MARQUETTE – Over 500 EMS personnel will attend the 32nd annual UP-EMS Conference in Marquette this week.

According to UP-EMS Director Bob Struck, the conference is Michigan’s most comprehensive educational program for rural emergency responders. Most of the Upper Peninsula’s 75 EMS organizations will have members attending, along with EMS personnel from throughout lower Michigan and Northern Wisconsin .

Seventy different emergency classes are offered during the four day program, taught by over fifty instructors. Bob Struck states that the UP-EMS Conference is essential because it provides rural emergency personnel an opportunity to learn from leading experts, and to practice new skills and emergency techniques.

Senator Tom Casperson will speak at the Conference on Friday morning to announce his plans to introduce new legislation to enhance emergency medical care in rural areas of Michigan. His proposed legislation would allow Medical First Responders and other volunteer EMS personnel to provide better care to rural communities.

UP-EMS is a Marquette-based non-profit organization which promotes the development of emergency medical resources throughout the Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan . The conference is held at Northern Michigan University Thursday through Sunday.