PERSONNEL

Candy R. Tucker of Cache, Ill., has joined TIP of Southern Illinois as secretary at the company's new office in Olive Branch.

Tucker, who has more than six years of experience in the clerical and medical field, has a nursing assistant certificate from Five County Regional Vocational-Tech School in Tamms, Ill. and an EMT certificate from Shawnee College at Ullin.

She previously was employed as an administrative control clerk at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

TIP is the largest Medicare certified home health agency in Southern Illinois and is accredited by the Joint Commission Home Care Association. The company serves the lower 21 counties in the state. The Olive Branch office serves portions of Alexander and Pulaski counties.

Carl Pierce has assumed duties of equal opportunity officer and public affairs director for the East Missouri Action Agency (EMAA), with headquarters at Park Hill, Mo.

Pierce will be working in an eight-county area -- Cape Girardeau, Perry, Madison, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Washington, Bollinger and Iron.

The EMAA is one of 19 in the state working with disadvantaged people in areas of housing, weatherization, Head Start, family planning, community services and job training.

Pierce previously was with the USDA Soil Conservation Service and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Vera Birk of Jackson and Becky Sweet of rural Cape Girardeau, both of Bloomin' Balloons, 101 N. Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau, recently attended "The Jubilee 94" Convention in Las Vegas.

Birk, a floral designer nine years, and Sweet, a balloon artist nine years, attended classes on high style wedding and party decorating with balloons, floral gifting, retail survival and enhancing balloon baskets.

Bloomin' Balloons moved to its current location in April.

Five Southeast Missouri Hospital staff members have completed requirements to become Certified Professionals in Utilization Review (CPUR).

Registered nurses Linda Bollinger, Yvonne May, Kathy McCormack and Cathy Ulrich, all of the hospital's utilization review staff, and Eureda Hendershott, medical records director, earned CPUR status after passing an examination administered recently at tests sites in St. Louis and Memphis.

Utilization review, which started in 1965, deals patients' medical records for Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies and evaluates the need for hospital admission and continued stay. Utilization review professionals also assist with arranging proper placement and follow-up services for the patient at home or in another health facility.

Thomas M. Meyer, a Cape Girardeau realtor, recently received the Missouri Association of Realtors (MAR) Honor Society certificate and pin for the second consecutive year.

The MAR honor society program is designed to recognize realtors who seek excellence through education and voluntarily contribute their time and skills to board and association leadership.

Harold F. Klause of Perryville and Frank W. Kaufmann of Frohna have retired as members of the Perry County Industrial Development Authority.

Klaus and Kaufmann were charter members of the authority, which was established in 1980 to attract and assist prospective industrial and commercial prospects to the area.

Christopher Mudd, a Perryville banker, has been appointed to a three-year term on the authority.

Paul F. Pautler was recently elected president of the group for the 1994-96 fiscal years. Frank Robinson is vice president; Donald G. Hoehn is secretary; Oliver Bachmann is treasurer, and JoAnn Sumner is executive director.

Five area realtors have received life membership in the Missouri Association of Realtors Million Dollar Club.

They are Sandra Bruenderman, David F. Dormeyer, Marilyn Ostendorf, Gary Turner and LaWanda Werner. Life membership is obtained by qualifying for the Million Dollar Club in three consecutive years.

Receiving Million Dollar Club status in 1993 were Mary Arendt, Doris Jean Arnold, Kimberley Baker, Martha Brown, George Callis, Crystal Davidson, David J. Donley, Barbara Giddens, Kenneth Howard, Cheryl Huffman, Pam Johnson, Phyllis Johnson, Charles C. Leming, Karla K. Marquart, Sandy Kinder McLane, Diane Miller, Mary Sparkman and Larry Underwood.

Oda L. Scott of the District 22 Board of Probation & Parole office in Cape Girardeau has been selected as the first recipient of the Southeast Region "Employee of the Quarter" award.

Scott started with the agency in 1974 at Carthage, Mo. He transferred to Cape Girardeau in September 1976. He is the primary officer for Perry County.

The Southeast Region includes offices in Cape Girardeau, Farmington, Hillsboro, Rolla, Sikeston, Kennett, Poplar Bluff and West Plains.

Dr. Paul Spence has received the Physician's Recognition Award.

The award, presented by the Missouri State Medical Association and the American Medical Association, is earned by physicians who voluntarily complete 150 credit hours of continuing medical education courses in a three-year period.

The purpose of the award is to recognize physicians who keep up to date in their medical specialties.

Dr. Robert Kessinger, a specific chiropractor from Cape Girardeau, served as an assistant instructor during a Life College of Chiropractic West conference last weekend in San Francisco.

Kessinger, who discussed "How to Read and Interpret Nerve Reading Instrumentation" at the clinic, is a Kale-certified instructor. Kessinger operates a specific chiropractic clinic at 1424 Kurre Lane in Cape Girardeau.

Linda Gillespie has joined Tri County Health Related Services, Home Health Agency as director of nursing.

Gillespie has an associate degree in nursing from Three Rivers Community College, Poplar Bluff, and a bachelor's degree in nursing from Southeast Missouri State University at Cape Girardeau. She is currently enrolled in a master's program at Bellarmine University.

Gillespie most recently served as director of patient care at Option Care in Cape Girardeau. She also has staff and intensive care nursing experience at Missouri Delta Medical Center, and served as a home health nursing instructor at Three Rivers College.