Joseph Medical

Dr. Crystal L. Clark has been named chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs for Bon Secours Baltimore Health System, where she is the primary liaison between administration and the medical staff. Before joining Bon Secours, Clark was a senior assistant vice president at the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the city's public hospital system. Dr. Dung Le has joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center as an instructor in oncology. Dr. Maria Boradatcheva has joined the internal medicine practice of The Bose Medical Group at Mercy Medical Center's Burk Building.

Jeanne Arnold Borges, a homemaker and community volunteer, died Feb. 14 of complications from cancer at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Towson resident was 87. Born Jeanne Wieman in Baltimore and raised on Maryland Avenue in Charles Village, she was a 1937 graduate of Eastern High School and attended the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Working as a nurse at Hopkins during World War II, she met her future husband, Dr. Francis J. Borges. They were married in 1950. Mrs. Borges was a volunteer at St. Joseph Medical Center, Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland and the American Heart Association.

Dr. Karen Kauffman, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, has been appointed chairwoman of the Department of Family and Community Health. She holds a Ph.D. and a Master of Science from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Arthur C. Jee of Laurel has been elected to a second, two-year term as a member of the board of trustees of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Jee represents the jurisdictions of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Sister Edward Thomas Griffin, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis whose nursing and pastoral career at St. Joseph Medical Center spanned five decades, died of heart failure Friday at her order's retirement home in Aston, Pa. She was 89. Julia Lucy Griffin was born and raised in Moycullen, County Cork, Ireland. In 1935, she entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia and professed her vows in 1938. Sister Edward Thomas began working in 1938 at the old St. Joseph Hospital on Caroline Street and graduated in 1943 from its nursing school.

About 875 adventurers climbed aboard "the Orient Express" at the B&O Railroad Museum for this year's gala fund-raiser for the St. Jo- seph Medical Center Foundation. While the choo-choo hullabaloo never left the museum, its passengers still got in some sightseeing. Can-can dancers repre-sented Monte Carlo, polka dancers evoked Dusseldorf, and a gon-dola on wheels stood in for Venice.Among those enjoying the ride: Trevor "Chip" and Terry Lewis, event co-chairs; Ken DeFontes Jr., foundation board chair; Jim Cullen, president and CEO of St. Joseph Medical Center and the foundation; Frank Palmer, VP of Whiting-Turner Contracting Inc.; Dr. Harry Brandt, director of the Center for Eating Disorders; Sherri Cole, financial analyst with ROH Inc.; Dr. Jim Linz, CEO of Orthopedic Associates; Dale Lawson, president of Nature Lawn and Landscape Inc.; and Damon James, building automation technician at St. Joseph's.

Gloria M. Sweeny, 82, homemaker, volunteerGloria M. Sweeny, a homemaker who was active in community affairs, died Tuesday of a heart attack at Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, Del. She was 82.In 1971, the longtime East Belvedere Avenue resident moved to Rehoboth Beach, Del., where she was active in Meals-on-Wheels and the affairs of All Saints Episcopal Church. She had also been a member of the church's vestry.The former Gloria Mellier was born and reared in Bolton Hill and graduated from Bryn Mawr School.

John Prout, president and chief executive officer of St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, said yesterday that he is leaving to assume a similar position at a three-hospital system in Ohio.The announcement comes as St. Joseph is holding talks regarding possible alliances with Greater Baltimore Medical Center and Upper Chesapeake Health System.Prout's decision to leave is "independent of any partnering discussion," said Linda Harder, director of marketing and public relations at St. Joseph.

Alice Virginia Tan, 66, nurseAlice Virginia Tan, a former nurse and homemaker, died Sept. 8 of cancer at Anne Arundel County Medical Center. The Annapolis resident was 66.A graduate of the Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing, Mrs. Tan worked as a nurse until she married Dr. George S. Tan, a thoracic surgeon, in 1953. He died in 1995.The former Alice V. Snyder was born in Columbiana, Ohio, and moved to Cumberland, where she graduated from high school.She was a member of Eastport United Methodist Church, where services were held Friday.

AN EDITORIAL yesterday concerning a proposed partnership between the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and St. Joseph Medical Center stated that GBMC is the only community-based hospital in the Baltimore area that will perform an elective abortion. In fact, several other community hospitals, including Sinai, Union Memorial and Maryland General, also offer the procedure early in pregnancy, in addition to the city's academic medical centers, Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland.While a partnership with St. Joseph would mean that GBMC would no longer perform elective abortions, hospital officials assure The Sun that a full range of contraceptive and fertility treatments would be unaffected by any such agreement.

