Carroll County General

Jennifer Virnstein Moore has been named information systems manager at Carroll County General Hospital.Her new position involves coordinating computer projects and implementing new systems to record and analyze financial data.Mrs. Moore is a graduate of Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, where she received a degree in public and business administration. She was awarded her master's degree in health services administration from the George Washington University.She was a loan officer and mortgage banker for four years with the Cameron-Brown Co. in Rockville.

Marjorie L. "Margie" Nagle, whose family's renowned handmade ice cream kept devotees coming to their Carroll County general store for more than 80 years, died Sunday of congestive heart failure at her Snydersburg home. She was 92. Marjorie Lavinia Simmons was born on her parents' Snydersburg Road farm, and was 8 years old when she moved into a house and general store her parents built across from the farm and opened as Simmons General Store. Mrs. Nagle, a graduate of Carroll County public schools, began working in the general store with her parents when she was a child.

Carroll County General Hospital recently received accreditation with commendation from the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.The Illinois-based accreditation agency evaluates and accredits nearly 11,000 hospitals and home care agencies, and more than 7,000 other health care organizations nationwide. It was founded in 1951.While evaluating Carroll County General, agency officials said they were "consistently impressed" with the hospital's "pragmatic" pursuit of excellence and commitment to improved patient care.

The defeat of the Carroll County commissioners' proposed real estate transfer tax won't have staff members frantically reworking the budget, but it could mean projects are delayed or scrapped. Carroll's legislative delegation voted 4-3 against the tax Tuesday in Annapolis, refusing to support it in the General Assembly. The seven-member delegation will support the county's other proposed bills, including a hotel tax and a tax credit for the elderly. The 1 percent levy on home sales could have generated about $7.5 million in revenue next year, which the commissioners said would have been used for school and roads projects.

Carroll County General Hospital has received state approval to start work in May on an $80 million expansion that hospital officials say is needed because of the growing population and growing confidence in the county's only hospital. The plan, which would add 113,000 square feet and renovate 25,000 square feet, calls for the largest expansion in the history of the 40-year-old Westminster institution. Approved last week by the Maryland Health Care Commission, the expansion includes: Doubling the size of the emergency department by building a new 21,250-square-foot department that is to include 20 multipurpose rooms, four cardiac trauma rooms, two triage rooms, four dedicated rooms for behavioral health evaluations and an expanded fast-track area with six private rooms designed to provide faster service to people with minor illnesses and injuries.

A national agency that monitors health care facilities has upgraded its ranking of Carroll County General Hospital, after the hospital's appeal of its evaluation last spring.In a decision issued Jan. 2, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) awarded Carroll County General its highest level of accreditation. Fewer than 4 percent of hospitals reviewed by the commission meet this standard, hospital officials said."That's really good news for us," said Pam Shafer, Carroll County General's assistant vice president for quality assurance and risk management.

Carroll County General Hospital is generally a prett inexpensive place to be hospitalized, but its charges for labor and delivery, emergency room services and the coronary care unit are the highest among Maryland's 17 rural hospitals.Hospital rates reported by the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission for 52 services, from admissions charges to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), show that Carroll County General's charges are below the rural hospital average on 19 of the services it offers and higher than average on eight services.

The Maryland State Board of Public Works yesterday approved a $1.45 million design and construction contract for renovation and expansion of the emergency room at Carroll County General Hospital.The state is assisting with a $700,000 grant that was approved by the 1993 General Assembly. The contract was awarded to McDevitt Street Bovis Inc. of Gaithersburg. Construction began in March and is expected to be completed in 1995."This project will allow Carroll County General to help more emergency room patients," said Gov. William Donald Schaefer, chairman of the Board of Public Works.

A Carroll County General Hospital surgeon has filed a $5.25 million lawsuit against the hospital, claiming the staff destroyed his medical practice when he complained about the care patients were receiving. In a lawsuit filed in Carroll Circuit Court, Dr. Wenifredo N. Iglesia of Taneytown says that when he criticized the quality of care at the county's only hospital, medical staff, "motivated by hatred" and with "the deliberate intent to injure" him, circulated rumors that he was mentally unstable, causing him to lose patients and income.

Carroll County General Hospital is negotiating with four health care providers to operate a radiation oncology center in Westminster.Hospital officials say having a cancer treatment facility in the county would allow some local cancer patients to receive radiation treatments here instead of traveling to Baltimore or Pennsylvania centers."

