Sunday, July 5, 2009

News Clipping Archives

Maryland / Regional

Rosewood's reckoning (Baltimore Sun)

Official says potential swine flu campaign could stretch manpower (Carroll Eagle)

Franklin County officials keep bilingual lines open (Hagerstown Herald-Mail)

 

National / International

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Opinion

Say No to Raw Cookie Dough (New York Times Editorial)

Our Say: Rising Medicaid costs one piece of national puzzle (Annapolis Capital Editorial)

Obese and malnourished (Baltimore Sun Commentary)

 

 

Maryland / Regional

Rosewood's reckoning

Our view: A troubled facility closes, and its residents stake out new lives

 

Baltimore Sun

Sunday, July 5, 2009

 

Last Tuesday marked the official closing of the Rosewood Center, the state residential facility for the developmentally disabled. The day came none too soon, given the center's troubled past.

 

Eighteen months ago, Maryland Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary John M. Colmers promised that Rosewood's 166 residents would find a better quality of life in community-based settings. So far, that appears to have been the case, at least for most.

 

The strain of this transition on some residents and their loved ones has no doubt been significant. For some, Rosewood has been their home for decades. It's no surprise that not everyone is pleased with what has taken place. Group homes can have their faults, too.

 

But whatever their shortcomings, they pale in comparison to Rosewood's dilapidated housing and its unsafe conditions, patient-on-patient violence and substandard medical care. Such circumstances could not be allowed to continue. The days of state-run institutions for the disabled are slowly coming to an end; the shame is that it took so long for that moment to come to Owings Mills.

 

One of the keys to this transition has been the creation of a facility at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville specifically to house the 13 residents who were court ordered into state care because they had committed crimes and were deemed not criminally responsible or incompetent to stand trial, and were considered a potential threat.

 

It was the sometimes destructive behavior of these individuals that too often became a problem at Rosewood. Their transfer to a secure unit on the grounds of a state hospital is entirely appropriate.

 

The fact that Rosewood is now reduced to 30 empty buildings and a handful of maintenance and security staff is not the end of this ordeal. DHMH has a responsibility to ensure the former Rosewood residents are not forgotten in a month or six months - or ever again.

 

At minimum, officials need to inspect their new homes and care arrangements with the same level of scrutiny and accountability given Rosewood of late, and they need to do so frequently, particularly in the first year of this difficult transition.

 

Whether the abandoned campus ends up as a public park or perhaps as part of Stevenson University is a decision to be made at a future date. Certainly, the need for open space in this growing part of Baltimore County is clear enough.

 

The shuttering of Rosewood ought to be a moment to rejoice, but it's more a matter of relief. By any reasonable measure, the lives of 166 people have been made better - at least so far.

 

Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun.

 

Official says potential swine flu campaign could stretch manpower

 

By Charles Schelle

Carroll Eagle

Sunday, July 5, 2009

 

As media attention wanes regarding swine flu, the number of cases is actually growing in Maryland - up to 370 as of last week, including the first death in the state related to the illness.

 

Last week Carroll County Health Officer Larry Leitch said he's preparing for a possible swine flu vaccination campaign in the fall, and he told the Board of County Commissioners he may have trouble rounding up the manpower needed to perform vaccination clinics.

 

At a roundtable discussion June 25, Leitch said he's expecting that sometime this summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may mandate that state health agencies offer a vaccine for swine flu, also known as the H1N1 strain.

 

"I feel like I need to be ready to mass vaccinate the citizens of Carroll County that wish to be vaccinated," he said.

 

Leitch said that even if 10 percent of Carroll County's population want a vaccination, that's 34,000 people.

 

Symptoms of the flu are similar to the seasonal flu, and officials still encourage people to see a doctor if they have those symptoms. Maryland has had one swine flu related death -- state health officials said that an elderly woman in the Baltimore area died from the flu June 22, although she also had other ailments. Health officials with the CDC say about 75 percent of the 127 people who have died of swine flu-related symptoms had other underlying conditions.

 

The potential for vaccinations in Carroll County has Leitch is in the midst of organizing as many nurses as he can.

