» Home  » AACT Members Area	Advanced Hazmat Life Support (AHLS) & the North  American Congress of Clinical Toxicology Frank G. Walter, MD Your American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (AACT) has furthered reaching its mission of uniting scientists and clinicians in the advancement of education of treatment of toxins by sponsoring the international program, Advanced Hazmat Life Support (AHLS). The partnership between AACT and the University of Arizona College of Medicine, has been successful in training more than 6,000 healthcare professionals in emergency response to hazmat incidents. The mission of AHLS is to educate health professionals in responding specifically to those exposed to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials. With a vision of becoming an international standard for training of all healthcare providers, the knowledge of the course has spread by training professionals from 43 countries since 1999. AHLS provides four courses. The primary course, Provider, is two-days long and starts with the epidemiology of hazardous materials and how to establish a hazmat response team and continues by covering toxic inhalants, pesticide poisoning, toxic terrorism, and corrosives, hydrocarbons and halogenated hydrocarbons. Built-in case studies have participants put their new knowledge to work in answering questions based on a specific scenario. Two additional courses added to the AHLS’ offerings are Toxic Terrorism and Chemical Burns. Both courses pull information from the Provider class and take only a half-day to complete. The final course, Instructor, provides train the trainer lessons for those interested in instructing courses for their colleagues. The curriculum for each course is carefully reviewed by the seven-member Scientific Advisory Committee. Updates to the course content are made in conjunction with new information in toxicology. Three editions of the Provider Manual have been printed and the fourth is expected in 2007. Frank G. Walter, MD, FACEP, FACMT, FAACT, is the chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of these six other highly qualified medical personnel: Alvin Bronstien, MD, Jeffrey Burgess, MD, Philip Edelman, MD, Alan Hall, MD, Raymond Klein, EMT-P, Captain and Richard G. Thomas, PharmD, DABAT. Dr. Harvey W. Meislin, MD, FACEP chairs the Administrative Policy Committee which oversees the content of the Instructor manual, budget issues and other issues regarding AHLS course policies. The other members of the committee are: Timothy B. Erickson, MD, FACEP, FACMT, Miguel Fernandez, MD, FACEP, James B. Mowry, PharmD, ABAT, FAACT, Danielle M. Crounse, MA, and Frank G. Walter, MD, FACEP, FACMT, FAACT. Courses are continually planned across the US and Canada. Check the newly revised website, www.ahls.org, for upcoming courses in your area. If you would like to host a course, please contact our Program Coordinator, Danielle Crounse, at the address below. For more information please contact: Danielle Crounse AHLS Program Coordinator Website: www.ahls.org Phone: (520) 626-1982 E-mail: ahlsinfo@aemrc.arizona.edu