Peter Beilenson

Cuba's health system reaches out to help citizens in needIn his May 15 article on the visit by Baltimore health professionals to Cuba ("Health system in Cuba praised"), Scott Shane wrote: "[We] heard about coercive health policies of President Fidel Castro's government, such as a requirement that pregnant women not caring properly for themselves be moved to group homes until their babies are born."This is a misrepresentation of what we really heard.Pregnant women at high-risk because of inadequate nutrition, or other medical conditions, are encouraged by their family doctor (but never coerced)

WASHINGTON -- Dr. Peter Beilenson, Baltimore City health commissioner, told the House-Senate Democratic Caucus this week that if the proposed Republican plan for Medicaid is enacted, about 15,000 children and pregnant women in Baltimore would lose their health coverage.The hearing Wednesday looked at major changes proposed for Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor, and Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly.Baltimore is home to roughly half of Maryland's 467,000 Medicaid recipients, mostly poor women and children.

Several of Maryland's most powerful public officials lent support yesterday to plans for a Baltimore needle-exchange program that the state legislature has rejected the past two years.The proposal picked up momentum at a House committee hearing yesterday when the state's top health and public safety officers joined Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke in urging lawmakers' approval.And state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. said they, too, back the plan.

The man who directs Baltimore's tuberculosis, AIDS and sexually transmitted disease clinics has been forced to resign in the wake of a job shake-up involving 90 clinic workers.Dr. John Lewis, assistant commissioner for preventive medicine and epidemiology, charged yesterday that top officials in the city health department had made him the scapegoat for a controversy that was not his fault.He said that Health Commissioner Peter Beilenson and Deputy Commissioner Elias Dorsey asked him Monday morning to vacate his office by Friday.

The Second District, which includes Mount Vernon, Bolton Hill, Charles Village, Homewood and street after street of row houses in lesser-known areas, was where Baltimore's new politics had its birth. That Vietnam war era reform movement launched some notable political careers, including Mary Pat Clarke's. It also forged the city's first genuine political alliance between white liberals and ascending black clubs.Now, two decades later, Second District politics is at a crossroads. Personal rivalries and political schisms have replaced the youthful idealism of the 1970s.

In some of yesterday's editions, a table of election results indicated that Beatrice Gaddy won nomination to the Baltimore City Council in the 2nd District. In fact, the table showed incomplete results. Final returns gave the nomination to Paula Johnson Branch.* The Sun regrets the error.MAYORDemocratic (vote for 1) . . . . .438 of 438 precincts*Kurt L. Schmoke. . . . . 61,681. . .57.5%Clarence H. "Du" Burns. . 31,748. . .29.6%William A. Swisher. . . . 10,482. . . 9.7%Gene L. Michaels. . . . . 1,065.

As Baltimore's primary campaign draws to a close, City Council President Mary Pat Clarke has begun a behind-the-scenes effort in the city's gay community to defeat an independent candidate for the City Council in the 2nd District, Peter Beilenson.Mrs. Clarke, whose political home base is the center-city 2nd District, has been making calls to leaders of gay and lesbian groups urging them to support her chosen candidates: incumbents Anthony J. Ambridge, Carl Stokes and challenger Paula Johnson Branch instead of Dr. Beilenson.

Sarah Louise Matthews thinks better-off Baltimore City families should help solve the housing problem. "Open your garages for the homeless in the wintertime," she told a recent Mount Royal Democratic Club meeting.Donna Beth Joy Shapiro advocates neighborhood revitalization and historic preservation. She owns a Victorian tea house in Waverly and is president of Baltimore Art Deco Society.Bea Gaddy has won admiration for her two eastside soup kitchens. "I have become a professional beggar for food, clothing and housing," she says.

Council chief worked for his defeat, mayor quotedMayor Kurt Schmoke, who usually carries his feelings close to the vest, let loose at a recent dinner for several hundred of his campaign workers.He told the workers, who had gathered at Jimmy's Famous Seafood Restaurant on Holabird Avenue, that Council President Mary Pat Clarke should no longer be regarded as a political friend, one top campaign official reported."Many of you think she is a supporter of mine. She ain't," the mayor reportedly said.