 

"I'm trying to organize a small army that could give vaccinations under a state contract," he said. "I don't know how much I would be able to pay them."

 

So far, he said, he's been in discussions with Carroll Hospital Center about the possibility of hiring 500 nurses for vaccinations, as well as 54 school health nurses. He also hopes to find a way to have nursing students at Carroll Community College be certified to give the vaccinations.

 

If that plan falls through, Leitch said he's not sure what he's going to do.

 

"I'm going to have to come up with a Plan B pretty fast, and I don't know what that's going to be," he said.

 

The early planning is being encouraged by CDC health officials.

 

"It's very important for states and communities to begin intensifying their efforts on planning to administer a vaccine should such be necessary in the fall," said Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease at a press briefing last week.

 

But in order to vaccinate, an approved vaccine needs to be in place. A two-shot vaccine is currently being tested to make sure it's safe and effective, Schuchat said.

 

About one-third of the available vaccinations should be ready in September, health officials said.

 

Copyright 2009 explorecarroll.com.

 

Franklin County officials keep bilingual lines open

 

By Jennifer Fitch

Hagerstown Herald-Mail

Sunday, July 5, 2009

 

Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series about the growing Hispanic population in Franklin County, Pa. The first part appeared Sunday.

 

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Picture cards. Telephone systems. Volunteer translators.

 

Agencies in Franklin County, Pa., encountering a language barrier on the job employ some common tools to communicate with people in need. Officials say they find the most spoken language other than English is Spanish.

 

The Franklin County 911 center receives about three or four calls a week from people speaking Spanish, Assistant Communications Coordinator Ben Rice said.

 

He said the first step is to reach the AT&T Language Line, which provides translators in a host of languages. Typically a Spanish-speaking translator answers the line because of the frequency of those calls.

 

Connection wait time is typically less than a minute, Rice said.

 

“I’ve been working here 10 years and we’ve been using it as long as I’ve been here,” said Rice, who said none of the current 911 operators are bilingual.

 

Chambersburg and Waynesboro, Pa., hospitals also use the Language Line, according to Karlee Brown, a spokeswoman for Summit Health, which owns and operates both hospitals.

 

“It is very important that all patients fully understand what is occurring in regards to their health and treatment,” Brown said.

 

The hospital nursing units have access to cultural diversity kits, which include words in several languages and pictures on index cards. Brown said the “Talking Pictures” help nurses and doctors get basic information about how patients are feeling.

 

Both hospitals have the “Rynecki/Arthur Interpretive Tool” information packet that allows Spanish-speaking patients to answer “yes” or “no” to a series of nursing questions.

 

Brown said several staff members at Chambersburg Hospital have completed a voluntary certification program for translation competency. Although they are not full-time interpreters, they have offered their services if needed.

 

The Franklin County Chapter of the American Red Cross has a couple bilingual volunteers, Director Tom Reardon said.

 

“All of our materials we have available to us in English and Spanish,” he said.

 

Also, the national organization makes all of its materials available in a variety of languages through its computer system.

 

Reardon estimated that 15 percent to 20 percent of clients speak Spanish. Most of the time, enough English is known to allow for communication, or someone from the household speaks English and can translate.

 

“We need volunteers who can speak all languages,” Reardon said, saying the chapter had a Chinese-speaking client in the past year.

 

Copyright 2009 Hagerstown Herald-Mail.

 

National / International

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Opinion

Say No to Raw Cookie Dough

 

New York Times Editorial

Monday, July 6, 2009

 

Eating raw cake or cookie dough has long been a guilty pleasure, but now it turns out that Grandma was right to snatch the bowl away.

 

At least 69 people have become violently ill — 34 of them hospitalized — after eating uncooked Nestlé’s Toll House cookie dough. At least nine of those victims suffered kidney failure, as a result of a virulent form of E. coli. Nestlé USA has recalled more than 300,000 cases of the product since, even after cooking, the E. coli could remain on hands or survive in softer, undercooked cookies.

