Health Workers

Workplace violence is a serious occupational hazard in hospitals and other health care facilities, a fact that has escaped an unsuspecting public. Nationally, nursing assistants employed by nursing homes have the highest incidence of workplace assault among all workers, according to federal data. For women who work in nursing homes, social services and hospitals, the likelihood of being harmed on the job is like that of women working the late-night shift in convenience stores. To draw attention to these and other hidden risks, the Alliance Against Workplace Violence has designated April as Workplace Violence Awareness Month.

Workplace violence is a serious occupational hazard in hospitals and other health care facilities, a fact that has escaped an unsuspecting public. Nationally, nursing assistants employed by nursing homes have the highest incidence of workplace assault among all workers, according to federal data. For women who work in nursing homes, social services and hospitals, the likelihood of being harmed on the job is like that of women working the late-night shift in convenience stores. To draw attention to these and other hidden risks, the Alliance Against Workplace Violence has designated April as Workplace Violence Awareness Month.

Anne Arundel County Department of Health workers inspected 134 food service establishments between Jan. 16 and Jan. 31 and found 21 critical food safety violations that were immediately corrected.They did not find violations at any of the establishments that would have warranted closing them.They found multiple violations at one place.Piezano Pizza and Restaurant, 2019 West St., Annapolis, was cited for cross-contaminating ready-to-serve foods and for not keeping food at its proper temperature.

The Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously Thursday for a proposed law that would require state licensing of medical staffing companies after a radiographer was accused of exposing hundreds of Marylanders to hepatitis C. In a telephone call after the vote, Sen. Thomas Middleton, a Charles County Democrat, said that chances are high it will pass the full Senate as well, given the case of David Kwiatkowski, who allegedly stole syringes of drugs...

Nearly three weeks into the new academic year, six Howard County schools still do not have permanent health assistants, and at least three -- Forest Ridge and Bollman Bridge elementaries and the Applied Research Laboratory -- have just begun interviewing candidates for the positions, school officials said yesterday.In the interim, temporary health workers have been brought in, according to Patti Caplan, a school spokeswoman, who said no health emergencies had been reported.When schools opened Aug. 25, health assistants had not been hired at Bollman Bridge, Forest Ridge, Stephens Forest and Laurel Woods elementaries, Wilde Lake Middle and the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL)

WASHINGTON -- There is no medical or scientific justification for restricting the practice of AIDS-infected health care professionals, nor should they be forced to tell their patients that they carry the virus, the National Commission on AIDS said yesterday.The commission also opposed mandatory AIDS testing of health workers, urging instead that any such testing be voluntary.The best way to prevent transmission of the virus by health care workers was through strict adherence to normal infection control procedures, the commission said, adding that "no effort should be spared" to ensure that all health care professionals are trained in and apply so-called universal precautions.

PINEVILLE, W.Va. - When the coal company doctors took down their shingles as the mining camps died off, the people of Appalachia settled in for long years of what they do well, stoic suffering amid the neighborliness of the hills as the level of health care spiraled toward the bottom nationally. "Coal-mining care they used to call it around here," said Angela Privett, as she presented her 11-year-old daughter, Kristen, who has cerebral palsy, to the ministrations of Hank Shrewsberry, a physician's assistant who represents the new order of Appalachian medicine.

ITHACA, N.Y. - It was nearly four years ago when the police climbed the creaky stairs to Deborah Stagg's apartment in response to calls from neighbors who had heard her screaming and raving alone in there. Stagg was known around town as a woman so disturbed she had once delivered her own baby by cutting her womb open with a penknife. This time, a steak knife in hand, Stagg bolted from her barricaded bathroom and stabbed Inspector Michael A. Padula in the neck, a fatal wound. The police opened fire, killing Stagg.

The news that the Central Intelligence Agency had been running a fake vaccination program in Pakistan first surfaced in 2011 and quickly ignited fears that the covert operation could compromise the global campaign to eradicate polio. Late last month, a handful of vaccine workers, including a teenage girl, paid the price for the CIA's deceit: They were gunned down as they tried to give the polio vaccine to children living in the Pakistani city of Karachi and other areas. No one has taken responsibility for the attacks, although the Pakistani Taliban has threatened vaccine workers in the past.

Donald Owen Fedder, a former pharmacy owner who later had a second career teaching and conducting research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, died Saturday of pancreatic cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care. Dr. Fedder, who lived at The Towers of Harbor Court, was 83. "Don was a wonderful colleague and friend. He was thoughtful, insightful and always willing to share his views and advice. This has been a very difficult loss for the school," said Dr. Natalie D. Eddington, dean of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.

