the Membership Committee. If anyone else would like to participate please contact any board member as this is a great opportunity to increase your knowledge of pending litigation in Michigan and to grow our membership.

I would like to thank everyone that came to and participated in the MiARP Annual Conference. A special thanks to our speakers and vendors. We are looking for speakers and content suggestions for next year's conference. Please feel free to share your ideas and suggestions.

Karen Starr
President
October 2004