Sinai Hospital

Cabbie Larry W. Kess Sr. reads his Bible each day but he can be a devil behind the wheel when he's dispensing goofy humor for his seriously ill friends bound for Sinai Hospital at the cut-rate Kess prices.A Baltimore cabdriver for 25 years, Mr. Kess has served hundreds of Sinai patients for the past nine years, frequently paying out of his own pocket, as an unofficial chauffeur of cheer. He's been temporarily boxed in by the week's snows but planned to resume action this weekend.He'll pick a dark cloudy day to talk about the beautiful sunshine.

A two-day strike by support staff at two major local hospitals was averted yesterday as Sinai Hospital and the Greater Baltimore Medical Center reached temporary agreements with the union that represents about 1,000 of their workers. The Service Employees International Union 1199E-DC and officials from both hospitals negotiated through the night Wednesday. The union reached an accord with Sinai at 5 a.m. yesterday and with GBMC at 6:30 a.m. On Wednesday, about 1,700 members of the same union ratified a new contract with Johns Hopkins Hospital, avoiding a strike there.

Through a surgical opening slightly larger than a lemon, Dr. James D. Fonger eyes the pinkish, left side of a beating heart.In the space of three hours, he cuts through a few inches of fat and muscle, sews one artery to the side of another and stitches the incision closed -- leaving a circulatory blockage isolated in a dry riverbed where it can do no harm.This is his 30th excursion at Sinai Hospital into "minimally invasive" bypass -- rerouting blood vessels without prying the chest apart.

Dr. John B. Imboden, a retired psychoanalyst who had been Sinai Hospital's chief of psychiatry, died of acute leukemia Sunday at his North Baltimore home. He was 82. Born and raised in Morrilton, Ark., he attended Notre Dame University; while an undergraduate student, he enlisted in the Navy and was accepted into the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He graduated in 1950 and served in an Army hospital in El Paso, Texas, where he worked with soldiers with combat-related mental conditions.

Baltimore Police are investigating the fatal shooting of a man found in a vehicle in Northwest Baltimore on Saturday morning. Officers went to the 2500 block of Chelsea Terrace, which is off of Gwynns Falls Parkway, on Saturday about 3:15 a.m. for a report of a car accident, police said. They found a man inside a vehicle. He was suffering from at least one gunshot wound, they said. The man was taken to Sinai Hospital, where he later died. alisonk@baltsun.com twitter.com

A Sinai Hospital cardiologist is launching a clinical trial of a type of coronary artery disease drug not yet tested in humans, building on a history at the Baltimore hospital of research to develop more effective treatments to prevent blood clotting. Dr. Paul Gurbel is studying an intravenous drug for patients undergoing cardiac stenting, when mesh tubes are implanted to widen blocked arteries. The drug, known for now as PZ-128, would be given to patients after stent implantation to prevent platelets from sticking together around the device, potentially leading to heart attack.

On January 17, 2007, MARY ELLEN CLEMENTS, died at Sinai Hospital. Service and interment private. Arrangements by the family owned Mitchell-Wiedefeld Funeral Home Inc.

THE COUNT Homicides since Jan. 1: 226 THE VICTIM A man stabbed about 6:30 last night died at Sinai Hospital. LAST YEAR: Baltimore had recorded 200 homicides as of Sept. 25, 2006.

On Friday, January 21, 2005, at Sinai Hospital, THOMAS J. SPRIGGS, SR., 64, of Dundalk; beloved father of three sons; devoted grandfather of four. Also survived by one brother and one sister. Services private. Please make contributions to the Diabetes Association.

Were married January 19, 2008 at The New Antioch Baptist Church of Randallstown. The bride, a graduate of BCCC is a Registered Nurse at Sinai Hospital. The groom, a graduate of CCBC-Catonsville, is a Software Developer and a student at the University of Baltimore. The couple will honeymoon in the Western Carribbean.