FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE            Connecticut Department of Public Health

November 10, 2010                                 Contact: William Gerrish

                                                                 (860) 509-7270

Hartford – The Connecticut Department of Public Health will host a Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) Stakeholder Engagement Conference on November 19^th at the Michael J. Adanti Student Center at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.

The day-long conference, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will bring healthcare professionals from settings across the full spectrum of the healthcare system and public health community together for the first time to prepare to reduce the burden of HAIs in our state.

This will be the first of three conferences that will be used to write the Connecticut HAI Health Improvement Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for action to address HAIs. It will prepare participants for two subsequent planning conferences leading to the launch of the state plan in November 2011. The conferences will ensure that planning is done with the latest information about best practices for HAI tracking and prevention.

DPH Commissioner J. Robert Galvin, MD, MPH will make opening remarks and the conference will include presentations from many experts in the field, including Dr. Alice Guh, medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The afternoon program will include sessions on HAIs in the various sectors of the healthcare system including long-term care, homecare and hospice, hospitals, ambulatory care, dialysis, community health centers and other settings. Those encouraged to attend the conference include health providers (physicians, nurses, physician assistants and nurse practitioners), others working in healthcare, health care consumers, advocates, payors, and public health professionals.

Anyone wishing to register for the conference should visit https://ct.train.org/ or call 860-509-7995 to request a paper registration form. For more information about healthcare associated infections, visit the Healthcare Associated Infections website at www.ct.gov/dph/hai.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health is the state’s leader in public health policy and advocacy with a mission to protect and promote the health and safety of the people of our state.  To contact the department, please visit its website at www.ct.gov/dph or call (860) 509-7270.

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