Cancer Patients

Mobile van to offer screenings Tuesday Upper Chesapeake HealthLink's new medical mobile van will be in Upper Chesapeake Medical Center's parking lot M from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Free blood pressure, sleep disorder and body fat analysis screenings will be offered. Cholesterol screenings will be offered for $10, osteoporosis screenings for $15 and cardiac risk assessments for $20 (cash or check only). Information: 800-515-0044. Groups help victims of child sex abuse Family and Children's Services of Harford County and Harford County Child Advocacy Center are holding weekly support groups for victims of child sexual abuse.

Cholesterol to be topic of discussion Upper Chesapeake Health will hold a Dining with Docs dinner, lecture and discussion at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Upper Chesapeake Medical Center's Chesapeake Conference Center. Dr. Lynne Einbinder, certified in cardiology and internal medicine, and Dr. Carol Bowman, certified in internal and holistic medicine, will discuss "Cholesterol: A Comprehensive Approach to Managing Your Numbers." The cost is $5 (cash only). Reservations are required. Information: 800-515-0044.

When Lee Derr received a brochure in the mail from the Women's Place, she glanced at it and tossed it aside. But fate intervened, and that same afternoon her doctor called with bad news - Derr had breast cancer. "I was panicked," said Derr, 48, of Westminster. "I immediately thought I was going to die." Derr said she remembered the brochure contained an article about how the center staff helped navigate people through breast cancer. After calling the center, in the Carroll Hospital Center on Stoner Avenue in Westminster, Derr said it changed her life.

Mission: To create a community of hope, learning and support for cancer patients and their loved ones. Established in 1993, the Wellness Community-Baltimore offers a comfortable meeting place away from the medical center where patients and other people dealing with cancer can support each other, explore new ways of dealing with the stresses of cancer and receive therapy. Offered are weekly group sessions led by licensed psychotherapists. In a typical month, the Wellness Community schedules more than 75 activities for cancer patients and their families.

ROCKVILLE -- CellPro Inc. yesterday won the backing of a panel of government advisers to expand the use of its cell filtering device to help cancer patients safely rebuild immune systems destroyed by chemotherapy.The panel's recommendation, if accepted by the Food and Drug Administration, means the Ceprate device, used to filter and concentrate bone marrow cells taken from cancer patients, also would be approved for a less painful and cheaper technique that takes cells from the bloodstream instead.

Despite a sudden wave of progress in cancer research, scientists say their efforts are often slowed by struggles to recruit patients for the experiments that ultimately show whether new therapies are winners or duds.It's the flip side of an encouraging story that captured the public attention in recent weeks.Decades of slow, laborious study have led to new ways of preventing or treating the nation's second-leading killer disease. In the past month, scientists have reported success in preventing breast cancer with the drugs tamoxifen and raloxifene, shrinking advanced tumors with herceptin and treating early cancers with taxol.

WASHINGTON -- Researchers studying elderly cancer patients in nursing homes have found that many are severely undertreated for pain and more than a quarter of those who complain of pain, especially blacks and the oldest of the old, are given no pain medication, even aspirin.The study, the largest of its kind, is all the more troubling, experts say, because as hospital stays grow shorter and the population ages, more and more old people with cancer spend the ends of their lives in nursing homes.

Sitting in Room 212 at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center are two machines -- apparently normal hospital lab equipment. Unremarkable as they seem, they are at the center of a battle with literal life-or-death consequences.It is a battle over cancer patients, arcane patent laws and the right to claim a multimillion-dollar market.Both machines sort cells. They can paw through blood or bone marrow to pluck out "good" cells and discard cancerous or other unwanted cells. The process can improve the chances of cancer patients who receive blood or bone marrow transplants.

A federal judge has ordered CellPro Inc. to pay $7 million in damages to the Johns Hopkins University and two health care companies for willfully infringing on patent rights in marketing a cancer treatment device.The judgment in the five-year patent fight came on the same day that a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel was unable to determine if a device legally using Hopkins patents does any good for patients.Nonetheless, officials at Hopkins, Becton Dickinson & Co. and Baxter Healthcare Corp.

Howard County General Hospital unveiled yesterday its version of a trend in health care -- providing rooms that resemble those in hotels, if not those in patients' homes.The hospital used a homelike motif -- hardwood floors, wall-paper and paintings -- in renovating a 29-bed nursing unit. The $2.5 million, 13,000-square-foot 4 South Nursing Unit will accommodate its first patients -- primarily those with cancer -- on Tuesday."We want to offer a more comfortable atmosphere so patients will be less traumatized by hospitalization," said Judy Siegelman, administrative coordinator for the unit.

