Nursing Care

Diakon Adult Day Services at Ravenwood, a program of Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries, will host an open house 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, at 1109 Luther Drive in Hagerstown, in celebration of National Adult Day Services Week. The program provides daytime assistance, giving older people or people with disabilities the opportunity to remain in the community, allowing them to maintain as much independence as possible. Day services offer an alternative to nursing care. For information, call Sue Farrell at 301-791-1030 or e-mail farrells@diakon.

BOONSBORO - Reeders, a skilled-nursing care provider in Boonsboro since 1971, entered into a sale agreement on May 22 with Tandem Health Care, a Florida-based, for-profit corporation that manages more than 80 nursing homes and long-term health care centers throughout six states. Since 2000, Reeders had operated under the management of Asbury Communities Inc., a not-for-profit senior living provider in Gaithersburg, Md. The sale of the community to Tandem Health Care allows Reeders to join a larger company specializing in providing skilled nursing care, according to a prepared release.

Diakon Adult Day Services at Ravenwood, a program of Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries, will host an open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday in celebration of National Adult Day Services Week. Diakon Adult Day Services at Ravenwood, at 1109 Luther Drive in Hagerstown, provides daytime assistance, allowing older persons or those with disabilities to remain in the community. The program offers an alternative to nursing care while providing a respite for caregivers. Diakon Adult Day Services offers participants stimulating interaction with others who have similar interests and experiences.

The Continuing Education and Community Services Division at Hagerstown Community College will offer a three-part nurse refresher course for registered nurses  and licensed practical nurses. The nurse refresher course consists of three separate sections and takes 16 weeks to complete. The first section, “Nurse Refresher Classroom Theory,” will be held Monday and Wednesday evenings, from 6 to 10 beginning March 12 and ending May 21. Discussion topics include nursing care delivery, adult medical, and surgical nursing and current issues and trends in nursing practice.

A patient at NMS Healthcare on Marsh Pike has been charged with second-degree rape after he allegedly assaulted an 89-year-old female patient at the nursing home Friday, according to Washington County District Court records. Lamont Patrick Stafford, 38, was being held Monday in the Washington County Detention Center on $100,000 bond, a jail spokeswoman said. Stafford also is charged with second- and third-degree sex offense and second-degree assault, according to court records. Deputy Timothy L. Atwell of the Washington County Sheriff's Office wrote in the statement of probable cause that he responded to NMS Healthcare at 14014 Marsh Pike on Friday for a reported sex offense and talked to Barbara Ellen Sweeney, the facility's nursing director.

Fahrney-Keedy Home and Village will host its fourth annual spring open house Saturday, May 11, from 1 to 4 p.m.  Guests can take tours of the village and available residences, talk with staff members and residents and ride a horse-drawn wagon through the community. Refreshments will be provided. Visitors will be able to see the renovated skilled nursing dayrooms, and can tour the newly expanded physical therapy gym. Guided tours and self-guided tours along the walking trail are available.

Beginning July 1, the Waynesboro Community and Human Services Community Nurse Program will expand into Washington Township. Currently, the free, in-home nursing care is provided only to those who live in the Borough of Waynesboro. “We have been wanting to go into the township, but we didn't have the available funds to do it,” said Greg Duffey, vice president of Waynesboro Community and Human Services. Duffey said thanks to an $85,000 grant from the Summit Endowment fund, the nursing service can now be offered to township residents.

Employee honored at Jefferson Memorial MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The American Association for Health Education (AAHE) has selected Dr. Ruth Kershner as the recipient of the AAHE Health Education Professional of the Year Award for the college/university category. Kershner is a clinical associate professor in the West Virginia University Department of Community Medicine. "We are so fortunate to have Ruth as a faculty member here at WVU. Her teaching efforts reach far beyond this campus.

By KIMBERLY YAKOWSKI / Staff Writer photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer Cassie Wagaman's eyes fill with tears when she thinks of the last year of her mother's life. Diagnosed with the physically degenerative Lou Gehrig's disease in March 1998, Cossette Markell was no longer able to care for herself and was unwilling to live in a nursing home, said Wagaman. "My mother wanted to be home with her cats and all her comforts," she said. Wagaman turned to the Hospice of Washington County to provide nursing care for her mother.

Hospice coordinator hopes to tear down barriers By ANDREA BROWN-HURLEY / Staff Writer photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer Dawn Johns hopes to make a difference in the community by spreading the word about Hospice of Washington County. continued The new community liaison coordinator for Hagerstown-based Hospice said she will serve as an advocate for Hospice and for the organization's patients and their families. Johns said she will strive to "take down the barriers" that prevent terminally ill Washington County residents from living the remainder of their lives in the comfort of professional Hospice care.

