Two health care conferences with the joint title Retrofitting For Reform are scheduled to convene in Spokane next week. A total of about 300 participants from Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Alaska are expected to attend the conferences.

The Northwest Regional Critical Access Hospital Conference will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., on Tuesday, March 29, at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park, 201 W. North River Drive, just north of downtown. This conference is designed for administrators, staff, clinicians, and board members of hospitals with fewer than 25 acute care inpatient beds that have obtained Medicare's critical access designation.

Following that event, a Northwest Regional Rural Health Conference also will take place at the Red Lion, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:40 p.m. on Wednesday, March 30, and from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, March 31. This conference involves a wider range of health advocates from rural settings, says Kaarin Appel, conference manager for the Area Health Education Center of Washington State University Extension, which is facilitating the conference. Other sponsors include Inland Northwest Health Services, Northwest MedStar, St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute, and other entities in the five participating states.

Speakers will include Tom Morris, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and John Supplitt, of the American Hospital Association. An eight-hour course on the treatment of narcotics dependence will coincide with the Tuesday conference. A tour of the Spokane Falls Family Clinic is scheduled for Wednesday evening, and a grant workshop is slated for Thursday afternoon.

For more information about either conference, contact Kaarin Appel at 358-7509.