Nurse

Helen Cruse, a retired nurse, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Jan. 31 at the Summit Park Nursing Home. The Gwynn Oak resident was 88. Born Helen Mariano in Baltimore, she was raised on Stricker Street and attended Baltimore City public schools. She later lived with family in New York City, where she became a nurse and worked for the Veterans Administration. She then returned to Baltimore and nursed at the old Provident Hospital and at Liberty Medical Center. She also worked at the Augsburg Lutheran Nursing Home.

Danielle's "gift" to me on Mother's Day weekend was calling it quits on nursing. Mornings were the final frontier and she politely declined me both mornings. (Sniff, sniff.) So, I guess I get my body back, and at least it happened gradually and naturally. Plus, there was no biting involved in our final nursing sessions, so it didn't end on a sour note. For fellow mommies still in the nursing and pumping lifestyle, here's a great new resource: Moms Pump Here . After my recent post about retiring my breast pump after 12 months, I got a message from Kim Harrison.

Sister Francis Helen Lewandowski, a member of the Sisters of Bon Secours and a retired registered nurse, died of undetermined causes Nov. 17 at her order's provincial house in Marriottsville. She had celebrated her 100th birthday earlier this year. Anna Elinor Lewandowski was born and raised in Baltimore. She was an Eastern High School graduate and earned her nursing degree from St. Agnes Hospital School of Nursing. Sister Helen Francis entered the Sisters of Bon Secours in 1934 and professed her vows in 1937.

Helen Bruce Thomas, a retired nurse and homemaker, died April 23 at the Rogerson House assisted-living facility in Boston of unknown causes. The longtime resident of Phoenix, Baltimore County, was 89. Born Helen Whitridge Bruce in Baltimore, she was the daughter of Albert Cabell Bruce, a businessman, and Helen Whitridge Bruce, a homemaker. She was raised in Guilford on Charlcote Road. She attended the Calvert and Bryn Mawr schools before graduating from the Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Va., where she rode horses.

Anne B. Leavitt, a retired registered nurse and an alto singer who was a longtime member of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church Choir and Baltimore Choral Arts Society, died June 21 of a stroke at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She was 79. The daughter of a dentist and a registered nurse, Anne Lovelace Gorsuch Benson was born in Baltimore and raised in St. Margarets and in a home next door to the old Marconi's restaurant on West Saratoga Street. Mrs. Leavitt was a 1950 graduate of Eastern High School and earned her nursing degree at the old Hospital for the Women of Maryland in Bolton Hill.

Sally B.M. Supplee, a registered nurse who later worked as a private school nurse, died Monday of heart failure at Calvert Memorial Hospital in Prince Frederick. The former Towson resident was 87. Sally Bruce Mann, the daughter of farmers, was born in Baltimore and raised in Randallstown. She was a Hannah More Academy graduate and earned her nursing degree from the Union Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. While working as a nurse during the 1940s at Union Memorial, she met her future husband, Dr. James Franklin Supplee III. The couple married in 1945 and lived for years in Mount Washington, where they raised their family.

Beatrice B. Eisenhardt, a retired registered and private-duty nurse, died Aug. 21 of complications from a stroke at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The longtime Lutherville resident was 90. The daughter of a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad locomotive engineer and a homemaker, Beatrice Baldwin was born and raised in Keyser, W.Va. She was a great-great-great-great niece of President James Madison and his wife, Dolley. After graduating from Keyser High School in 1938, she earned a bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Maryland.

Mary Ann Gottschall, a registered nurse and instructor, died March 11 of cancer at St. Agnes Hospital, where she had worked for more than three decades. The Columbia resident was 65. Miss Gottschall, the daughter of an anthracite coal miner and a homemaker, was born and raised in Branchdale, Pa., and Muddy Creek, Pa. She was a 1962 graduate of Blessed Virgin Mary High School in Pottsville, Pa., and moved to Baltimore, where she graduated in 1968 from the Bon Secours Hospital School of Nursing.

CHRISTOPHER NURSE, age 47, passed away on October 5, 2004 as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Chris is survived by his wife, Melissa Colgate Nurse and his two sons Austin, age 7 and Hunter age 2 and a brother, Martin Nurse. Chris was born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 5, 1956, and attended college at Villanova. Chris enjoyed a long and successful career in broadcast television, but he will best be remembered as a loving husband and father. A memorial service will be held at St. Luke's United Methodist Church 4851 S. Apopka Vineland Road, Orlando, FL 32819 on Friday, October 8, 2004 at 2:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Christopher K. Nurse to the Austin and Hunter Educational Trust, c/o Kimberly A. Colgate, 7711 Holiday Drive, Sarasota, FL 34231.

