Community Health

Free cookbook The Learn to Live program of the Department of Health has a new healthful eating kit that features a free cookbook and tips that will help you select foods high in fiber and low in fat and sodium. Recipes are also quick, easy and economical. Information: visit http://www.LearntoLiveHealthy.org or call 410-222-7979. Tobacco sales compliance The health department's Learn to Live program offers to retailers a tobacco sales compliance kit. The kit includes a training guide that explains Maryland's tobacco laws.

Healthy living The Baltimore Washington Medical Center will present a discussion of diabetes prevention, exercise to achieve weight loss, and how to lower blood pressure and cholesterol from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. June 6 and from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. June 14. Cost: $25. Reservations: 410-787-4940. Nutrition, exercise classes The University of Maryland Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology at Baltimore Washington Medical Center will offer classes on nutrition and exercise.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - A day after trying to rally the nation behind his Iraq policy, President Bush pivoted back to his domestic agenda yesterday, traveling to this Democratic stronghold to highlight the role of community health centers in caring for the uninsured. In a campaign-style "conversation" at Youngstown State University, Bush promoted neighborhood clinics, a centerpiece of his health care agenda, as a primary way to expand access to medical services. He hailed the thousands of community health centers in the country as "a safety net" that provides primary care to those without insurance.

Maryland is slated to receive almost $15 million in the next round of funding from the federal health care reform law to upgrade and expand community health centers, mostly in the Baltimore area. Health centers are a main provider of primary care services for disadvantaged patients in urban and rural areas around the country. The Affordable Care Act included $11 billion over five years to expand them. This round will send $726 million to centers nationwide. "With the new infusion of funds, the centers will be better able to meet growing demand for services," said Mary Wakefield, administrator of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, in a conference call with reporters.

2 hospital companies mergingCommunity Health Systems Inc. will buy Hallmark Healthcare Corp. in a $175 million stock and debt deal that merges two of the nation's largest owners of rural and suburban hospitals.Community Health will exchange 0.97 shares of its common stock for each share of Hallmark's common stock. In addition, Community Health will exchange 5.4 shares of its common stock for each share of Hallmark's preferred stock.The merger also calls for Houston-based Community Health to assume $87.6 million of Hallmark's debt.

The neighborhood where a 5-year-old girl was hit by a stray bullet is among the bleakest areas of Baltimore, based on community health statistics. Of the 55 city neighborhoods, Southwest Baltimore's life expectancy ranks third worst, at 64.2 years, a 2008 health profile found. Most of the other health indicators knock Southwest Baltimore into the lowest third. Caroline Fichtenberg, the Health Department's chief epidemiologist, said that although other neighborhoods share Southwest Baltimore's dire circumstances, that area's poverty level - about 19 percent of the population - heavily contributes to its poor health.

Baltimore native Dr. Sherell Mason knew she wanted to return to her hometown to provide community medical care, but the scholarship and loan repayment she received through the National Health Service Corps made that decision a lot easier. Now, more medical, dental and mental health care professionals will be able to take advantage of financial assistance through the federal program, thanks to an infusion of $290 million through the Affordable Care Act, announced Monday in West Baltimore.

Current volunteers' needs and news:Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area Visitor's Center, 5100 Deer Park Road, was dedicated in November and is currently seeking volunteers for such activities as exhibit planning, landscaping, improving trails, producing brochures and more. Call Sue Ellen May, 922-3044 or 795-6521, for details. The center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.Johmins Community Health Resources Inc. is a non-profit minority community health education and information organization seeking volunteers to write grants and perform general office duties.

  Jen Litzenberger and Jamie Severt   Edward and Rita Litzenberger, of Laurel, announce the engagement of their daughter, Jen Litzenberger, to Jamie Severt, son of John and Randy Severt, of Columbia. The bride-to-be is a 2005 graduate of Atholton High School; a 2009 graduate of Elon University, in Burlington, N.C., where she earned a Bachelor of Science; and is currently pursuing a master's degree in occupational therapy at Towson University, to be awarded in May 2012.

Helix Health announced yesterday that it will launch a Medicaid managed-care organization called Helix Family Choice, essentially functioning as an HMO for medical assistance patients.The five Helix hospitals get about 15 percent of their inpatient admissions from Medicaid patients, "and we don't think you're going to get [those patients] for the future if you're just a provider," said James A. Oakey, Helix president and chief executive officer.By setting up an organization to enroll patients, rather than just caring for those enrolled in other HMOs, Oakey said, "what it talks about is control of your own destiny."

New Life Christian Center, 9800 Mallard Drive, in South Laurel, will hold a free Community Health Fair on Saturday, April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fair will offer free screenings for hypertension, glucose and cholesterol; nutrition advice on subjects such as diabetes and heart health; and Zumba, yoga and weight training demonstrations. Refreshments will be served. The Community Health Fair is sponsored by Foreign Affairs Recreation Association, Suburban Hospital John Hopkins Medicine and Adventist Healthcare.