Nursing Home

Vets want nursing home on redeveloped base Washington County veterans officials on Monday expressed displeasure that the Pen Mar Development Corp. hasn't included a veterans home in plans for the redevelopment of Fort Ritchie. "We think it's very disappointing, and downright unpatriotic that they are not including us in their plans," said Pete Callas, a former state delegate. The Joint Veterans Council of Washington County wants the development corporation to set aside about 10 acres and three dormitory buildings for a nursing home for elderly veterans.

ANNAPOLIS - During an impromptu visit to her mother's nursing home last fall, Del. Sue Hecht was horrified to hear a nursing assistant yelling at her 88-year-old mother, who was in tears. cont. from front page "I had never seen my mother cry," said Hecht, D-Frederick/Washington. That and disturbing stories she has heard about abuse and neglect in nursing homes has prompted Hecht to file legislation in the Maryland General Assembly. Hecht wants to allow nursing home residents to have videocameras in their rooms.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A decision by the Franklin County Board of Assessment and Revision of Taxes to revoke the tax-exempt status of Menno Haven's nursing home has been upheld in a ruling by Franklin County President Judge John R. Walker. The skilled nursing facility at Menno Haven has been exempt from county, Chambersburg and Chambersburg Area School District property taxes since it was established in 1967, according to the ruling. The exemption was revoked by the assessment board following an Oct. 18, 2004, hearing.

County to form panel on vets' nursing home The Washington County Commissioners said Tuesday that they want to form a committee to search for a site for a veterans home. Commissioner Ronald L. Bowers made a motion that the commissioners write to the Maryland Veterans Home Commission seeking its support for a Western Maryland veterans home in Washington County. Bowers said that the county and local veterans should work with the commission to find out what the requirements would be for a new home.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - In the lobby of the Falling Spring Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, residents and their visitors lounge in couches and arm chairs admiring the fireplace. The soft pinks and blues of the furniture and the polished hardwood floor doesn't seem like the typical entrance to a sterile nursing environment. But the welcoming lobby is one of several changes incorporated into a $350,000 renovation of the county-owned facility on Franklin Farm Lane completed last month.

Nursing home fills with smoke from dryer fire By DAVE McMILLION / Staff Writer, Charles Town More than 50 people were evacuated from IHS Nursing Home Sunday night after the building filled with smoke from a fire in a clothes dryer, said fire officials. Cheryl Carnes, administrator of the nursing home, said about 51 residents of the nursing home were taken to the cafeteria at Charles Town Junior High School, which is behind the nursing home along W.Va. 9 east.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A Baltimore County woman is accused of taking nearly $14,000 from a resident of a nursing home in Martinsburg while she was employed there, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court records. Cathlynn Angela Zimmerman of Parkville, Md., was in Eastern Regional Jail on a $240,000 bond Tuesday evening. Magistrate Harry L. Snow arraigned Zimmerman on 12 counts of forgery and 12 counts of uttering, records show. Berkeley County Sheriff's Deputy Adam Boothby alleged in a complaint that Zimmerman, 37, took advantage of a resident at Heartland of Martinsburg by using the woman's checkbook for personal financial purposes.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - When she was a girl, Christmas was not a merry time of year, but Shirley Fahnestock has not let the ghosts of Christmases past keep her from brightening the holidays for the residents of Falling Spring Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. "It wasn't a loving home at all. It's a shame our childhood was wiped out," Fahnestock, 67, said on a recent Tuesday as she dropped off decorations, cards and gifts for residents of the nursing home.

By BRYN MICKLE / Staff Writer, Martinsburg photo: MARLA BROSE / staff photographer MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Residents of a Martinsburg nursing home spent about 45 minutes outside in the scorching heat Monday afternoon when a propane fire forced the evacuation of Care Haven of Berkeley on W.Va. 9. [cont. from front page ] Ambulances took some of the 68 residents to nearby hospitals as a precautionary measure but no one was injured in the incident, Baker Heights Fire Co. Assistant Chief Mike Hough said.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A Chambersburg nursing home operator Wednesday filed suit against the Chambersburg Area School District and Borough of Chambersburg, claiming each violated Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act during August meetings. In the suit filed in Franklin County Court, Menno Haven Inc. contended the school district violated the law at a special meeting on Aug. 18 in which the board resolved to "initiate action against Menno Haven before the Franklin County Board of Assessment and Revision of Taxes to seek to change the taxable status of Menno Haven's skilled nursing facilities from exempt to taxable.