 

Coming after problems with tainted tomatoes, peanuts and pistachios, this is another warning about the weakness of the nation’s food safety system and why Congress needs to fix it. The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently approved an excellent bill that would strengthen the Food and Drug Administration’s powers. The full House and the Senate — with White House support — need to move this package forward.

 

That House bill gives the F.D.A. more money and authority, including the much-needed power to recall products quickly instead of waiting for the manufacturer to do so voluntarily. It would also make it easier for the agency’s inspectors to see a company’s food safety records or consumer complaints.

 

Nestlé voluntarily recalled its dough after the F.D.A. found E. coli at its Danville, Va., plant. But Nestlé, like other companies, routinely refuses to share safety data with inspectors since it is not required to by law. In the recent salmonella outbreak at the Peanut Corporation of America in Georgia, the F.D.A. was forced to use its antiterrorism powers to get data.

 

Even the improvements envisioned in the House bill will never make the food supply 100 percent germ-free. And the F.D.A. is warning once again that E. coli can appear in unexpected places. Dr. David Acheson, the agency’s associate commissioner for foods, warned consumers — especially those preparing for summertime picnics — to follow the rules for handling all food safely. That includes such basic advice as keeping cold food cold, hot food hot and eating nothing raw that should be cooked.

 

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company.

 

Our Say: Rising Medicaid costs one piece of national puzzle

 

Annapolis Capital

Sunday, July 5, 2009

 

You could say that the latest numbers on Marylanders joining the state Medicaid system indicate that changes made by the governor and the legislature are working as planned - indeed, better than planned.

 

The numbers are good news for formerly uninsured families that now have coverage under the 44-year-old Medicaid program, managed by the states but jointly funded by federal and state governments.

 

But the extra $50 million price tag for the unexpected influx into the system - meaning that additional costs will be imposed on a financially strapped state - reminds us of something else: The linked problems of millions of uninsured Americans and exploding health care costs cannot be solved by well-intentioned state tinkering.

 

That's like expecting a five-alarm fire to be handled by a volunteer bucket brigade - with one bucket. The federal government has the heavy- duty pumpers and the ladder trucks. Right now they are parked in a circle while Congress and the president discuss how to use them.

 

Medicaid is the means-tested federal health program offering coverage for those with low incomes and sparse resources. A report last year by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute estimated that, nationwide, it covered 60.5 million people in 2007. Nearly half of them - 29.5 million - were children. But most of the costs were for adults with major health problems and long-term care needs.

 

The same report found that states, on average, spent nearly 17 percent of their general fund expenditures on Medicaid; Maryland spent 19 percent.

 

With Maryland having roughly 760,000 people without health insurance in 2007, state officials last year drastically increased Medicaid eligibility. As The (Baltimore) Sun reported last week, before July of last year, adults with one child would be eligible only if they had a household income of 40 percent of the poverty level - $7,000 per year. The state raised this to 116 percent of the poverty level - $20,500.

 

It was expected that such increases would add fewer than 27,000 people to the Maryland Medicaid system. That reckoned without the recession and job lossesw. The actual number was more than 44,000, the cost went up an additional $50 million - and plans to extend eligibility to adults without children had to be scrapped.

 

Also, state officials estimate that perhaps a quarter of those enrolling were not uninsured, but dropped private insurance to sign up with Medicaid. That touches on a problem Congress is debating. The president and his supporters want a plan that includes a government-provided option for those who can't get health insurance otherwise. But won't such a federal program, by drawing on its taxpayer funding to offer extra-low premiums, drive private insurance companies out of business?

 

We wish we knew the answer to that, or to the nation's other health care conundrums. But it's already clear that the limit of what states can do about the problem by themselves has been reached. If there's going to be more action, it has to come from Washington.

 

Copyright 2009 Annapolis Capital.

 

Obese and malnourished

 

By Cyril O. Enwonwu

Baltimore Sun Commentary

Sunday, July 5, 2009

 

A report released last week shows that obesity is harming the health of millions of Americans, including children and teens. The report, "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America 2009," from the Trust for America's Health, says that 28.8 percent of Maryland youths ages 10 to 17 are overweight or obese - and thus at increased risk of a long list of chronic health problems such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis and some cancers.