Legislation to strengthen violence prevention standards at health care facilities across the state has been withdrawn in the Senate - ending its chances for passage in Annapolis this session. Sen. Katherine Klausmeier, a Baltimore County Democrat and the bill's sponsor, said she submitted a withdrawal letter to the finance committee Monday after stakeholders representing nursing homes and assisted living facilities expressed concerns that it would not leave room for individualized approaches to dealing with violence in varying clinical environments.

The news that the Central Intelligence Agency had been running a fake vaccination program in Pakistan first surfaced in 2011 and quickly ignited fears that the covert operation could compromise the global campaign to eradicate polio. Late last month, a handful of vaccine workers, including a teenage girl, paid the price for the CIA's deceit: They were gunned down as they tried to give the polio vaccine to children living in the Pakistani city of Karachi and other areas. No one has taken responsibility for the attacks, although the Pakistani Taliban has threatened vaccine workers in the past.

Meagan Shipley, a nurse in the Baltimore City Health Department, works at a family planning clinic during the day and helps provide health care to workers on The Block in the evenings. When she was contacted by photographer Carolyn Jones to be part of a new coffee-table book, "The American Nurse," she agreed, hoping to publicize the work the city is doing to help workers in Baltimore's strip-club hub "A lot of people want to write off [Block workers]," she says. "I hate this attitude.

Sharon Johnson is not a physician or scientific researcher. She has never been trained as a nurse. Her most recent prior occupation was as office manager in a dental practice. Yet colleagues say she's a bundle of compassion, a quick study and a genius at communicating with people of all backgrounds — all qualities that have made her a key player in iHOMES, a Johns Hopkins-based network of health care providers who are dedicated to mobilizing every possible resource in the fight against sickle cell disease.

Over the past year, I have had the privilege to follow the work and lives of many of Baltimore's committed community health advocates. These health promoters, organizers, practical nurses, pastors, interns and volunteers are often the trusted leaders of impoverished neighborhoods. The best ones stay even when grant monies run out and short-term projects are deemed complete; they work and volunteer at odd shifts to reverse the plight of underserved communities. They promote stability that benefits us all. Unfortunately, these local heroes often struggle with the same uncertainties that they selflessly work to ease.

Those looking to lose weight, quit smoking or keep tabs on a malady have a lot of choices in the smartphone app stores. Choosing one that's beneficial is more of a problem. Science is still trying to catch up to the market for mobile health applications, software that runs on mobile devices such as iPhones, Androids and tablets, which has produced tens of thousands of possible ways to achieve better health for free or a fee. One of the broadest efforts to assess "mHealth" strategies is being made by dozens of faculty, staff and students in multiple departments at the Johns Hopkins University, which has 49 official studies under way in Baltimore and around the world as part of its Global mHealth Initiative.

The Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously Thursday for a proposed law that would require state licensing of medical staffing companies after a radiographer was accused of exposing hundreds of Marylanders to hepatitis C. In a telephone call after the vote, Sen. Thomas Middleton, a Charles County Democrat, said that chances are high it will pass the full Senate as well, given the case of David Kwiatkowski, who allegedly stole syringes of drugs...

Those looking to lose weight, quit smoking or keep tabs on a malady have a lot of choices in the smartphone app stores. Choosing one that's beneficial is more of a problem. Science is still trying to catch up to the market for mobile health applications, software that runs on mobile devices such as iPhones, Androids and tablets, which has produced tens of thousands of possible ways to achieve better health for free or a fee. One of the broadest efforts to assess "mHealth" strategies is being made by dozens of faculty, staff and students in multiple departments at the Johns Hopkins University, which has 49 official studies under way in Baltimore and around the world as part of its Global mHealth Initiative.

The United States continues to ignore the thwarted Arab Spring in Bahrain. Recently, a quasi-military court in the small Gulf state sentenced 20 doctors and nurses to up to 15 years in jail. The charge against them? Treating injured demonstrators opposing the regime. Doctors and nurses in the Middle East have a long and proud tradition of treating the ill, regardless of the situation. In ninth-century Baghdad, for example, Hunayn ibn Ishaq was the Caliph's physician. The Caliph asked this physician to prepare a poison to kill his enemies.

Sister John Marie Stack, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis and a registered nurse who had been a director of nursing services and a chaplain, died Feb. 24 of cancer at Assisi House, her order's retirement home in Aston, Pa. She was 81. Marguerite Mary Stack was born in Brighton, Mass., and raised in Revere, Mass., where she graduated from Immaculate Conception High School. She entered the Sisters of St. Francis in 1947 and professed her vows in 1950. She was a 1953 graduate of Baltimore's St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing, which was located on Caroline Street.