Nursing Home

The building that houses the Baltimore Nursing and Convalescent Center at 140 W. Lafayette Ave. in Bolton Hill was sold at auction yesterday for $825,000 to a local company, Mortgage Servicing Group, which had foreclosed on the property.Mortgage Servicing initiated foreclosure proceedings last year against the previous owner, a Pennsylvania-based group called Bolton Hill Limited Partnership.Edward Hirschhorn of Kowalsky & Hirschhorn P.A., the law firm representing Mortgage Servicing, said the building's use would not change.

Smoke from an overheated clothes dryer at the Charles Manor Nursing Home in the 7000 block of N. Charles St. last night prompted the move of several elderly residents to other sections of the building, a spokesman for the Baltimore County Fire Department said.No injury was reported among the more than 100 residents of the nursing home and no one was evacuated.The spokesman said a smoke detector in the basement laundry room was activated about 8:10 p.m., alerting employees who began moving residents on the first, second and third floors away from the potentially dangerous smoke.

An Annapolis nursing home that failed a recent state inspection is being threatened with sanctions until it corrects problems with providing patient care.Health inspectors reported deficiencies with staffing, supervision and patient treatment at the Annapolis Convalescent Center during visits in January and February. The 91-bed nursing home has until March 20 to submit a correction plan, or it risks losingits Medicare and Medicaid support.In a 62-page report released this week, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene detailed violations of 13 state and federal regulations.

Afternoon temperatures in Maryland eased back into the mid-90s on Thursday, but not before a week of extreme weather claimed the cooling system at another Baltimore nursing home. Seventy-four residents were moved out of the Liberty Heights Health and Rehabilitation Center in Northwest Baltimore late Wednesday and early Thursday morning after the air conditioning faltered. It was the second time this week that patients were moved from a Baltimore nursing facility because of air conditioning problems.

Jo Ann Robinson said she could never repay workers at the Hospice of the Chesapeake for the care they provided when her husband, Ennis, was dying of cancer."

Although Arundel Geriatric and Nursing Center has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, its owners say patients will not be affected and there are no plans to lay off any of the 120 employees."

The county health department has ordered quarantine measures at two county nursing homes due to a seasonal outbreak of flu-like illnesses.Deputy County Health Officer Larry Leitch said officials take these steps nearly every year at nursing homes to protect patients from developing flu or pneumonia."

The Mount Airy Town Council has approved a zoning change that clears the way for construction of a nursing home in the Wildwood Park senior housing community.The zoning change will allow a nursing home to occupy up to 25 percent, instead of 15 percent, of a site. The change was sought by the nursing home's developer, Lorien Home Health Care Inc., because of constraints at the Wildwood Park site.But the company, which plans to build a 62-bed nursing home at Wildwood Park, still faces a challenge before a state health planning board.

An Ellicott City nursing home operator will go ahead with plans to build nursing homes and assisted-living apartments in Carroll County, despite a competitor's pending lawsuit.It could be nine months before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals hears the case involving Lorien Home Health Care Inc., which plans to build a 63-bed nursing home in Taneytown and a 62-bed home in Mount Airy.Attorney James Forsyth said Lorien plans to break ground on the Mount Airy facility this summer."It makes it a very risky proposition, but we're committed to Taneytown and Mount Airy, and we're going forward," Forsyth said.