 

None of this comes as much of a shock. But here's something that most people probably would find surprising: Despite the fact that they generally eat more than enough food, overweight children also can suffer from malnutrition.

 

How can a fat teenager living in Baltimore experience malnutrition, a condition that brings to mind images of children with swollen bellies living in Africa, the Asia-Pacific region and other impoverished parts of the developing world?

 

Originally from Nigeria, I am a nutritional biochemist who studies the interactions among dietary habits, infections, inflammation and immunity. Today, global health research tells us that malnutrition is as much about what we eat as what we do not; it is either a lack of adequate food or an overabundance of nutritionally bankrupt foods.

 

Take a 14-year-old African-American boy living in Baltimore. Like many Americans, he eats too much junk food, while watching hours of television or playing video games.

 

He knows he is obese. What he doesn't know is that his body is starving for omega-3 fatty acids and other essential nutrients like vitamins and minerals required for good development and health.

 

Now take a 14-year-old boy from Nigeria. He has poor, uneducated parents and has to share a small bowl of rice and legumes with his three siblings every day. He walks several miles to school daily, often in intense heat. He is emaciated and frequently endures pangs of hunger. For Nigerian children like this, malnutrition usually starts before they are born due to poor prenatal care.

 

They are an ocean apart, yet both boys suffer from malnutrition, ranging from undernutrition with resulting short stature and below normal weight for the Nigerian to overconsumption of high-fat foods with little or no exercise leading to obesity for the American. Research tells us that both of these forms of malnutrition weaken a person's defenses against various infections and make one more prone to diseases, including measles, malaria, tuberculosis, respiratory and diarrheal diseases, HIV/AIDS and some cancers.

 

Baltimore is challenged by the full range of this malnutrition spectrum. According to the Baltimore Health Department, the prevalence of overweight students in the city is much higher than national figures.

 

And undernutrition also appears to be a problem: A July 2008 study showed that 13.5 percent of Baltimore families with young children suffered from what researchers call food insecurity, meaning they either routinely ran out of food or worried they wouldn't have enough to feed their families. Some of those families are at increased risk for malnutrition.

 

And we are starting to see cities in developing countries fight a similar battle. While undernutrition is widespread in many African countries, there are increasing pockets of obesity showing up in the urban groups: affluent teenagers who are physically inactive and have access to calorie-dense and fatty foods.

 

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization reported last month that 1 billion people - about one-sixth of the world's population - suffer from hunger. Poor countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region account for 91 percent of the world's undernourished, a situation that "poses a serious risk for world peace and security."

 

What is to be done? Plenty. And we know how to go about it.

 

The United States must fund programs that are proven to encourage kids to adopt a healthier diet - one that contains enough essential nutrients, including vitamins and minerals. At the same time, we, as a nation, must invest more in global health research targeted to nutritional/dietary factors and their roles in the prevention and management of various diseases. We can do both, and it can be done at all levels: federal, state and local.

 

Today, we know enough about nutrition and health to encourage kids in Baltimore to eat nutrient-rich foods and also engage in appropriate physical activities. And we also have proven strategies, like strengthening agricultural infrastructure, that can provide kids in Nigeria with adequate food.

 

However, we still lack adequate knowledge about how undernutrition influences the powerful punch of some infectious agents. The lack of similarity in rates of some cancer types in people who share genetic ancestry but live in different parts of the world suggests that dietary habits may be an important associated environmental factor. Such a study will require global collaboration between U.S.-based scientists and scientists in developing countries, among others.

 

But today, global health research targeted to elimination of malnutrition and its health consequences is an underappreciated and underfunded area. We simply must do more to find answers to the worldwide problems of hunger, obesity and malnutrition-related diseases. Children all over the world are counting on us.

 

Dr. Cyril O. Enwonwu is professor of biomedical sciences and director of International Research Initiatives at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry and adjunct professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the UM School of Medicine. He is also a Research! America Ambassador in the Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research. His e-mail is cenwonwu@umaryland.edu\.

 

Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun.

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