Health Care

Health care concerns aired By KIMBERLY YAKOWSKI / Staff Writer Concerns about the quality of health care, preserving the dignity of those receiving medical assistance and cutting health care-related red tape were on the minds of more than 55 people who attended a public meeting on health care reform Wednesday evening at Hagerstown Community College. continued Members of Maryland Health Care for All, a grassroots coalition of state and local groups working to provide health coverage for all Maryland residents, recorded the questions and stories of those who spoke.

Frustrated by their inability to pass some individual initiatives in 2007, leaders of the Maryland General Assembly are thinking about putting together a something-for-everyone bill in 2008. Under this approach, those who want an expansion of health care would have to support the legislation of slot machines, a change in the state's tax structure and possibly a tax increase. On Monday, The (Baltimore) Sun quoted Sen. Thomas M. Middleton, D-Charles, as saying that including a health-care expansion with a tax increase would make it an easier sell.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - The cost of health care has Pennsylvania businesses ailing, said several business people who attended a economic development symposium hosted by state Sen. Terry Punt. "These high double-digit increases are just killers. The year-to-year increases are just devastating," said Dan Pheil, president of Landis Gardner in Waynesboro, Pa. He said businesses that might otherwise be expanding and hiring new employees are not because of the skyrocketing costs of providing health-care coverage.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party rally protesting government-run health care was held Friday afternoon in front of the federal building on King Street in Martinsburg. The Blue Ridge Patriots of Berkeley County and the Jefferson County TEA Party joined forces for the rally, said Barb Miller of Gerrardstown, W.Va., who organized the event. About 60 people attended the rally, many of them carrying handmade signs protesting health-care nationalization. Some asked motorists to "honk for freedom," which was done in abundance.

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - Steven B. Larchuk, co-founder and chairman of Pennsylvania Health Care Solutions Coalition, will speak at a community forum on Thursday, May 4 at 7 p.m. at the Greencastle Rescue Hose hall at 842 S. Washington St. The meeting, sponsored by the Greencastle Antrim Democratic Club, will discuss the growing problem of health-care coverage for families and individuals in Pennsylvania and the nation. The meeting will be chaired by Dr. Lazlo Madaras, hospitalist at the Chambersburg Hospital and a family physician at Mercersburg Family Medicine.

You can say this about Ross Z. Pierpont - he isn't one to give up easily. Having sought election to local, state and federal offices in Maryland 13 times over the past 32 years - and having been defeated 13 times - the retired surgeon from Baltimore County is hitting the campaign trail once again in a bid for a U.S. Senate seat. "I wasn't going to do anything this time, but this election is too important," said Pierpont, 80, a Republican. It's too important this time, he said, because the nation is teetering on a governmental crisis.

MONT ALTO, PA. - For some students, the third annual MedCamp at Penn State Mont Alto helped solidify their career choices. Other students are more uncertain than ever. "I came here wanting to be a physical therapist," said Nikki Kauffman, 14, of Waynesboro, Pa. "Now, I'm not sure what I want to do. " Not because she doesn't want a career in health care. She was exposed to so many different medical jobs that it's hard to pick only one. "These are kids that have expressed interest in some kind of health-care career.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Nestled among West Virginia's mountains and valleys is a population that is sicker, poorer, older and more reliant on public health care than those of most or all other states, said Tony Gregory, director of communications and legislative affairs for the West Virginia Hospital Association. In West Virginia, 15.7 percent of the population is 65 or older, and the state's median age is older than that of Florida. West Virginia's median income is 49th out of the 50 states, but the state is at the top of the list when it comes to health problems, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease, Gregory said.

U.S. House of Representatives District 6 Salary: $165,200 per year Term: Two years The following questions were asked to the candidates for U.S. House of Representatives District 6. 1. What role should the federal government play in providing affordable housing? 2. What proposals do you support, if any, to provide a basic level of quality health care at an affordable cost to all U.S. residents? 3. The No Child Left Behind Act comes up for reauthorization in 2007.

I have not kept up with health care issues this election season. I have been too busy caring for my elderly father. Dad lives in a retirement community in Virginia. He is quite a traveler, frequenting beach resorts, visiting my brother in Texas and enjoying fine hotels all over the south. These trips don't cost my dad a dime because he never leaves his bed. I call them "flights of fantasy" and must constantly remind my father he is still in his apartment. My dad's mental lapses have increased as his physical health has decreased.