1st District:John CainNicholas C. D'Adamo Jr.Perry Sfikas2nd District:Anthony J. AmbridgePeter BeilensonBeatrice Gaddy3rd District:Linda C. JaneyKevin O'KeeffeMartin O'Malley4th District:Lawrence BellSheila DixonAgnes Welch5th District:Vera P. HallIris G. ReevesRochelle Rikki Spector6th District:Arlene B. FisherEdward L. ReisingerMelvin L. Stukes

Reimbursement cuts add to strain on doctors I appreciate Dr. Peter Beilenson's generally sympathetic column regarding the plight of primary care medicine in Maryland ("A growing medical menace," Commentary, Dec. 5). But with all due respect, does anyone actually believe that Medicare and private insurance companies will increase their reimbursement rates for any physicians in the coming year? Most of my medical colleagues are expecting rate cuts of 10 percent to 20 percent in 2009, which will make maintaining a medical practice virtually impossible for many of us. Boutique medicine is not for everyone.

An influential highway safety organization is urging American states to consider joining most other industrialized nations in raising the age at which teens can drive to at least 17 - and possibly even 18. In a report released yesterday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety noted that most U.S. states allow teens to receive their licenses at 16 to 16 1/2 . The organization pointed to research showing a sharply lower level of traffic fatalities among...

In an initiative likely to be closely watched in Maryland and across the nation, Howard County is preparing to launch a program aimed at providing low-cost access to care to an estimated 20,000 county residents who are uninsured. County officials say their plan might be a model for other communities seeking to provide a health care safety net to low-income residents at a time of significant national concern about the availability of affordable health care. The plan is to begin operating July 1, with a goal of enrolling around 2,000 adults.

In the wake of terrorist attacks last week, local and state health authorities are stepping up efforts to prepare for a possible biological or chemical attack. They're tracking ambulance runs and hospital emergency rooms for certain symptoms, putting physicians and labs on alert and considering stockpiling drug supplies. Some of the actions are part of emergency plans already in place; others are steps officials are adding to make Maryland as prepared as possible. "We want to make sure our systems are geared up to respond as best we can," said Dr. Bob Bass, the state's EMS director.

In the gauzy light of morning, a spindly figure strides across a parking lot in Canton toward a popular seafood restaurant on the harbor. City restaurant inspectors closed the establishment a day earlier after discovering rat droppings in the kitchen. Now Peter Beilenson has come to have a look for himself. Inside the restaurant, where an exterminator is already on the prowl, Beilenson gets a tour from an eager-to-ingratiate manager. It's been a bad spell rodent-wise, the beefy, sandy-haired man laments.

ALONG WITH substantial -- and precedent-setting -- infusions of cash from the state, during the just-completed legislative session, a broadening coalition of forces deployed against lead poisoning got important new tools: By law, children in lead poisoning hot spots must now be tested at ages 1 and 2. Renters must get proof of efforts to reduce lead poisoning at the time they sign a lease. One hundred new lead-abatement workers will be trained in risk reduction procedures perfected by Baltimore's Clearcorps, a highly successful program for making houses lead-safe.

Cuba's health system reaches out to help citizens in needIn his May 15 article on the visit by Baltimore health professionals to Cuba ("Health system in Cuba praised"), Scott Shane wrote: "[We] heard about coercive health policies of President Fidel Castro's government, such as a requirement that pregnant women not caring properly for themselves be moved to group homes until their babies are born."This is a misrepresentation of what we really heard.Pregnant women at high-risk because of inadequate nutrition, or other medical conditions, are encouraged by their family doctor (but never coerced)

WASHINGTON -- Dr. Peter Beilenson, Baltimore City health commissioner, told the House-Senate Democratic Caucus this week that if the proposed Republican plan for Medicaid is enacted, about 15,000 children and pregnant women in Baltimore would lose their health coverage.The hearing Wednesday looked at major changes proposed for Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor, and Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly.Baltimore is home to roughly half of Maryland's 467,000 Medicaid recipients, mostly poor women and children.

Several of Maryland's most powerful public officials lent support yesterday to plans for a Baltimore needle-exchange program that the state legislature has rejected the past two years.The proposal picked up momentum at a House committee hearing yesterday when the state's top health and public safety officers joined Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke in urging lawmakers' approval.And state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. said they, too, back the plan.

The man who directs Baltimore's tuberculosis, AIDS and sexually transmitted disease clinics has been forced to resign in the wake of a job shake-up involving 90 clinic workers.Dr. John Lewis, assistant commissioner for preventive medicine and epidemiology, charged yesterday that top officials in the city health department had made him the scapegoat for a controversy that was not his fault.He said that Health Commissioner Peter Beilenson and Deputy Commissioner Elias Dorsey asked him Monday morning to vacate his office by Friday.