Hospice Care

When the debilitating cell disease that had plagued their daughter since birth began last year to stop her heart for several minutes at a time, Dawn and Stephen Murphy turned to home hospice care. Hospice helped with both the practical and emotional aspects of caring for a 6-year-old child with a terminal illness. Hospice nurses made sure Kayla was comfortable in her Havre de Grace home. Counselors helped the parents cope with the possibility of death. "We don't want her to be in a sterile hospital environment," said Kayla's mom, Dawn.

By coincidence, Dan Rodricks ' column on the ruling by the Maryland Court of Appeals labeling pit bulls as "inherently dangerous" coincided with the untimely death of Alan Jay Eidelberg, a longtime Baltimore veterinarian in the Govans community. Mr. Eidelberg was the one-man operation also known as the York Road Animal Hospital. He died in hospice care April 30 at the age of 59 after a short battle with brain cancer. In a beautiful tribute prepared by his family and friends that appeared in The Sun, Mr. Eidelberg was praised for the compassionate, first-rate care he gave his patients, for his expert skills as a diagnostician and for his generosity in treating pets whose owners had difficulty paying their bills.

Former Tigers and Reds manager Sparky Anderson , 76, has been placed in hospice care at his Thousand Oaks, Calif., home for complications resulting from dementia. Anderson's family said in a statement Wednesday that they appreciate the support and kindness that friends and fans have shown throughout the Hall of Famer's career and retirement. No further details were released. •After being passed over for the Cubs' managerial job, Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg will not be back with the organization next season, declining an invitation to return to manager at Triple-A Iowa.

Jeanne T. Welsh, a homemaker who enjoyed painting, died of congestive heart failure March 31 at the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Pinehurst resident was 84. Born Jeanne Tribull in Baltimore and raised in Govans, she was a 1944 Eastern High School graduate. She became a secretary at a brokerage, Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane, where she met her future husband, Joseph Francis Welsh Jr. A watercolor artist, she studied under Fritz Briggs at the Schuler School of Fine Arts.

Archbishop William D. Borders has entered hospice care, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore said Wednesday. Borders, 96, spiritual leader of the archdiocese from 1974 to 1989, has been diagnosed with colon cancer. He moved recently from the Mercy Ridge retirement community in Lutherville to the Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien has asked area Catholics for prayers. - Baltimore Sun staff

No one likes to think about advanced illness but it's something most of us will have to face eventually. There's an incredible resource in our community that provides comfort, dignity and respect to all those coping with a complex illness. It's Hospice of the Chesapeake. November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, a time to reach out to our community to raise awareness about the compassionate care that Hospice of the Chesapeake provides. One of the most important messages we convey is that hospice care helps patients and families focus on living.

I'VE JUST returned from the post office with my first sheet of the new first-class stamp honoring hospice care."The United States Postal Service receives about 40,000 requests a year for commemorative stamps," said Barry Riggins, Annapolis postmaster, "so this is a very selective process. We hope this stamp helps to raise awareness of hospice service."The stamp, introduced to this region Feb. 10, depicts a white house against a background of green trees and lawn. A sweeping path draws you "home."

KUDOS TO Charlene Cohen, wife of Greater Baltimore Medical Center's Director of the Cancer Center Dr. Gary Cohen, for doing such a great job chairing the GBMC 30th anniversary Celebration at Camden Yards.She was pleased that despite terrible weather, there was such a good turnout which helped them raise more than $140,000 for the Hospice of Baltimore's new inpatient facility, the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care, scheduled to open next spring.Others who helped with this fund-raiser were Towson attorney and GBMC Foundation Board Member Carolyn Thaler; president the GBMC auxiliary Ellen Hensby; GBMC volunteer Anne Haley, who chaired the silent auction which offered some pretty fabulous items, thanks to help from Diana Clarke and Connie Pitcher.

Nobody won the advertised $1 million at the Hospice Services of Howard County's hole-in-one contest last weekend, but $13,000 was raised for the nonprofit group based in East Columbia.John Maybee of Ellicott City was among those who paid $1 a ball for a chance at the $1 million. One of his shots dropped straight into the hole in Saturday's semifinals, but he couldn't repeat the feat during Sunday's million-dollar final round."I wish I could reverse the days," said Maybee, a senior engineer at RWD Technologies Inc. and a frequent golfer.

Hospice of Baltimore and Hospice Services of Howard County recently united their organizations to broaden the Baltimore agency's service to the greater Baltimore area.The Baltimore group is licensed by the state and certified by Medicare to serve residents of Baltimore City and Baltimore, Harford and Howard counties.Hospice Services of Howard County has served county residents for 18 years and will continue to operate from its headquarters in Columbia, providing home-based hospice care. Hospice of Baltimore's Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care will provide inpatient hospice care.

