By Bonnie Prater
WSIA Training Coordinator

August 2009

Hello Members!

It is time to start making your plans to attend our Fall training classes.  Can you believe we are talking about Fall in this heat? 

Here is the scoop on our upcoming training programs.  First, we have WWCP Statutory Requirements, beginning September 8th.  The WWCP courses will be offered in two locations this year (2009-10 program year).  The live class will be held in Renton at ESD #121, as usual.  The only remote class will be held in Portland at Kaiser Permanente.  Registration for this course is now open on our website.  Please register now if you are planning to attend in either Renton or Portland.  The Renton Facilitators for the upcoming year are Lorrie Sheehan (Safeway) and Charita Dumas (Broadspire).  The Portland Facilitator is Karen Mulick (Sedgwick CMS).  We would like to have a co-facilitator in Portland so if you are interested, please email me at bonnie.prater@wsiassn.org.  The Facilitators are looking for speakers for the upcoming Statutory class so if you have any interest in presenting or know of someone who might be interested please contact Lorrie Sheehan at lorrie.sheehan@safeway.com. While we had some early interest in Olympia, the second survey indicated there were not enough people planning to attend at that location to justify a class.  There was also a significant amount of interest in Bellevue/Kirkland, but we were unable to find a facility with the videoconferencing equipment needed.

The next Certification Test is coming up on September 16th.  Our Certification Review class is held the two days prior to the test at the Phoenix Inn in Olympia.  Registration will be open on our website next week.  The registration cut off is September 4th.  If you are taking the test, we urge you to take our review course.  The pass rate for our attendees is consistently higher than for those who don’t attend.  Remember…don’t take the test without taking the class!

Our Legal Issues Workshop will be held on October 8th & 9th at Alderbrook Resort in Union, WA.  Your presenters, Bernie Pratt and Gibby Stratton, of Pratt, Day and Stratton, always receive rave reviews on this program. Program details and registration will be on our website mid-August.  Register early as attendance is limited!

I am excited to announce that our all new claims training courses, Introduction to Claims Management and Complex Claims Management, will make their debut October 12th & 13th and November 16th & 17th, respectively.  As I have told you previously, both of these two-day courses are the result of a complete overhaul of our Claims 1 – 4 courses by our IIU Board of Regents, with assistance from the class instructors.  Introduction to Claims Management is truly an introductory class for those who are newer to workers’ compensation.  We recommend this course for those with less than 3 years claims handling experience.  Complex Claims Management is designed to cover the more advanced claims topics and is recommended for those with at least 3 years of claims handling experience. Details and registration will be posted on our website mid-August.  Attendance is limited so register early! 

In addition to the training discussed above, we also have some conferences coming up.  The ASSE/WSIA Professional Development Conference and Fall Conference are being held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Lynnwood on September 24th and 25th.  The Winter East Conference will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Yakima on October 30th.  WSIA conferences provide an excellent opportunity to learn, share and network.  Details and registration will be on our website soon.

That’s all for now…until September…

Bonnie Prater

WSIA Training Coordinator

bonnie.prater@wsiassn.org

Posted 31 July 2009

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