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2024 Red Rock CME/CE Conference Presented by UAPA

Dixie Convention Center
1835 South Convention Center Drive
St. George, UT 84790

Thursday, March 21, 2024 at 7:00am MT - Saturday, March 23, 2024 at 5:00pm MT
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CME-CE Conference
1835 South Convention Center Drive, St. George, UT 84790

Info

Credits Offered

This event offers 21.0 CME credits to attendees.
Accreditation Info: This activity has been reviewed by the AAPA Review Panel and is compliant with AAPA CME Criteria. This activity is designated for 21 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. Approval is valid from 3/21/2024 to 3/23/2024 . PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation. AAPA reference number: CME-2010645. We will not be offering AANP CE credits this year..

Additional Information
Thank you for your interest in our conference.
 
AAPA-CME-Logo-3
This activity has been reviewed by the AAPA Review Panel and is compliant with AAPA CME Criteria. This activity is designated for 21 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation. Approval is valid from 3/21/2024 to 3/23/2024. AAPA reference number: CME-2010474.

We will not be offering AANP CE credit this year for this conference.

Topic

This is an in-person, live event.  There will also be a virtual option to attend this event live, or catch up on sessions at your convenience. Registration is open for the live and virtual event. Registration cancellation requests received via My PA Network contact us page on or before March 5th will receive a full refund minus up to a $255. cancellation fee. Registration cancellation requests received after March 5th will not receive a refund.

Credits Offered

This activity has been reviewed by the AAPA Review Panel and is compliant with AAPA CME Criteria. This activity is designated for 21 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. Approval is valid from 3/21/2024 to 3/23/2024 . PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation. AAPA reference number: CME-2010645. We will not be offering AANP CE credits this year.

Due to low NP attendance, we will not be seeking AANP accreditation this year.

Accommodations 

Our block of discounted hotel rooms have filled but there are many hotels in the St George area.

Getting Here:

If attending from out of state, Las Vegas Airport (LAS) is a 2-hour drive away, alternatively, St. George Airport is a 15-minute drive from the Dixie Convention Center. 

Things to do:

St. George has so much to offer for adults and families.  Hiking and biking among stunning red rock scenery are among the most popular activities in the area, and St. George is situated within driving distance to 5 National Parks, Zion being the closest (45m).  For more information on area activities and updates visit https://greaterzion.com/.


Additional Information

The Utah Academy of Physician Assistants is pleased to present its annual Red Rock CME Conference live in St. George Utah, or you may attend virtually. 


This event aims to offer informative, current, and relevant information for Advanced Practice Clinicians devised to stimulate thinking through didactic lectures, lively debate, complex case studies, and engaging workshops.

Invited faculty will present cutting-edge information on the diagnosis, management, and treatment of common conditions, diseases, and problems.

The audience for the conference is physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and other health professionals. 

Conference Planning Committee Members

  • Jonathan Baird, DMSc, PA-C, ATC
  • Leslie Fabian, Co-Chair
  • Alana Klase-Freeman, Co- Chair
  • Charity Christensen, PA-C
  • Jim Sutton, PA-C
  • Amy Baird, UAPA Associate Executive Director
  • Stan Lockhart, UAPA Executive Director 
  • Kim McFarlane, MPAS, PA-C, UAPA Past President
  • Katie Swenson, PA-C, UAPA President

Sponsors

Thank you to our generous sponsors. 

Gold Level Sponsor:

J&J Innovative Medicine, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and Pfizer

.  

Silver Sponsor

 Medicure

 

Registration Refund and Cancellation Policy

Registration cancellation requests received by the Red Rock CME Conference registration office on or before Friday, March 5, 2024 will receive a refund, minus up to a $255 cancellation fee. Registration cancellation requests received by the Red Rock CME Conference registration office after Friday, March 5, 2024 will not be refunded. Please send registration cancellation requests to the UAPA office by e-mail: utahapa.info@gmail.com

History of the Conference:
Thank you to Marti Trunnell, for this history of the conference.

The origins of the Red Rock CME, on the occasion of this, the 35th meeting!
Long, long ago, in a land not so far away, a guy named John Allen had a light-bulb
moment. “Let’s bring CME to the PAs in Southern Utah, so they don’t always have to
come ‘up here’ for meetings.” It was 1989. I was but a new grad, class 18 of UPAP, but
I had attended the UAPA meetings as a student. I was privy to, and enthusiastic about,
John’s idea.