Anne G. Karlsen, a registered nurse who had worked for the Baltimore County Health Department, died Jan. 25 of heart failure at Gilchrist Hospice Care. She was 86. Anne Bradford Grafflin was born in Baltimore and spent her early years on Wilson Street in Bolton Hill, before moving in 1934 to the Dixon Hill neighborhood in Mount Washington. After graduating from Western High School in 1945, she attended Baltimore Business College and later that year went to work as a mail sorter in the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's downtown freight office.

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.

Dr. Lorenz E. Zimmerman, the founder of modern ophthalmic pathology, who spent his nearly 60-year career studying diseases of the eye, died March 16 of complications from an infection at the Blakehurst retirement community in Towson. He was 92. His wife of 53 years, Anastasia U. Zimmerman, a registered nurse who had served as a major with the Army Nurse Corps, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure, also at Blakehurst. She was 89. "Without a doubt, Dr. Zimmerman was the most influential eye pathologist in the last 150 years.

As taken from the pages of The Aegis dated Thursday, March 28, 1963: The Harford Convalescing Home in Kalmia suffered a blaze that caused approximately $10,000 in damage 50 years ago this week. Twenty-six patients had to be evacuated to homes on the opposite side of Forge Hill Road until the fire could be brought under control. The fire swept through the rear building and damaged two others before being brought under control an hour later. Eleven fire trucks and eight ambulances arrived on the scene.

Legislation to legalize medical marijuana passed the House of Delegates Monday, sending the measure to the Senate. The bill would allow marijuana to be distributed through academic research centers by doctors and nurses. Similar measures have failed in previous years, but this year Gov. Martin O'Malley dropped his opposition and backed the proposal. Currently, 18 other states and the District of Columbia allows for the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The bill's sponsor, Del. Dan Morhaim, a physician and a Baltimore Democrat, has described Maryland's potential program as the tightest and most controlled of any in the country.

In 2011, I spent six months in hospitals and nursing homes recovering from a bacterial infection called C-Difficile that I caught after surgery ("Nightmare bacteria," March 8). It is easily passed from patient to patient. While in the nursing homes I noticed a lack of the kind of proper care that would have prevented this potentially fatal illness. When I was admitted, not only was I placed in a semi-private room, exposing the other patient, I was given a remote control that had dried feces and blood on it. I reported it, but I'm sure this kind of thing happens constantly.

Moira Mattingly had only been pregnant for about 24 weeks - still plenty of time, she thought, to pick a name for her daughter. So when she went to the hospital with some discomfort - small pains coming every seven minutes - the news that she was going into labor was alarming. The baby's lungs weren't fully formed, her skin barely so. Mattingly was also confronting sobering statistics: Babies born before 26 weeks, called micropreemies, can easily die and have a high chance of lifelong medical problems like cerebral palsy and blindness.

Doris W. Wagner, a former registered nurse who helped plan and design Carroll County's first adult day care center, died Sept. 11 of meningioma at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. The longtime Mount Airy resident was 86. The daughter of a wallpaper hanger and a seamstress, Doris Walkling was born in Gamber and raised on Smithwood Avenue in Catonsville. She was a 1944 graduate of Catonsville High School and earned her nursing degree two years later from St. Agnes Hospital School of Nursing.

The family of longtime Orioles umpires attendant Ernie Tyler is suing a Baltimore nursing home, claiming that a doctor at the facility cut off life-sustaining care to Tyler without authorization. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, alleges that a day after Tyler checked into Genesis ElderCare Long Green Center in February 2011, his attending physician, Kenneth Lindyberg, "terminated necessary medical care, including antibiotics, blood products, medical tests, and medications without Mr. Tyler's permission and without the knowledge or permission of his family.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to make it easier for veterans and their spouses to work in Maryland received warm reviews Tuesday from lawmakers and the Defense Department, but nurses suggested it could leave patients in the hands of unqualified workers. Testifying on behalf of the Veterans Full Employment Act, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said easing the transition into the civilian workforce is part of a "sacred obligation" society has to veterans. A Department of Defense official praised the plan as among the most comprehensive in the nation, while Del. Susan W. Krebs, a Carroll County Republican, called it "probably one of the best bills we're going to pass this year.