People of all ages, from newborns to the elderly, may experience anemia - the lack of healthy red blood cells in the body - at some point in their lives. It is estimated that there are 3.5 million people in the United States who have anemia. Dr. Meyer R. Heyman, a hematologist who directs the Center for Blood Disorders at St. Agnes Hospital, discusses the condition. * Red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body; therefore, those with anemia do not get sufficient oxygen-rich blood.

Mayer center marking 10 years with fundraiser The Claudia Mayer Cancer Center will celebrate its 10 years of support for cancer patients, their families and caregivers with a fundraiser from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday at the Fretz Corp., 9204 Berger Road, Suite H, Columbia. The event will include cocktails and cuisine provided by businesses and contributors, entertainment, and cooking demonstrations in a kitchen showroom. The Fretz Corp. is a wholesaler of kitchen products Dinner will be provided by Jesse Wong's Asian Bistro.

The campaign to build a support center for Annapolis cancer patients moved a step closer to reality with the donation of land three miles from Anne Arundel Medical Center. Janet Richardson-Pearson, president of Katherine Properties Inc., set aside 2 acres from a 70-acre property that she plans to develop for commercial use. The Annapolis Wellness House would be built on Crystal Spring Farm beside Mas Que Farm, home of the Chesapeake Dressage Institute, which Richardson-Pearson founded.

Foundation hosts 'Take Steps Walk' A regional chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, based in Columbia, will participate in the national organization's campaign to raise awareness of the disease and fund research by sponsoring a "Take Steps Walk" from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Western Regional Park at Carrs Mill Road and Route 97, Cooksville. Registration starts at 4 p.m. The walk, preceded by a warm-up session, begins at 5 p.m. The event is to include carnival games, a Moon bounce, entertainment by singer-songwriter Barry Louis Polisar, the Kangaroo Kids precision jump-rope team, the Dean of Magic, and the Starvation Army Band.

The Anne Arundel Medical Center, in Annapolis, has been fined $20,000 by the Maryland Department of the Environment after reporting two separate incidents in which cancer patients received the wrong doses of radiation. The second mishap occurred in November, months after the hospital was ordered to take corrective action after a similar incident in May, MDE officials said. The fine was the maximum allowed for two such incidents, according to Roland Fletcher, the MDE's program manager for radiological health.

Dorian Elie raised his hands in victory and smiled at his finished product: a dark-blue pillow adorned with clouds, suns and moons. "OK! I'm finished!" the 11-year-old yelled as he brought his creation to a box in the front of the Dunloggin Middle School classroom that was quickly filling up with 8 1/2 -by-11-inch pillows. Nearby, dozens of students were in various stages of completing their pillows. Some were snipping loose pieces of thread. Others placed clothes pins in their fabric to mark the seams.

Upper Chesapeake Health will offer a Parish Nurse Diabetes Support Group at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Aberdeen Senior Center. For information and to register, call 410-273-5666. Group offers help on prostate issues Upper Chesapeake Medical Center will hold a "Man to Man Prostate Support Group" at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Fallston Room. Men diagnosed with prostate cancer and their families are welcome. Information: 800-515-0044. Makeover program for cancer patients The American Cancer Society is sponsoring a "Look Good, Feel Better" program for cancer patients at 6 p.m. March 11 at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center.

Latino Health Fair to be held March 15 Howard County General Hospital will present the fourth Latino Health Fair from noon to 4 p.m. March 15 at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center in Columbia. The fair will offer blood pressure, hearing and vision, and colorectal cancer screenings; skin analysis; glucose and cholesterol screenings; stroke awareness information; dental screenings for children; clinical breast examinations; HIV testing; educational materials about diabetes, nutrition and physical activity; mental health information; Spanish language materials about health; and refreshments and giveaways.

Activities at Cancer Resource Center The Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource Center, 5900 Cedar Lane, Columbia, offers a drop-in knitting and crocheting support group for cancer patients and survivors at 10:30 a.m. on the first and third or second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. Beginners are welcome, and participants can bring their own supplies or borrow from the center. Admission is free, but registration is required. Artist Vicki Vallance will offer a "Spring Fling" paper crafts class from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. March 13. A Mother's Day project is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. April 22. Admission is free, but registration is required.

Danielle McQuigg Cancer nurse navigator The Cancer Institute at St. Joseph Medical Center, Towson Salary --$65,000 Age --27 Years on the job --Four How she got started --After graduating from the Johns Hopkins University with a bachelor's degree in nursing, McQuigg started working at the inpatient oncology unit at St. Joseph Medical Center. In April, she became a cancer nurse navigator, who acts as a liaison between patients and their various doctors, helping to arrange treatments and appointments.