State police are investigating the death of a Baltimore woman who officials say hanged herself at the Carroll County Detention Center. Paula Marie Busch, 37, was pronounced dead at Carroll County General Hospital on Monday night, two days after she was found on the floor of her jail cell shower, said George R. Hardinger, the detention center warden. He said a shoelace was found hanging from the showerhead above the woman. After an autopsy yesterday, the state medical examiner's office ruled the death a suicide by hanging.

Four sibling children were injured, one seriously, in a three-vehicle accident early yesterday on Route 27 north of Taylorsville, authorities said. John Schaufele, 8, of Taylorsville initially was listed in critical condition after being flown to Johns Hopkins Children's Center, but his condition was upgraded to serious yesterday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said. His sister, Jacqueline, 12, was in fair condition at Carroll County General Hospital, and a brother, Ryan, 10, and another sister, Stephanie, 14, were treated at the hospital and released, authorities said.

Carroll County General Hospital has received state approval to start work in May on an $80 million expansion that hospital officials say is needed because of the growing population and growing confidence in the county's only hospital. The plan, which would add 113,000 square feet and renovate 25,000 square feet, calls for the largest expansion in the history of the 40-year-old Westminster institution. Approved last week by the Maryland Health Care Commission, the expansion includes: Doubling the size of the emergency department by building a new 21,250-square-foot department that is to include 20 multipurpose rooms, four cardiac trauma rooms, two triage rooms, four dedicated rooms for behavioral health evaluations and an expanded fast-track area with six private rooms designed to provide faster service to people with minor illnesses and injuries.

Carroll County General Hospital is beginning a mentoring program to help sorely needed, newly trained nurses adjust to the challenges facing them in their first jobs. The program, which will begin next month, will involve four senior nurses who will be mentors assigned to the hospital's critical care, emergency room, general medicine and surgery departments. The mentors will be responsible for new nurses in the departments where they are assigned. "You want to do everything you can to hold on to new hires.

A Baltimore County man suspected by police of swallowing narcotics during his arrest Monday remained in critical condition yesterday at Carroll County General Hospital. Brett T. Barton, 29, of the 800 block of Sturgis Place in Pikesville was rushed to the hospital from the county jail about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday after suffering "an apparent adverse reaction to an unknown substance," Warden George Hardinger said. "We don't know exactly what was going on with him," he said. "He denied ingesting anything."

THOSE SEEKING RELIEF from life's emotional or physical pains might find help at the "Introduction to Reiki" workshop, sponsored by the Women's Place, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 7 at Carroll County General Hospital. Reiki (pronounced ray-key) is a Japanese healing technique devised in the late 1800s by Dr. Mikao Usui. According to practitioners, reiki taps into the universal life force that surrounds all living things. Channeling this force into the body can enhance the effectiveness of medical treatments or ease emotional distress.

Carroll County General Hospital faces the loss of eligibility for Medicare payments -- a financial nightmare -- if the hospital and the physicians who practice there don't bring their medical records up to federal standards.The hospital is under direct state government supervision while it carries out a plan to improve its record-keeping. If it fails to meet standards in a follow-up survey or a subsequent 90-day grace period, the federal Health Care Financing Administration will cut off its Medicare payments, said William McNeal, a survey certification program specialist at the administration.

Carroll County General Hospital has two projects on the drawing board for 1999: the construction of an oncology center in Westminster and the opening of an outpatient radiology center at the nearby Richard N. Dixon Building.The hospital's plan to build a one-story, 13,250-square-foot cancer treatment center on South Center Street is scheduled for a hearing before the county Board of Zoning Appeals on Dec. 29.In the Dixon Building, the hospital plans to renovate the second floor to consolidate outpatient radiology services offered at Carroll County General and at a Poole Road facility operated by the hospital's partner, Advanced Radiology, P.A.The hospital has added services or facilities in each of the past two years.

A Carroll County General Hospital surgeon has filed a $5.25 million lawsuit against the hospital, claiming the staff destroyed his medical practice when he complained about the care patients were receiving. In a lawsuit filed in Carroll Circuit Court, Dr. Wenifredo N. Iglesia of Taneytown says that when he criticized the quality of care at the county's only hospital, medical staff, "motivated by hatred" and with "the deliberate intent to injure" him, circulated rumors that he was mentally unstable, causing him to lose patients and income.

A Carroll County General Hospital surgeon has filed a $5.25 million lawsuit against the hospital, claiming the staff destroyed his medical practice when he complained about the care patients were receiving. In a lawsuit filed in Carroll Circuit Court, Dr. Wenifredo N. Iglesia of Taneytown says that when he criticized the quality of care at the county's only hospital, medical staff, "motivated by hatred" and with "the deliberate intent to injure" him, circulated rumors that he was mentally unstable, causing him to lose patients and income.