This is a reminder of the Georgia Society for Histotechnology will hold
it's annual meeting in Macon this coming weekend, May 17-18th at the
Holiday Inn Macon Conference Center, 3590 Riverside Dr., Macon, GA
31210.  Reservations can be made by calling 1-478-474-2610.  Identify
yourself as a GSH attendee and the room rate of $59 single or double
will be honored if rooms are still available.  The program is below:

2002 GSH MEETING

HISTOLOGY ON MY MIND

FRIDAY - MAY 17, 2002

9-12 HT/HTL/QIHC REVIEW SESSION –Susan Meloan, BBA, HT(ASCP)HTL &
Shirley Powell, HT(ASCP)HTL, QIHC

12-6 REGISTRATION

1-3 Vinnie Della-Speranza, MS, HTL(ASCP) – Coming Clean:  Bloopers,
Blunders and Other Unmentionables.
In an effort to get the work out as quickly as possible in today’s busy
laboratories, shortcuts are taken and careless mistakes are made.  These
situations have the potential to seriously compromise the diagnostic
value of histopathologic material, increase costs due to wasted
reagents, waste time and threaten the safety of laboratory personnel.
The speaker will “air his dirty laundry” by recounting actual lab
experiences and review troubleshooting efforts which led to the
identification and solutions to the problems.  Discussion will allow the
participant to understand the impact of the error or oversight in each
scenario through a review of the fundamentals of good technique.

3-3:30  VIEW EXHIBITS ON BREAK IN EXHIBIT HALL

3:30-4:30 Ron Garner, PhD, Associate Professor Mercer School of Medicine
-- Short Course in Immunology.
Most Histotechnologists involved in immunohistochemistry can use a
refresher course in immunology.  This review will bring into focus the
mechanisms involved in routine immunohistochemistry.

4:30-5:30 Tim Morken, BA, EMT(EMSA), HTL(ASCP) – Database Design: What
Every Histotech Should Know.
Are you being buried by endless lists of reagents, antibodies,
equipment, personnel records, results and all the other information
histology labs must deal with?  Even if you have a central lab system,
there are many types of lab information that are not covered by such
systems.  This presentation is to show how to use your desktop computer
to organize that information so it is easily entered and retrieved.
Basic database design principles applicable to any system will be
presented.  Spreadsheets and rational databases will be demonstrated and
the pros and cons of each will be discussed.

5:30-7:30 RECEPTION FOR VENDORS IN EXHIBIT HALL

SATURDAY – MAY 18, 2002

7-8 REGISTRATION

8-12 Vinnie Della Speranza, MS, HTL(ASCP)  --Safety Compliance Issues
for the Histology Laboratory.
The responsibility for a safe, compliant work environment rests not with
out employer or supervisor but with each of us.  The clinical laboratory
professional must be familiar with the requirements of federal, state
and local authorities if we can hope to be successful in protecting the
environment, ourselves, and those around us.  The purpose of this
workshop is to familiarize the participant with significant aspects of
the federal regulations pertaining to the clinical laboratory with
suggestions for compliance and hazardous waste minimization specific to
the histology laboratory.  This workshop will identify and address
prominent safety issues that confront all histology laboratories,
including:
· Biological and Chemical Hazards in the Histology Lab
· The Formaldehyde Standard
· Hazardous Waste disposal
· Hazardous Waste Minimization

10-10:30 VIEW EXHIBITS ON BREAK IN EXHIBIT HALL

12:15-2  AWARDS LUNCHEON
  GSH MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND AWARDS

2-3 Tim Morken, BA, EMT(EMSA), HTL(ASCP)  – The Role of the Histology
Laboratory in Bioterrorist Events - Along with Jeanine Bartlett, Jeltley
Montague, Infectious Disease Pathology Activity, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
In October of 2001 bioterrorism became a fact of life in the US.  During
the anthrax bioterrorism event the histology laboratory of the
Infectious Disease Pathology Activity at the CDCP was called upon to
rapidly detect the agent of that disease in human tissue samples.  This
talk with present lessons learned bout dealing with such an event, an
outline of the major infectious agents.

3-3:30  BREAK

3:30-5:30 Dorothy Clark MT(ASCP), Tech-Rite Consultant with Richard
Allan Scientific – Basic Immunohistochemistry
This workshop is designed to give participants knowledge and
understanding of Immunohistochemical staining techniques.  The workshop
will introduce the concepts of antibody – antigen interaction, secondary
detection, sensitivity, specificity, chromogens, and factors that might
affect immunohistochemistry performance.  The mechanisms of biotin and
streptavidin based detection systems will be discussed with emphasis on
horseradish peroxidase and alkaline phosphatase systems.  The effect of
fixation, tissue processing and epitope retrieval plays an important
factor in immunohistochemistry and will also be discussed.

GSH BOD MEETING TO FOLLOW – location will be posted at registration
desk.