Department Of Health

R. Charles Dannettel Jr., who worked for 22 years as the chief of engineering for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, died of pneumonia Thursday at Stella Maris Hospice. The White Hall resident was 79. A Baltimore native who was raised in Roland Park, he was a 1946 graduate of Polytechnic Institute. He earned an engineering degree at the Johns Hopkins University in 1950. Mr. Dannettel followed in the academic path of his father, who also graduated from Poly and earned an engineering degree from Johns Hopkins.

Leon Nelson, a retired state security officer assigned to the Department of Health and Human Services, died of cancer April 4 at Seasons Hospice in Randallstown. The Inner Harbor resident was 85. The son of John Leon Nelson and Rebecca Nelson, he was born in Sumter, S.C., and moved to Baltimore in 1935. He lived on Bradley Street in West Baltimore and attended Samuel Coleridge Taylor School. "He had to leave school in order to help support his mother," said his grandson, Kaon Nelson, a Gwynn Oak resident who was his caregiver.

An article in yesterday's Maryland section about a hepatitis warning in Carroll County gave the wrong first name for Dr. David Blythe of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygeine.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 9/24/98

Anne Arundel County Public School officials said on Thursday the county Department of Health has not recommended additional cleaning steps to be taken amid the Tuesday death of a Glen Burnie High School junior, who had become ill the day before with symptoms associated with bacterial meningitis. School officials on Wednesday said that a letter was sent home to students' parents outlining the girl's death and providing information about bacterial meningitis. "The county Department of Health has not recommended any additional cleaning procedures for us outside of our normal daily cleaning procedures," said Anne Arundel schools spokesman Bob Mosier.

The Anne Arundel County Department of Health is looking for anyone who may have come in contact with a rabid cat in the Indian Landing Estates area of Millersville between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6. The cat, identified as a brown shorthaired female tabby, lived near Generals Highway and was confirmed positive for rabies Feb. 9, three days after it died. The Anne Arundel County Department of Health urges anyone who handled or fed a cat fitting this description to call 410-222-7256 or 443-481-3140.

Maryland will receive $19 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to prepare for a possible bioterrorist attack, officials announced yesterday. The federal money will be used to strengthen the public health system, improve disease reporting, expand laboratory testing, train workers and hold emergency drills. One key goal is to get vaccines or antibiotics from the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile to the entire population within three to five days of an attack, officials said.

PoliceWestminster: A resident of New Castle, Del., reported Monday that items were stolen from his vehicle while it was parked at the Lone Star Restaurant. Loss was put at $299.99.Westminster: An employee of the Carroll County Department of Health reported Tuesday that items were stolen from his vehicle while it was parked on South Center Street. Loss was estimated at $300.Pub Date: 1/02/98

*The American Board of Clinical Lipidology has awarded Dr. Louis B. Malinow diplomate status, which certifies him as a specialist in the diagnosis and treatment of cholesterol disorders. Malinow, of the internal medicine departments at Northwest Hospital Center and Sinai Hospital, is the only physician in the state to receive this distinction. He screens for and treats all cardiovascular risk factors. He is certified by the American Society of Hypertension as a high blood pressure specialist.

An article Sunday omitted information that would have clarified a proposal by Johns Hopkins Medicine involving new federal privacy rules. The article should have said the new rules, as described on a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site, permit researchers to examine patient records to identify and contact prospective research subjects without their consent. The article also should have said that Hopkins officials were concerned that this interpretation might not be consistent with the regulations.

Free newsletter/magazine Presented by the Anne Arundel County Department of Health's Learn to Live program, the newsletter "Building Blocks" discusses ADHD in young children and provides tips and resources to help child care providers and parents. Free copies of HIM (Health Ideas for Men) magazine are available at the Department of Jealth, J. Howard Beard Health Services Building, 3 Harry S. Truman Parkway, Annapolis. The magazine features articles on exercises that encourage fitness, eating healthy while dining out, quitting smoking and preventing skin cancer.

Charles "Chuck" Busnuk, a retired Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene grants writer, died of cancer Aug. 31 at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. He was 64 and lived in Canton. Born in Baltimore and raised in Highlandtown, he was a 1966 graduate of Archbishop Curley High School, where he played the cymbals in the school band. He earned a bachelor's degree in geography from Morgan State University. In 1970, he became a juvenile counselor for the Juvenile Services Administration.

Charles Carter Putnam, former director of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, died Feb. 21 of heart failure at the Carroll Hospice Dove House in Westminster. He was 91. The son of a railroader and a saleswoman, Mr. Putnam was born in Baltimore and raised in Woodlawn. He was a 1937 graduate of Catonsville High School. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1943 and served as a radar mechanic with the 316th Troop Carrier. He was discharged in 1946 with the rank of corporal.

Dr. James Carroll Tolan, a noted clinical psychologist whose field of expertise was working with patients with developmental disabilities, died Aug. 6 of lung cancer at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The longtime Reisterstown resident was 56. Born in Washington, Dr. Tolan was adopted as an infant and raised in Wayne, Pa. His adoptive father was in real estate sales, and his mother was a homemaker. As a young man, he dropped out of high school and later earned his General Educational Development certificate.

Bone marrow donor drive The Zoe Quinn Francis Fund along with Be the Match Registry and the Big Vanilla Athletic Club is sponsoring a bone marrow drive from 11 am. to 3 p.m. Saturday in the upstairs community room at the club, 26 Magothy Beach Blvd., Pasadena. Participants should be between ages 18 and 60 and be in good health. A cheek swab will be taken. Go to bethematch.org for more information. To join online through Oct. 31, go to: join.marrow.org/ND119. FluMist vaccine for students Free FluMist vaccine will be offered to all Anne Arundel County public school students through a partnership with the Anne Arundel County Department of Health, Monday through Oct. 15. Administered to healthy children between the ages of 5 and 11, the nasal spray vaccine contains the live but attenuated flu virus.

The first shipments of swine flu vaccine should start arriving in Maryland by Tuesday, but the initial batch will be so limited that the doses will be offered mainly to health care workers in hospitals and clinics, state health officials say. The state is getting just 31,600 doses of vaccine to start, according to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene - only about 1 percent of what's needed to vaccinate all the children and vulnerable adults that...

The Baltimore metropolitan area ranks second in the nation for heroin and morphine abuse, with 227 emergency department visits per 100,000 residents. Figures are from 2000. Heroin/morphine emergency visits Metro area per 100,000 population Rank Newark, N.J. 238 1 Baltimore 227 2 Chicago 208 3 San Francisco 170 4 New York 128 5 Seattle 103 6 Boston 97 7 Philadelphia 81 8 New Orleans 77 9 Detroit 75 10 SOURCE: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services