Information on the Affordable Care Act's upcoming effects on senior citizens in Maryland and medical equipment that can be used at home were features of the 2013 Senior and Caregiver Expo put on by Washington County CARES in Hager Hall on Thursday. Jon Kromm, deputy director for the Governor's Office of Health Care Reform in Maryland, spoke to the attendees in the morning about the Affordable Care Act and how it can affect them as seniors, including possible discounts on prescription drugs, preventive care coverage, cracking down on fraud and waste, and open enrollment periods for health insurance.

Franklin County residents are losing ground on some very important health-related issues, according to a study released by Summit Health Thursday. Summit Health, in cooperation with the Penn State Institute of State and Regional Affairs, released the results of its 2012 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) of Franklin County and Shippensburg, Pa., at Green Grove Gardens near Greencastle. After wading through a sea of data over the course of a year, Summit's 30-member advisory group pinpointed four priorities - education, nutrition, access to health care and mental health.

A class of Towson University nursing students at the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown is participating in a walk equal to the distance across the Democratic Republic of Congo. The community health fundraiser, promoted by the world relief advocate group Adventist Development and Relief Agency aims to help provide health care to children of this region. The DRC has been labeled “Africa's world war” because millions of lives have been lost due to disease and malnutrition.

Penn State Mont Alto will change its nursing program from a two-year degree to a four-year degree beginning in the fall of 2014. “Hospitals are changing their employment pattern. They aren't hiring associate degree nurses like they had in the past. They are looking for the entry-level professional, which is the bachelor's degree,” said Carranda Barkdoll, Penn State Mont Alto's coordinator for nursing. As the health care delivery system increases in complexity, more education is needed to support the nurses who must navigate it, Barkdoll said.

The Postal Service has been in the news a lot lately, and for good reason. The Postal Service has lost billions of dollars while losing market share to electronic forms of communication. But this is not entirely the fault of the Post Office or the Internet. In 2006, Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), a bill that was supposed to help the Post Office compete with private delivery services and be more responsive to public needs.  Unfortunately, many provisions in the bill have been the source of the problems the Postal Service is now facing.

Figuring out how to improve access, maintain quality and keep down the cost of health care are challenges facing hospitals as more provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act go into effect, Meritus Health System President Joseph P. Ross told those attending a Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce breakfast Wednesday. “Not all Americans enjoy access to health care and that drives long-term costs,” said Ross, who was named to head Meritus in 2011.

Some supporters of the nation's new health care law insist that its critics are motivated solely by politics and have no good reason for their opposition. In fact, serious critics have raised many legitimate concerns about the law, which is formally called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and more commonly called Obamacare. I've wanted to write about those concerns for some time, but health care policy is complex and such a discussion can't be condensed into a single column.

Two school-based health centers, now run by Meritus Health, re-opened Tuesday at South Hagerstown High School and Western Heights Middle School. Jesus Cepero, the vice president of nursing at Meritus Health and Melissa Nearchos, the senior grant manager for the county's Office of Community Grant Management, told the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday that the centers, which were closed at the end of the 2011-12 school year, had re-opened that...

Wilda R. Gift of Hagerstown, Md., passed away Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, at her home. Born Feb. 10, in Hagerstown, she was the daughter of Samuel G. Reel Sr. and Edith Johnson Reel. She graduated from North Hagerstown High School and the Washington County Hospital School of Nursing. She was employed by Fleischer's on the Square in Hagerstown during high school, the University of Maryland Hospital and Washington County Hospital as a nurse in the operating room. She was an advocate and supporter of arts and music in the Hagerstown community as a member of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra Guild, the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts and the Washington County Historical Society.

 The Chambersburg Hospital pastoral care department's annual training for laypersons on clinical pastoral care in a health care setting will begin at 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, at the Chambersburg Hospital. Registration deadline is Friday, Feb. 1.  The training is a diploma-level course consisting of nine, consecutive, weekly training sessions.  Each session will last approximately two hours and 30 minutes. The training includes a one-day off campus retreat on Saturday, May 11. The training is free, but participants are required to purchase the course books.  In exchange for the training, participants are asked to commit to a visitation period of three hours per week for six months.