News

Maryland’s hospitals are often one of the first places human trafficking victims can turn to for help, and the hospitals are adopting new guidelines this month to help them identify and care for these patients. New guidelines were developed by the Maryland Hospital Association, Maryland’s Human Trafficking Task Force and other stakeholders. “There are a variety of screenings that our front-line staff are doing,” said Nicole Stallings, senior vice president for government affairs and policy at the Maryland Hospital Association. “It’s all about understanding the unique circumstances that your patient may be in,” and then being able to do something about it.

The Maryland Model is highlighted in a Vox series looking at successful international health systems. It includes comments and background from John B. Chessare, M.D., president and CEO of Greater Baltimore Medical Center; Barry Ronan, the president and chief executive of Western Maryland Health System; and Bob Atlas, president and CEO of MHA. “What this is doing is incentivizing hospitals to do the right thing,” Atlas said of the Model.

In this Maryland Matters piece, our President & CEO Bob Atlas says, “What I learned through seeing firsthand how health care functions in more than 40 states and federally, is that Maryland’s hospitals are doing it right. They are providing health, hope and healing to our more than 6 million residents.” Caring4md.org #Caring4Md

MedStar Harbor Hospital announced Thursday that it has received a $500,000 grant to go toward connecting bicycle and pedestrian paths from Anne Arundel County into Baltimore city. In a news release, MedStar wrote that the $500,000 Maryland Anchor SEED funding grant “will provide 30 percent of the engineering design” to develop and connect a 3-mile bicycle and pedestrian path spanning from the BWI Trail in Anne Arundel County to the Gwynns Falls Trail in Baltimore.

One Baltimore County family has a lot to be thankful for, especially since their 7-year-old son, Declan, has just celebrated another Christmas. Dr. Alan Cohen is the Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Cohen helped save Declan’s life. When Declan was only four, his parents thought he was too short, so they took him for a checkup.

Everything in the renovated behavioral health unit at Frederick Health Hospital was meticulously thought out. The sink faucet is rounded and when turned on, by pressing a button, water flows from it in an arcing manner. Same with the shower head. The doors pull off; there is no way to barricade them. The doorknobs barely hold weight.

We all know about the incredible work the Helping Up Mission does for men fighting addiction, poverty and homelessness in Baltimore, but it wanted to do more to help its residents. They went to GBMC and on Friday, the healthcare system opened a new primary care practice at their location in the Jonestown Neighborhood.

Victoria W. Bayless is the president and chief executive officer of Anne Arundel Medical Center. She joined AAMC as vice president of Clinical and Support Services in December 2005. She was promoted to chief operating officer in 2006. In September 2009, Tori was named president and chief operating officer and was promoted to CEO in 2011.

Dr. Stacy Fisher, a cardiologist with the University of Maryland Medical System, had a patient with an aortic abnormality. He was not getting enough blood flow through one of the vessels that feed the brain. Because of the narrowing, Fisher recommended surgery to move the vessel where it could get better blood flow. The patient, who was in his 40s, was having mini-stroke episodes before his appointments. Though she had shown him his cardiac and neck MRIs, he remained extremely reluctant to have surgery.

In 2016, Miller became the first woman to lead Johns Hopkins Hospital, a $2.5 billion academic medical center with over 11,000 employees. Among her first tasks: building a new leadership team for the hospital including finding a new chief operating officer, chief financial officer, chief nursing officer, chief medical officer, and vice president of Human Resources.