Chicago – Nurses, midwives, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, educators, lactation consultants, childbirth educators, and the community are invited to attend the March of Dimes 31st Annual Perinatal Conference to be held March 8th – 10th, at the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook, IL.  Again, this year, the Illinois Department of Public Health 20th Annual Conference: Genetics: A Family Affair, will be held in conjunction with the March of Dimes Perinatal Conference. This conference, at the special rate, is open to all Illinois Department of Public Health nurses who work with genetics, newborn screening and SIDS programs.

            The goal of the March of Dimes three-day conference is to address significant and challenging areas of current perinatal nursing practice. An impressive lineup of speakers and workshops will focus on perinatal nursing as a profession today, societal concerns as they influence maternal and child health, current and future trends in perinatal care delivery, and developments in nursing research and practice.

            Workshops will address a wide range of topics including Shaken Baby Syndrome, Brain Injury and Outcomes in Premature Infants, A Genetic link to SIDS, and Management of Neonatal Jaundice.   

Terry Johnson, APRN, RNC, MN, Owner and Founder of Lode Star Enterprises will be the keynote speaker at the opening breakfast on Thursday.  She will also be speaking at the Thursday afternoon workshop: Management of the Near Term Infant.  This workshop focuses on the implications and problems with babies who are born near term.

Additional guest speakers include: Mary Sagady Leslie CNM, MSN, Director, UCSD Nurse Midwifery Services, University of California San Diego; Suma Pyati, MD, The John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County; Penny Simpkin, PT, Independent Practitioner of Childbirth Education, Dula and Author; Thomas Hale, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center; Kathleen Simpson, PhD, RNC, FAAN, Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist, St. John's Mercy Medical Center.

Information about tuition fees and a list of the workshops are available by calling Jennie Pinkwater, 312-596-4709 or online at www.marchofdimes.com/illinois.