Hopkins Children

The girl with auburn hair wears chocolate nail polish now and mascara and eyeliner. For two years, she has been dating a man she plans to marry. Kimberly Voigt, 17, seems all grown up, so different from the 11-year-old who watched her brother fight for his life at the Ronald McDonald House in downtown Baltimore. "My mom says I never cried when he was sick," said Kimberly, whose brother, R.J. Voigt, died of cancer at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in 2003. The Sun told the 12-year-old's story in a series about families seeking heroic measures to extend the lives of seriously ill children.

Hopkins Children's Center ranked 3rd In its first ranking of the nation's best children's hospitals, U.S. News & World Report has awarded third place to the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Topping the list is Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, followed by Children's Hospital Boston. Since 1990, the magazine has ranked "America's Best Hospitals," with Johns Hopkins topping the list each year. As part of that, there have been rankings of pediatric departments at various hospitals -- Hopkins has always been in the top four -- but those were based solely on reputation.

Bryce W. Riley, 20, artist, Children's Center supporterBryce W. Riley, an artist and longtime supporter of the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, died Saturday after emergency brain surgery at Sinai Hospital for a head injury he suffered in a wheelchair football game earlier that day. He was 20 and a Perry Hall resident.Mr. Riley was diagnosed with dermatomyositis, a rare muscle and tissue disease, when he was 6.For more than a decade, Mr. Riley was an energetic spokesman and fund-raiser for the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

Face it, faithful Candid Closet readers, Dr. George Dover, director of Johns Hopkins Children's Center, has better things to worry about than his clothes. He says even his wife Barbara yawns at the sight of his standard wear.So what's this with the ties? Ever since Hopkins and Jos. A. Banks Clothiers produced the Miracle Collection, a line of men's neckwear featuring designs based on the molecular structure of important pediatric medications, Dover has been very, very big on his ties. The collection was launched for the fourth year yesterday with a fashion show that included the dapper Dr. Dover.

In the mood for beadsBeads have always brought a touch of luck. But who knew a string of them around the wrist or under the collar could inspire creativity or bring wealth? Mood-altering beads are turning jewelry shopping into a therapeutic affair, promising a host of remedies ranging from romantic to downright medicinal.According to Saralee Wolf, owner of Amaryllis, which carries mood-altering bracelets ($20 range), each stone has particular significance. Rose quartz brings love, tiger's eye sparks creativity, mother-of-pearl delivers wealth, amethyst offers support, smoky quartz boosts self-esteem and turquoise improves health.

A 3-year-old boy who might have accidentally shot himself in the head with his father's gun Sunday remained in critical condition yesterday. Baltimore police said they are trying to determine who fired the weapon.Investigators said yesterday that they had conducted gunshot residue tests on the child, Jordan Garris, and his father, Cliff Garris, 23. The test determines whether someone fired a weapon by measuring chemicals left on the hand of the person holding the gun.The elder Garris told police Sunday that he was on the first floor of his house in the first block of N. Ellwood Ave. when he heard a shot from the basement.

Polly Hesterberg begins each day in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit looking for adults in distress. With a mother's instinct for caring - and a nurse's attention to detail - she will check each room and bed for the tell-tale signs.A tearful mother has left her infant's bedside when some doctors approached. Did they unfairly push her out?The mom down the hall speaks only Turkish. Better call in a translator to make sure she understands what's happening to her son.The mother one door down was upset that her daughter was awakened so often during the night for tests.

Local investigators plan to recruit more than 200 Baltimore families whose children have asthma to figure out what is making so many of them sick.Baltimore's school-age children's asthma rate is estimated at 8 percent to 17 percent, higher than the national average of 7 percent. Asthma is the most commonly diagnosed pediatric illness in Maryland. It's also the No. 1 reason students miss school.The study, announced yesterday, is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Benjamin David Keyes, a seventh-grader who played Little League baseball and endeared himself to the medical staff at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center with his bravery and good humor, died of bone cancer Thursday at his Havre de Grace home.The 12-year-old was an "ambassador" for the Hopkins center on last year's Children's Miracle Network Telethon. He had been a patient there since he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 1995.The boy, who often wore a hat with the slogan, "No Fear Ben," was nominated as a Hopkins telethon ambassador by members of his Harford County community.

Curiosity kills children.It is a painful lesson learned by millions of parents each year, doctors at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health have discovered. So to prevent preschoolers' playful ventures from causing them physical harm, physicians at Hopkins opened the nation's first Children's Safety Center yesterday."Our goal is to make it easier for parents to get the safety supplies they need," said Dr. George Dover, pediatrician-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. "If we can get parents to walk into the center, maybe they won't have to walk into our emergency room with an injured child.

