Howard County General

Hospital schedules workshop on babies Howard County General Hospital's community health education program will present "Happiest Baby on the Block," a workshop on how to soothe crying newborns and promote more restful sleep. The program, endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is designed for parents of babies up to 3 months old. It will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Feb. 7 at the hospital's Wellness Center, Suite L-9 of the Columbia Medical Center, 11055 Little Patuxent Parkway.

With an average of 245 psychiatric evaluations a month coming to Howard County General Hospital's emergency room, the need for more than two unlocked evaluation rooms was clear, said the hospital's chief psychiatrist. "If you look at the volumes we've had recently, two rooms is completely inadequate," said Dr. Joseph Schwartz, director of psychiatry at the hospital. A new 10-bed unit - including three locked rooms - was to open today in the emergency room at the Columbia hospital. Construction on the 1,920-square-foot, $775,000 project began in August, and an opening ceremony was held Monday.

At a public hearing last night, about 50 residents offered suggestions for the 2000 Howard County General Plan that will shape the county's future.The suggestions included improving information technology resources in schools and building more walking paths.The hearing at the George Howard Building in Ellicott City was conducted by the Planning Board, which will help draft the General Plan that shapes growth.Several residents complained about the rapid pace of growth in the county and said that the General Plan should not extend public sewer and water service in the rural western county.

Howard County General Hospital has received the highest form of accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the country's predominant, standards-setting health care group.For the first time in the hospital's 25-year history, Howard County General earned accreditation with commendation, awarded to hospitals that "demonstrate exemplary performance overall," according to JCAHO. Though the hospital had been accredited at least a half-dozen times before, it had never reached this level, said Howard County General President and CEO Victor A. Broccolino.

A collision on Interstate 95 near Columbia yesterday led to a series of accidents that involved 11 cars and sent two people to the hospital, state police said.The accident occurred about 4 p.m. when a 1979 Ford sedan was northbound and driven by David J. Driver, 41, of Montgomery County, suddenly crossed a few lanes and hit another car in the far left lane, according to Tfc. Terry Allen.Within seconds, three other collisions occurred as cars swerved to get out of the way, said Allen.The collisions were spread over about 400 yards.

SIX YEARS ago, Dayton resident Mary Weisman traveled to a large Baltimore hospital, where she was scheduled for an operation.Trying to find the way to the surgery admitting office, Weisman and her husband, Earl, became hopelessly lost in the endless hallways and corridors.The Weismans were rescued by a hospital attendant, but the memory of that day remained.When Mary Weisman read in the newspaper that Howard County General Hospital needed help with a new hospitality program, she volunteered immediately.

David Weatherholtz sat quietly in the Columbia health clinic's gray-carpeted waiting room, ignoring the scattered magazines and toys as he listened for his name.The 39-year-old Elkridge resident suffers from diabetes and sinus problems, and he depends on the clinic's staff for health care.There's no place like it in affluent Howard County. The clinic provides free care one night a week to people such as Weatherholtz, who is waiting for health insurance to take effect at a new job, and others who can't afford to pay.Staffed by volunteers enlisted by the Health Alliance for Patients in Need (HAPIN)

Sydney elected president of hospital professional staffDr. Sam V. Sydney, a Columbia-based orthopedic surgeon, has been elected president of the professional staff of Howard County General Hospital: A Member of Johns Hopkins Medicine.He succeeds Ellicott City internist Dr. Steven A. Geller.As president, he oversees the medical and dental staff of almost 600. He will serve on the hospital's board of trustees and the board of the Johns Hopkins Health System, and as co-chairman of Hopkins Medicine's Practice Coordination Council -- a team of physicians coordinating clinical efforts for the two institutions that merged recently -- Howard County General Hospital and Johns Hopkins Medicine.

In one of its first actions as part of the Johns Hopkins Health System, Howard County General Hospital has named eight Howard County community leaders and health and business professionals to head a new $40 million foundation.The Howard County Community Health Foundation was established with the merger of the hospital, which is now Howard County General Hospital: A Member of Johns Hopkins Medicine. As part of the deal, Hopkins will assume $57 million in Howard County General debt and establish the foundation, which will fund a range of health services, including dental, teen-age pregnancy, drug abuse and disease prevention programs.

A Severn man died Wednesday of injuries he suffered when his sport utility vehicle slammed into a guardrail and careened into a delivery truck traveling the opposite direction on Route 32 in West Friendship, police said.Matthew Murray, 26, of the 5000 block of Telegraph Road was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he died about 5 p.m.Murray was driving his Ford Bronco north about 10 a.m. when he used the shoulder to pass another car, police said. He lost control, struck the guardrail and collided with the delivery truck just north of Parliament Place, police said.