Poor losers at Olympics disgrace U.S.The incident at the Nagano Winter Olympics involving the U.S. men's ice hockey team should be an embarrassment to all Americans ("Team USA makes ugly exit," Feb. 20).The poor losers who vandalized one of their quarters are a disgrace.The Olympic Committee should bar a country's teams for that sport in the next Games.If the unlawful activity occurred during the Games, that team would be disqualified for the balance of the competitions.If athletes want to behave like children, punish them like children.

Arundel tax auction nets $2.5 million 1 Anne Arundel County held its annual delinquent tax auction online for the first time this year, netting $2.5 million in revenue. The number of successful bidders increased from three last year to 32 during this month's auction, with the overall number of bidders up 55 percent. Ninety-eight percent of the approximately 1,400 properties with delinquent taxes and fees were sold. "The online tax sale process makes it easier for small investors in the community to participate, and at the same time brings needed revenue in this difficult budget climate," said County Executive John R. Leopold.

Mary K. Darling, a longtime St. Joseph Medical Center volunteer who established the patient library at the Towson hospital, died May 5 of complications from dementia and a fractured hip at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 90. Mary Kochen, the daughter of Austrian immigrant parents, was born at home in Dundalk's Colgate Creek neighborhood. She was a graduate of St. Wenceslaus Parochial School and St. Michael's Business School. During the Depression, Mrs. Darling worked as a food packer at the old Crosse & Blackwell plant on Eastern Avenue, and later was a billing clerk at the old Montgomery Ward catalog store on Monroe Street.

Three executives at St. Joseph Medical Center are on administrative leave to avoid a conflict of interest as federal authorities look into financial dealings between the Towson hospital and an affiliated doctors' group, the hospital said yesterday. The hospital provided little information last night about what led the three executives to step down. According to a statement released by the hospital, the federal Department of Health and Human Services contacted the hospital in June 2008 to request information "pertaining to a physician group and its financial relationship with the hospital."

* Dr. Harry Brandt has been elected president of the medical staff of St. Joseph Medical Center. His term will run through Dec. 31, 2010. Brandt has been the head of psychiatry at St. Joseph since 1996 and has served as a member of the board of directors there since 2005. In addition, he is the director of the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt Health System, a guest researcher at the National Institutes of Health and a clinical associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Catherine Agnes Lortz, a retired office administrator for the state and accomplished pianist, died Wednesday at St. Joseph Medical Center of complications from a broken hip. The lifelong Baltimore resident was 99. The daughter of a baker who owned a store in Govans, Ms. Lortz attended Notre Dame Preparatory School and began working for the state Department of Agriculture soon after her graduation. She remained with the Animal Health Division for 44 years, retiring in 1973. In her retirement, she volunteered at St. Joseph Medical Center and kept the books for the hospital's gift shop for 20 years.

* Dr. Daniel Dietrick, a longtime member of St. Joseph Medical Center's medical staff, has been appointed clinical head of the Department of Surgery. Dietrick and his colleague Dr. Thomas Smyth were the first two surgeons at St. Joseph Medical Center to perform a da Vinci robotic prostatectomy at a community hospital in Maryland, long before the technology was commonly accepted for prostate surgery in the U.S. Dietrick received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University and did his internship and residency at Stanford University; he also served on the clinical faculty at both institutions.

D r. Sheldon C. Kravitz, a retired Baltimore oncologist and hematologist, died Tuesday of kidney failure at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Roland Park Place resident was 83. Dr. Kravitz, the son of a garment worker, was born in Passaic, N.J., and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he graduated with honors in 1941 from Boys High School. In 1945, he earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and was a 1948 graduate of Cornell University Medical College. He completed his internship in internal medicine at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and his residency at Sloan- Kettering Institute, where he was a Damon Runyon Fellow in medical oncology.

St. Joseph Medical Center has a new vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer. Pam Jamieson, a graduate of Duke University, Boston University and New York University, came to St. Joseph after serving as senior vice president of patient services at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut. She has 20 years of experience in nursing. Her work helped Stamford earn the Magnet Award of Excellence in Nursing Services from the American Nursing Credentialing Center. Durenda Juergensen was recently appointed to assistant vice president of nursing at St. Joseph Medical Center.

Agreement made to create health center for Latinos Catholic Charities signed an agreement yesterday with three medical providers to open a health center to serve the region's uninsured Latino population. The center, a joint effort of St. Joseph Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine and St. Agnes HealthCare, is expected to open early next year at Catholic Charities' Hispanic Apostolate at 430 S. Broadway in Fells Point. The project seeks to expand on a decadelong effort by St. Joseph Medical Center, which makes twice-weekly visits to the Hispanic Apostolate to provide primary care to about 2,000 adults a year.

Dr. Karen Kauffman, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, has been appointed chairwoman of the Department of Family and Community Health. She holds a Ph.D. and a Master of Science from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Arthur C. Jee of Laurel has been elected to a second, two-year term as a member of the board of trustees of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Jee represents the jurisdictions of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.