Fahrney-Keedy Home and Village will host its fourth annual spring open house Saturday, May 11, from 1 to 4 p.m.  Guests can take tours of the village and available residences, talk with staff members and residents and ride a horse-drawn wagon through the community. Refreshments will be provided. Visitors will be able to see the renovated skilled nursing dayrooms, and can tour the newly expanded physical therapy gym. Guided tours and self-guided tours along the walking trail are available.

Beginning July 1, the Waynesboro Community and Human Services Community Nurse Program will expand into Washington Township. Currently, the free, in-home nursing care is provided only to those who live in the Borough of Waynesboro. “We have been wanting to go into the township, but we didn't have the available funds to do it,” said Greg Duffey, vice president of Waynesboro Community and Human Services. Duffey said thanks to an $85,000 grant from the Summit Endowment fund, the nursing service can now be offered to township residents.

Spring Fling and Fishing Rodeo planned in Pa. QUINCY, Pa. - The third annual Quincy Village Spring Fling and Fishing Rodeo will be Saturday, May 19, on Antietam Creek from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Families are invited to catch fish and win some prizes. Held in partnership with Tru Cut Lawn Care, the rain-or-shine event will offer parking off Orphanage Road. Boy Scout Troop 86 will be hosting a rock-climbing wall, and the Waynesboro Area Senior High School Art Club will be offering face painting.

The Continuing Education and Community Services Division at Hagerstown Community College will offer a three-part nurse refresher course for registered nurses  and licensed practical nurses. The nurse refresher course consists of three separate sections and takes 16 weeks to complete. The first section, “Nurse Refresher Classroom Theory,” will be held Monday and Wednesday evenings, from 6 to 10 beginning March 12 and ending May 21. Discussion topics include nursing care delivery, adult medical, and surgical nursing and current issues and trends in nursing practice.

A patient at NMS Healthcare on Marsh Pike has been charged with second-degree rape after he allegedly assaulted an 89-year-old female patient at the nursing home Friday, according to Washington County District Court records. Lamont Patrick Stafford, 38, was being held Monday in the Washington County Detention Center on $100,000 bond, a jail spokeswoman said. Stafford also is charged with second- and third-degree sex offense and second-degree assault, according to court records. Deputy Timothy L. Atwell of the Washington County Sheriff's Office wrote in the statement of probable cause that he responded to NMS Healthcare at 14014 Marsh Pike on Friday for a reported sex offense and talked to Barbara Ellen Sweeney, the facility's nursing director.

Virginia Poling's father was a pastor, several of her uncles were pastors, she married a pastor and two of her sons are pastors. "We go back a long way in the ministry. Her whole life was in the church. I'm her pastor now," said the Rev. Ed Poling, as he reflected on his mother's 100 years of life. Virginia Smith was born in Nevada, Mo., on Dec. 31, 1911. With her health hanging in the balance last year, Virginia's family wasn't sure she'd make it to the century mark. "We told her she'd live to be 100 because she was stubborn," said Ed Poling, who is the pastor at the Hagerstown Church of the Brethren.

Answers to some confusing health care questions might lie at local houses of worship. Parish nurses are now widely available to perform routine screenings and to help people sort out how they should respond to health problems in their lives. For more than 10 years, Wendy Zimmerman has served as coordinator of parish nursing through the Washington County Health System. Most of those parish nurses, Zimmerman said, are volunteers, many in teams at larger houses of worship.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- During his time on the stand Wednesday in Franklin County Court, Willie H. Brown testified that he never had been arrested in his life, a statement Public Defender Michael Toms offered him the chance to correct. "Yes, sir," Brown said when asked if it was accurate. "What about that arrest for criminal homicide in Florida?" asked Assistant District Attorney Lauren Sulcove on cross-examination. Brown, on trial for charges that he sexually molested several girls at his Hackberry Drive home in Chambersburg, denied he had been arrested and testified that the 1994 killing was "self-defense.

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. - The flood of births in the years after World War II, aka the baby boom, will become a flood of senior citizens in the years ahead, taxing a health-care system that already is short of medical professionals. Pennsylvania has one of the oldest populations in the United States - the median age of 39.3 years ranks fifth, according to StateMaster.com - and the older it gets, the more nursing care the population will require. The shortage of licensed practical nurses will be an estimated 4,000 in less than two years, said Annette Sanders, president of the Institute for Caregiver Education.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- The flood of births in the years after World War II, aka the baby boom, will become a flood of senior citizens in the years ahead, taxing a health-care system that already is short of medical professionals. Pennsylvania has one of the oldest populations in the United States -- the median age of 39.3 years ranks fifth, according to StateMaster.com -- and the older it gets, the more nursing care the population will require. The shortage of licensed practical nurses will be an estimated 4,000 in less than two years, said Annette Sanders, president of the Institute for Caregiver Education.