Calendar 50+EXPO : The Howard County Department on Aging will sponsor a 50+ EXPO from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at Wilde Lake High School, 5460 Trumpeter Road, Columbia. The expo features more than 140 exhibitors, workshops, a health fair, food, entertainment and free shuttle service from The Mall in Columbia. A live benefit auction will start at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free. For information, go to the Office on Aging Web site at howardcountyaging.org or call 410-313-6410 or TTY: 410-313-5927.

Breast cancer survivors sought for support program The Center for Breast Care at Howard County General Hospital is offering a support program for women with breast cancer, matching volunteer breast cancer survivors with newly diagnosed women for insight and support through the patient's treatment and recovery. Called "Survivors Offering Support," the program was introduced at Howard County General in 2006. The hospital is recruiting breast cancer survivors to serve as SOS mentors. Volunteers are required to complete an application and attend a training session that includes information on therapeutic listening and communications, breast cancer diagnosis and treatments, patient advocacy and support resources for those diagnosed with the disease.

Breast cancer survivors sought for support program The Center for Breast Care at Howard County General Hospital is offering a support program for women with breast cancer, matching volunteer breast cancer survivors with newly diagnosed women for insight and support through the time of the patient's treatment and recovery. Called "Survivors Offering Support," the program was introduced at Howard County General in 2006. The hospital is recruiting breast cancer survivors to serve as SOS mentors.

Volunteers sought for breast cancer program The Center for Breast Care at Howard County General Hospital is offering a support program for women with breast cancer, matching volunteer breast cancer survivors with newly diagnosed women for insight and support through the time of the patient's treatment and recovery. Called "Survivors Offering Support," the program was introduced at Howard County General in 2006. The hospital is recruiting breast cancer survivors to serve as SOS mentors.

Volunteers sought for breast cancer program The Center for Breast Care at Howard County General Hospital is offering a support program for women with breast cancer, matching volunteer breast cancer survivors with newly diagnosed women for insight and support through the time of the patient's treatment and recovery. Called "Survivors Offering Support," the program was introduced at Howard County General in 2006. The hospital is recruiting breast cancer survivors to serve as SOS mentors.

China Chefs, which opened in 1989, is tucked behind the Howard County General Hospital in back of a shopping center that is mostly medical offices. In all its years in business, the restaurant has rarely advertised, and it gives the impression that it prefers to be a place that only the discerning have discovered. On the wall, framed restaurant reviews from its early years claim that it is one of the best Chinese restaurants in the county, maybe even the state. (The key points are helpfully highlighted.

About three-quarters of the way through what would be her only pregnancy, Joanie Reisfeld was rushed by ambulance at midnight to Georgetown University Hospital. She was in critical condition and terrified. After two rounds of bed rest at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring -- to stave off premature labor -- Reisfeld had been diagnosed with a life-threatening set of symptoms called HELLP syndrome. Doctors worried that the 36-year-old woman's major organs might begin shutting down and decided to deliver her son, Zachary, who weighed a mere 2 pounds, 10 ounces.

A Columbia man has been arrested and is being held without bail in the fatal shooting Wednesday of Bryan Antoine Adams Jr., 20, also of Columbia, who was gunned down outside a restaurant in the 10400 block of Twin Rivers Road, police said. Police knew of no motive for the shooting. Arrested Saturday night at his home in the 10800 block of Green Mountain Circle in Wilde Lake was Antajuan L. Wilson, 19, said Lt. John E. Superson. Police arrested Wilson on warrants charging him with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and a weapons violation.

Cranes, trucks and teams of construction workers are changing the appearance of Howard County General Hospital a little more every day, but the institution's best-known public face has been consistent for 18 years: that of President and CEO Victor A. Broccolino. As president, Broccolino is not only the institution's top decision-maker, he is also its biggest public cheerleader, a role his colleagues say comes rather naturally. "Vic is what I would call our ambassador at large," said Beverly White-Seals, the immediate past chairwoman of the hospital's board of directors.

County officials have said they will look for sponsors to make sure that the tradition of Fourth of July fireworks at the Columbia lakefront continues after the Kiwanis Club announced that it will no longer finance the event. "We haven't gone too far in how it's going to be financed," Kevin Enright, a spokesman for County Executive Ken Ulman, said last week. " ... We'll make sure the tradition continues." The Kiwanis Club spent $38,000 on the event last year with an all-volunteer staff, Enright said.