Va'Sean Duvall is a skinny 17-year-old who stays busy with an after-school job, choir rehearsals and school drama productions. On the surface, he doesn't fit the mold of someone - older, obese and inactive - who would be at risk for high blood pressure. Yet he's among as many as 4 million children in the United States estimated to have hypertension, a figure that has grown fivefold in the past generation, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. It's a condition that doctors often fail to diagnose and one that leaves children - particularly African-Americans - at risk for serious heart problems, says a recent Hopkins study.

Ali Barbieri occupies just a sliver of her grown-up bed at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, her 5-month-old legs suspended in a miniature traction rig that holds in place the hips she dislocated at birth. Most days Ali's mother, Natalia, sits with her all day, caressing her, distracting her with the toys that share her bed, trying to introduce her to solid foods. Barbieri knows just how well her daughter is sleeping, eating and feeling. So it makes sense to involve her in Ali's care - and to have her on hand when the doctors do their early-morning rounds.

Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, a renowned pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, received the Ford's Theatre Lincoln Medal this month during a White House ceremony. Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the other recipient. Recipients are chosen by the executive committee of the board of trustees of Ford's Theatre Society, which looks at an individual's work, accomplishments and personal attributes to see whether they epitomize the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln.

Hopkins Children's Center ranked 3rd In its first ranking of the nation's best children's hospitals, U.S. News & World Report has awarded third place to the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Topping the list is Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, followed by Children's Hospital Boston. Since 1990, the magazine has ranked "America's Best Hospitals," with Johns Hopkins topping the list each year. As part of that, there have been rankings of pediatric departments at various hospitals -- Hopkins has always been in the top four -- but those were based solely on reputation.

The girl with auburn hair wears chocolate nail polish now and mascara and eyeliner. For two years, she has been dating a man she plans to marry. Kimberly Voigt, 17, seems all grown up, so different from the 11-year-old who watched her brother fight for his life at the Ronald McDonald House in downtown Baltimore. "My mom says I never cried when he was sick," said Kimberly, whose brother, R.J. Voigt, died of cancer at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in 2003. The Sun told the 12-year-old's story in a series about families seeking heroic measures to extend the lives of seriously ill children.

Leslie Ellen Burke, a former administrative assistant to the directors of Johns Hopkins Children's Center, died of lymphoma Saturday at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. She was 56. Leslie Gibberman was born in Baltimore, raised in the upper Park Heights area and graduated in 1956 from Forest Park High School, where she was student council president. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1970. Later that year she married Alan Burke and they settled in Mount Washington.

Brett D.L. Self, an eighth-grader at Oakland Mills Middle School, had his bar mitzvah Nov. 13 at Temple Isaiah in Fulton. Afterward, he and about 100 family members and friends celebrated at That's Amore on Little Patuxent Parkway. The centerpiece on each table was homemade. "We made Build-A-Bears, from the store at the mall, he and his sister and I, and we made them into centerpieces," said Brett's mother, Ellynn Self. "We covered a piece of Styrofoam to make a base, and then we tied balloons to the bears and set them in the middle of the table."

Dr. Helen Coplan Harrison, a retired Johns Hopkins scientist whose research in pediatric rehydration is credited with helping to save infants' lives, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Nov. 20 at Roland Park Place, where she lived the past four years. She was 93 and had been a longtime North Baltimore resident. Born Helen Miriam Coplan in Baltimore and raised on Ruxton Avenue, she attended School No. 49, Robert E. Lee School, and was a 1927 graduate of Western High School. She earned a biology degree from Goucher College, a master's degree from Smith College and a doctorate in physiological chemistry from Yale University.

Dr. James Pershing Isaacs, a surgeon and emergency medical systems expert who established and later served as director of the pediatric emergency department at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Children's Center, died of Alzheimer's disease Monday at Coastal Hospice at the Lake in Salisbury. The former Cockeysville resident was 85. Dr. Isaacs, who was born and raised in Struthers, Ohio, left Ohio University in 1942 to enlist in the Navy, serving as a hospital corpsman in the South Pacific. After the war, he returned to Ohio University and earned a bachelor's degree in 1946.

Elvis Presley was alive, well and everywhere at the "Eighth Night of 100 Elvises." In one corner, a young Elvis in a peg-legged dark suit. In another, an older Elvis Presley in a dazzling red and white embroidered and rhinestoned jumpsuit. Or how about those five female line-dancing Elvis Presleys in matching high-collared black jumpsuits and pompadour wigs? Those were just some of the almost 50 individual artists and bands who performed Elvis songs on two stages at Baltimore's Lithuanian Hall.