Mental Hygiene

Mental health advocates say state ignores them By LAURA ERNDE laurae@herald-mail.com ANNAPOLIS - Wiley Rutledge of Hagerstown started off Wednesday's meeting with state mental health officials with a doozy of an accusation. "Number one, we feel like we were lied to," said Rutledge, spokesman for the Washington County Mental Health Advisory Committee. Rutledge was referring to an incident last summer. Two weeks after Mental Hygiene Administration Executive Director Oscar L. Morgan told a county official that state mental health services would not be cut, local agencies started feeling the brunt of cutbacks.

Potomac Center in Hagerstown has been awarded national accreditation for a period of two years by the Council on Quality and Leadership. The center, on Marshall Street, was founded to provide services and support to people with disabilities. The survey was conducted May 17 to 20, and was Potomac Center's 12th accreditation survey since it first was accredited in 1984. Only seven state residential centers in the United States are accredited by the council. To achieve accreditation, Potomac Center underwent a rigorous review by professionals who interviewed people receiving services, family members and staff, and observed programs and services provided by the center, Potomac Center officials said.

A cat has tested positive for rabies after it was captured by animal-control agents last week in the 300 block of Northern Avenue in Hagerstown, the Humane Society of Washington County said Friday. Humane Society spokeswoman Catherine Cooker said the 6- to 8-year-old male, brown- and black-tabby had been behaving erratically, hissing one moment and being friendly the next. “The behavior was very erratic and a great concern,” Cooker said. “Anyone who came in contact with the cat needs to contact the (Washington County)

Ten Washington County residents have started rabies shots because they were bitten over the weekend by wild animals. Rod MacRae, spokesman for the Washington County Health Department, said the incidents ranged from bat bites in the North End of Hagerstown to cat and raccoon bites in other parts of the county. "It's an ongoing problem," MacRae said. "We need to realize that rabies is well-established here. " The people who were bitten will receive an initial treatment and about five shots in the arm over the course of a month, MacRae said.

Homeless female veterans in Maryland will soon have a place they can call home. Way Station Inc. of Frederick, Md., parent organization of Turning Point of Washington County, plans to start work this summer on a 27-bed facility on East North Avenue in Hagerstown that will serve as a home for homeless female veterans in the state. Way Station’s program, known as Welcome Home, will expand upon its success helping homeless male veterans transition into secure employment and housing by adding a facility with a priority of helping female veterans, said Scott Rose, executive director of Way Station.

The ticks are back. Washington County residents may face less risk of tick-borne Lyme Disease than residents of counties further east, but Western Marylanders must still beware of the potentially fatal illness, according to county and state health officials. cont. from front page May is National Lyme Disease Prevention Month. Lyme Disease is a multisystem bacterial infection caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdoferi (Bb), which is transmitted from one animal to another- including humans- by ticks, according the Lyme Disease Foundation (LDF)

Health care costs continue to soar and at least one health professional in Hagerstown believes solutions must be found to serve the growing number of people with little access to that care. "If every company was willing to commit one-tenth of net profits, tithing into a community fund, we could fix this problem," said H.W. Murphy, president of the Washington County Health System. Speaking at the Healthy Communities 2000 summit Wednesday at the Four Points, Murphy addressed a coalition of local volunteers and health professionals who are identifying and working to solve the county's major health care problems.

I'd like to express my deepest thanks for the warmth and hospitality of the people of Western Maryland, where I, along with Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, and members of our executive cabinet held our first in a series of town hall meetings on education and our economy. I hear every day from Maryland families who continue to struggle to do more with less. As we travel across our one Maryland to hear directly from our working families, as we did in Frostburg on Wednesday night, we hope to put people in need directly in touch with the services and programs that are in place to provide assistance during these tough times.

wandaw@herald-mail.com Hagerstown veterinarian Ben Byers had a theory about the pets in his care who contracted Lyme disease. After noticing an increase in local cases of the disease in his pet patients, Byers said he suspected that pets living near the Potomac River were at a higher risk for infection. It turns out he was wrong, the Park Circle Animal Hospital veterinarian said. Byers said he tracked his office's diagnosed Lyme disease cases from Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania between February and September of 2003.

By BRENDAN KIRBY Staff Writer A Veterans Administration outpatient clinic proposed for Hagerstown is part of a long-term strategy to bring health services closer to veterans around the country, officials said Wednesday. Richard Pell, director of the VA Medical Center east of Martinsburg, W.Va., said 36 proposals are awaiting congressional approval. He said the VA, which has a satellite clinic in Cumberland, Md., would like to add one outpost a year for the next several years.

