Lankenau

Vincent J. Cristofalo's office is on a side corridor at Lankenau Hospital, mostly out of view, like the Lankenau Medical Research Center he now heads. "It's the best-kept secret in the Delaware Valley," Cristofalo said of the center. He aims to change that. An internationally known researcher in the field of aging, Cristofalo wants the center to make a more visible mark. "I think we have the raw material to do it," he said. Cristofalo, 66, of Lower Merion, became the center's president in December after leaving his research, academic and administrative posts within the Allegheny Health System, whose southeastern Pennsylvania operations filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998.

Sarah J. Blake, domestic-abuse social worker for Main Line Health, has been on the job since spring. The number of identified abuse victims already has started climbing, she said. "Before we had a program, we were seeing almost nothing," said Blake, who serves clients at Lankenau, Bryn Mawr and Paoli Memorial Hospitals. That is because domestic abuse hides in the shadows, an easy secret to overlook. Victims may be so accustomed to abuse, she said, that they do not recognize it themselves.

Main Line Health's plan to reconfigure its Bryn Mawr Hospital campus has hit a snag with the rejection of its request to demolish the century-old Gerhard Building. The gray stone structure, with its gabled roof and arched entry, was designed by the firm of Victorian architect Frank Furness, whose work preservationists are trying to save throughout Lower Merion. "We have sent a letter out denying the application because that is part of a larger plan that would require land-development approval," Robert Duncan, Lower Merion Township's building department director, said yesterday.

Salvatore the Balloon Man had just started twisting one of the tools of his trade into a giraffe when - pop! - it broke and startled 4-year-old Emma Starr. "That's OK," said Sal, a.k.a. Salvatore Giammona, who hails from Medford, Burlington County. "The worst thing that happens when a balloon breaks is you get air all over you. " Satisfied, Emma ran off into the crowd of children and parents who were gathered in the cafeteria at Lankenau Hospital for the annual Neonatal Intensive Care Unit reunion yesterday.

The driver of a chemical truck yesterday noticed smoke coming from the rig's trailer around 2 p.m. and pulled into the driveway of Lankenau Hospital on Lancaster Avenue. Emergency units planned to shoot foam into the trailer but air rushed in and ignited the materials. The fire was allowed to burn itself out.

Main Line Health plans to invest $30 million to construct and equip a new outpatient-surgery center and cardiac-catheterization suite, to open in Lankenau Hospital in 1999. The plan was announced yesterday after a vote of approval Thursday by the hospital network's board of trustees. Main Line Health includes Lankenau, Bryn Mawr and Paoli Memorial Hospitals and is part of the Jefferson Health System. The new cardiac facility will have five catheterization labs for procedures such as balloon angioplasty, in which a tiny balloon is inserted into the heart artery, said Richard Wells, spokesman for Main Line Health.

For more than a decade, John DeMaio and his partners cared for fragile infants admitted to the newborn intensive care unit at Lankenau Hospital. For their work, they won praise from parents and colleagues. "This was a labor of love for me," said the 40-year-old doctor, who was the chief of the unit. "I loved that institution and all of its people. " During his Lankenau career, the hospital went through two mergers, most recently in 1995, when it became part of the sprawling, billion-dollar Jefferson Health System.

Pet owners for years have been coming to "Lankenau Park," as they have dubbed the undeveloped private property behind Lankenau Hospital, to let their dogs romp and to socialize. But the dogs' days here are about to end. No-trespassing signs are to be posted this week in the 40-acre area behind a Lankenau parking garage. They will be followed shortly by a 1,000-foot stretch of fence blocking access from Penn Wynne Park, said hospital spokesman Richard Wells. Lankenau officials decided to close off the property after some Penn Wynne neighbors complained.

The hospital gift shop is going corporate. For many stores, the only way to survive has been to turn over their operations to retail chains. The gift-shop business simply had become too demanding and complex for many hospitals to manage. Deficits have plagued some. Others were too small to negotiate favorable discounts with vendors. And many could not meet customer demands for longer hours. The shops had become relics of a simpler time before medicine took on the mantle of big business, and when volunteers or hospital workers, rather than retail experts, could oversee the operations.

After running into a buzz saw of opposition from doctors and some patients, Lankenau Hospital has backed off from plans to turn itself into a specialty heart hospital by shedding such traditional services as delivering babies and replacing hips. At least for now. Under the original plan, announced in September, most of Lankenau's other services, except its emergency room, would have been shifted four miles down the road to its sister hospital, Bryn Mawr. In exchange, Bryn Mawr agreed to steer patients requiring cardiac care to Lankenau in Wynnewood.