Virginia Whittlesey, a retired teacher and community volunteer, died of congestive heart failure March 29 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The former Roland Park resident was 90. Born Virginia Markell King and raised in Bolton Hill, she was a 1940 graduate of the Bryn Mawr School and earned a degree in early-childhood education from Vassar College. She made her debut at the Bachelors Cotillon. During World War II she worked at a day care center for children of defense workers.

No one likes to think about advanced illness but it's something most of us will have to face eventually. There's an incredible resource in our community that provides comfort, dignity and respect to all those coping with a complex illness. It's Hospice of the Chesapeake. November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, a time to reach out to our community to raise awareness about the compassionate care that Hospice of the Chesapeake provides. One of the most important messages we convey is that hospice care helps patients and families focus on living.

Fragrant white roses and flickering candlelight put the finishing touches on the intimate 50th-anniversary dinner for Claudette and Darrel "Whitey" Hoover. Enlarged portraits of the longtime Howard County couple on their March 3, 1961, wedding day and on other special occasions graced the room. Framed family photos were arranged next to the crystal-and-china place settings, all of which had been hastily transferred from the Hoovers' Woodstock home to a conference table at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson.

Construction already has begun on the new 10-bed inpatient Gilchrist hospice facility in Harmony Hall Assisted Living in the Howard County Health Park. A “demolition party”  - where a wall was ceremoniously broken down within Harmony Hall to be replaced by the facility's entranceway -   was held Oct. 27. “Howard County patients and their families, as well as local government and community leaders, have advocated for many years for an inpatient presence within Howard County,” said Lori Mulligan, director of development and marketing at Gilchrist's Hunt Valley facility.

Death and dying are not easy topics to talk about, but discussing them with your doctor is a good idea. That, in brief, is what new Medicare regulations set to go into effect Jan. 1 are saying. The rules allow doctors to get reimbursed for holding voluntary end-of-life discussions with patients during annual checkups. Not so long ago such end of life discussions were pilloried by Republicans and a few Democrats as a precursor to "death panels" — groups supposedly created by the health care reform legislation being considered at the time that would decide whether the elderly or infirm should be able to get needed medical care.

Former Tigers and Reds manager Sparky Anderson , 76, has been placed in hospice care at his Thousand Oaks, Calif., home for complications resulting from dementia. Anderson's family said in a statement Wednesday that they appreciate the support and kindness that friends and fans have shown throughout the Hall of Famer's career and retirement. No further details were released. •After being passed over for the Cubs' managerial job, Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg will not be back with the organization next season, declining an invitation to return to manager at Triple-A Iowa.

On June 14, 2006, BRENDA ESPOSITO sister of Anna Messmer, Ellen Redgate and Philip Esposito, aunt of Kristin, Russell, Patrick, Allessandra and Jared. She was preceded in death by her parents, Vincent and Phyllis Esposito of Great Neck, NY. Contributions may be sent her memory to the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care, 6601 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD, 21204.

On May 8, 2005, RICHARD E. TRADER JR., of Owings Mills, passed away peacefully at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), beloved husband for 36 years of Jain A. (nee Jacobs) Trader; son of Nancy (nee Mortillaro) and the late Richard E. Trader Sr.; father of Jason R., and Travis H. Trader and his fiancee Shawna Himelright, and Marcy J. Trader-Schwartz and her husband Stuart Schwartz; brother-in-law of Marsha Jacobs. Memorial service will be held at the ELINE FUNERAL HOME, 11824 Reisterstown Rd (at Franklin Blvd)

When the debilitating cell disease that had plagued their daughter since birth began last year to stop her heart for several minutes at a time, Dawn and Stephen Murphy turned to home hospice care. Hospice helped with both the practical and emotional aspects of caring for a 6-year-old child with a terminal illness. Hospice nurses made sure Kayla was comfortable in her Havre de Grace home. Counselors helped the parents cope with the possibility of death. "We don't want her to be in a sterile hospital environment," said Kayla's mom, Dawn.

Roberta L. "Bobbie" Himes, a registered nurse who specialized in hospice care and had served as director of nursing at Joseph Richey Hospice before joining the Peace Corps, died of multiple myeloma Friday at her Catonsville home. She was 73. Roberta Louise McCleary was born in Pittsburgh and raised in Silver Spring, where she graduated in 1954 from Montgomery Blair High School. After graduating from the Union Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in 1957, she married Thomas Edmund Himes, a mechanical engineer.