The United Way and Community Foundation of Washington County are writing monthly columns in The Herald-Mail to keep the Strategic Community Impact Plan (SCIP) process in the forefront of the community's conscience and to report on the progress that is being made toward the SCIP goals. Even though it might not seem like it, the community is engaged.  Many things are happening with regard to education goals: • Under the direction of the United Way, a food program collaborative has been discussing issues, such as distribution of available resources, programs and eligibility, nutrition and gaps that need to be filled moving forward.

A cat has tested positive for rabies after it was captured by animal-control agents last week in the 300 block of Northern Avenue in Hagerstown, the Humane Society of Washington County said Friday. Humane Society spokeswoman Catherine Cooker said the 6- to 8-year-old male, brown- and black-tabby had been behaving erratically, hissing one moment and being friendly the next. “The behavior was very erratic and a great concern,” Cooker said. “Anyone who came in contact with the cat needs to contact the (Washington County)

Ten Washington County residents have started rabies shots because they were bitten over the weekend by wild animals. Rod MacRae, spokesman for the Washington County Health Department, said the incidents ranged from bat bites in the North End of Hagerstown to cat and raccoon bites in other parts of the county. "It's an ongoing problem," MacRae said. "We need to realize that rabies is well-established here. " The people who were bitten will receive an initial treatment and about five shots in the arm over the course of a month, MacRae said.

Maryland is hiking its certification fees for youth camps by as much as 1,900 percent to cover the cost of inspections. Previously, day camps had to pay $75 a year to operate. Residential camps paid $100. Now, day camps must pay a minimum of $200 and a maximum of $900, based on the number of campers they have and days the camps are open. The new fees for residential camps start at $500 and go as high as $2,000, also based on campers and days. For Antietam Recreation, which runs a day camp near Hagerstown, the increase will be 1,100 percent this year — $900, up from $75. Co-owner Mary Rotz found out a few weeks ago. "We were just kind of shocked at that," she said Thursday.

Homeless female veterans in Maryland will soon have a place they can call home. Way Station Inc. of Frederick, Md., parent organization of Turning Point of Washington County, plans to start work this summer on a 27-bed facility on East North Avenue in Hagerstown that will serve as a home for homeless female veterans in the state. Way Station’s program, known as Welcome Home, will expand upon its success helping homeless male veterans transition into secure employment and housing by adding a facility with a priority of helping female veterans, said Scott Rose, executive director of Way Station.

KEEDYSVILLE -- Each morning, 75-year-old Bonnard Morgan heads out to the woods armed to the teeth against the blacklegged tick, an enemy barely the size of a penciled-in period. He covers his arms and legs with rubber boots and rubber gloves to block ticks' access to his flesh. The parts not covered in rubber are covered in light-colored cotton, enabling him to easily spot a rogue tick. All this in addition to a brimmed straw hat and good coating of bug spray. "These ticks, they try to eat me to pieces," Morgan says.

I'd like to express my deepest thanks for the warmth and hospitality of the people of Western Maryland, where I, along with Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, and members of our executive cabinet held our first in a series of town hall meetings on education and our economy. I hear every day from Maryland families who continue to struggle to do more with less. As we travel across our one Maryland to hear directly from our working families, as we did in Frostburg on Wednesday night, we hope to put people in need directly in touch with the services and programs that are in place to provide assistance during these tough times.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- She was always one of the good kids -- an honor roll student who never smoked, drank alcohol or did drugs. And she never had sex. At least, that's what everyone thought. Then, she became pregnant. Three months ago, she gave birth to a son, and her young life changed. No more Saturdays at the movies, no more hanging out at the mall. And, glancing down at her cell phone, no more friends calling to say "hello. " Now, the 16-year-old has more important things to do, like 2 a.m. feedings, changing diapers and wondering what it's like to have eight hours of sleep.

Frank Boddicker knows first hand that tick bites need to be taken seriously. The southern Washington County resident contracted Lyme disease more than 25 years ago through a tick bite when he was in his 20s. When he was bitten by the tick, he remembers seeing the characteristic bull's-eye rash mark on his back, but he didn't think anything of it. Eight years later, when Boddicker was diagnosed with Lyme disease, the condition had progressed too...

Potomac Center in Hagerstown has been awarded national accreditation for a period of two years by the Council on Quality and Leadership. The center, on Marshall Street, was founded to provide services and support to people with disabilities. The survey was conducted May 17 to 20, and was Potomac Center's 12th accreditation survey since it first was accredited in 1984. Only seven state residential centers in the United States are accredited by the council. To achieve accreditation, Potomac Center underwent a rigorous review by professionals who interviewed people receiving services, family members and staff, and observed programs and services provided by the center, Potomac Center officials said.