John and, I believe, Dave Anderson, put on the very first meeting. The then Peppermill
resort (which, in earlier iterations had long been the only casino in the dusty town of
Mesquite,) allowed them to meet in a literal dungeon of a basement of one of the many
separate buildings that were just hotel rooms. I believe there were four pharmaceutical
vendors, and approximately ten attendees.


I joined the “Committee,” as it were, the next year, and if memory serves (ever more
doubtful. . .) so did Diane Robinson, the delightful and loveable secretary at the
program. But. We were still in the basement. We had a few more vendors. Space was
tight. We also had perhaps double the attendees because we had invited Nevada PAs.
Lo and behold, meeting number three was in the penthouse of one of these buildings.
Light! Space! (Dave tells me it was the owner’s digs?) Regardless, there was
evidence this Springtime conference was taking off.


We are now talking 1991, the third year. And this is the main thing I wanted to
communicate. It illustrates John’s playful heart. He warned all attendees to dress
casually. Coats and ties were forbidden. And if they were worn, he got the big pair of
scissors out of his pocket and proceeded to cut off all ties. He then proudly displayed
them on a bulletin board.


As I recall, we were in the penthouse for two years. And this was very close to the time
when the Peppermill changed hands and became the Oasis. It was also around the
same time management was taking us seriously and allowed us to use the
CONFERENCE ROOM!


It turns out, the timing of this event has proved serendipitous. Yes, the southern
providers attended. But in late March and early April, people “up north” were anxious to
get out of the winter muck and head south to sunshine. In the earlier events, we always
had a big group event. (Probably because the group was not all that big.) There was a
place outside of Mesquite where we had a barbecue with dancing and hayrides and
even skeet-shooting. We had softball games, vendors vs. providers. Then came the
Fun Run and the Golf Tournament. In addition? Can you say family friendly? The
Oasis had five big swimming pools, a full arcade, mini-motorway track . . .
I literally raised my kids in their elementary years at this conference. It was the highlight
of their Spring.

Things changed again, when, in 1995, a huge new white Hotel/Casino went up across
the street. It was called Player’s Island, (owned by none other than Merv Griffin, a TV
talk-show personality remembered only by the elderly among us.) We were now
sufficiently legit. They came a-courtin’. They wanted us to move our conference there.
Which we did.


And after a couple of years there? That building changed hands and became the
Casablanca. (I have always thought it ironic that when it was white, it was Player’s
Island. And when it was peach colored, they named it Casablanca, which means, of
course, White House.)


We had a lot more room now. And a big, lovely pool, and a catered Awards Banquet at
poolside. Many of the earlier traditions remained; the Fun Run, the Golf Tournament
and oh, yes. Some speakers. And workshops.


There were others generous with their time and efforts that came and went on the
committee. I’d like to take a moment to thank the late Vickie Hamm, and her family
members, who had worked with Dave at Dr. Sundquist’s office. Sheri Combe was
always there, as was her sister. Please forgive me if I have left anyone out! In 1997 I
bowed out of serving on the Committee so I could do justice to serving as UAPA
President.


John passed away in 2008 in a tragic freak accident. Dave Anderson, ever faithful, took
the reins and did a fabulous job. We are all deeply in his debt. And the conference
moved from Mesquite to St. George in, 2016? Is that correct?


THIRTY FIVE YEARS THIS YEAR! From little acorns, mighty oaks shall grow!
Marti Trunnell, PA-C Emeritus (dinosaur)

In Honor Of John Charles Allen

John Allen was a physician assistant serving Provo, UT for 35 years and the founder of what is now known as Red Rock CME Conference (formerly Mesquite PA Conference).  He was part of the second graduating class of Utah MEDEX Program (now UPAP) in 1973 and served patients at the Family Medical Clinic in Provo, UT until his untimely death in 2011.

John came into the PA profession following studies at Eastern Arizona College and BYU, and serving an LDS mission in South Africa, Zambia, and Rhodesia.  During his education, John was called to service in the Army and attended Combat Medic School at Fort Sam Houston in Texas where he was awarded "Most Outstanding Trainee."  As part of his work in the Army, he was sent to Ethiopia where he served in a small field hospital until his discharge. 

John Allen had a long and distinguished PA career and was an active leader in the Utah Academy of Physician Assistants (UAPA) and advocate for the PA profession.  Over the years he precepted PA students and was an outstanding role model for PA students.  John Allen loved his role as a PA for his community and is remembered as a pioneer of the PA profession in Utah, and he is greatly missed by our PA community.  

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