Lankenau

The normal calm inside the lobby of Lankenau Hospital erupted in violence yesterday as three men escaped with about $2,000 in cash, frightening dozens of patients and employees by firing a wild gunshot into the air. Workers at the Wynnewood hospital said they hit the floor after a man brandishing a small handgun jumped over the cashier counter in the main lobby about 12:50 p.m. Police said the man took almost $2,000 from a register, then fired...

JoJo the Clown entertained the kids, twisting balloons into hats, and placed them on the heads of children attending the adult party billed as "The Family and Friends Brunch," sponsored by The Service League of Lankenau Hospital. The fund-raising brunch, at which Josephine Pirollo of Drexel Hill played the clown, was attended by about 150 guests last Sunday at Aronimink Country Club in Newtown Square. Socializing before sitting down to a meal was Carol Whiteman of Wynnewood, president of the league, which raises money to support its programs at the hospital.

The downsizing of the consortium known as Main Line Health System continues, with the closing of Lankenau Hospital's 23-bed inpatient psychiatric unit, a decision that will affect about 60 employees, hospital officials announced yesterday. Once Lankenau's services stop May 1, all inpatient cases will be transferred to Bryn Mawr Hospital's 20-bed unit, said Richard Wells, public relations director for Lankenau. Although each unit employs 30 nurses and therapists, it has not been decided how many will be retained in the consolidated service.

Joseph Norman Hunter, a popular mail carrier for 37 years, died Sunday. He was 65 and lived most of his life in West Philadelphia. Hunter worked out of the Kingsessing post office for nearly his entire career, said his wife since 1958, the former Mabel Johnson. His route covered the Cobbs Creek area. A big talker who most loved chatting with everyone on his route, Hunter was nicknamed "The 'Bune," after the Philadelphia Tribune newspaper, "because he always knew what was going on," said his wife.

Lankenau Hospital has offered the Narberth Ambulance Corps a spot in its parking lot - a site its officials describe as "very temporary" - if the corps is evicted from its Haverford Avenue location. Narberth officials had given the emergency medical service until yesterday to vacate its headquarters in the center of the borough. The day came and went, and the ambulances and crew were still in their headquarters - a trailer in the borough hall parking lot. "We did talk to the corps Friday afternoon and said if they were evicted, we had parking space they could use for their vehicles," said Richard Wells, the hospital's public relations director.

Blanche Day, 83, former public relations director at Lankenau Hospital, journalist and national doubles squash champion, died Wednesday at her home in Roxborough. Ms. Day directed public relations at Lankenau for 15 years. She retired in 1978. She was winner of the 1951 Philadelphia "B" squash championship and the national Senior Doubles championship. In 1953, she was a member of the U.S. Wolfe-Noel Team, competing against the leading women squash players in England. She later was awarded the first Outstanding Service Award by the Philadelphia Women's Squash Association.

There has been some unsettling talk about a health-care crisis on the Main Line, with speculation that Bryn Mawr Hospital will shut down and that pregnant women will be turned away at Lankenau Hospital because the hospital is cutting its obstetrics services. None of it is true, Bryn Mawr and Lankenau officials say. They insist that the institutions are healthier than ever, that recent staff reductions were made to increase efficiency, and that the reductions - coupled with better technology - have enabled patients to save about 15 percent on their hospital stays this year.

It took Virginia Ewing less than an hour to explain the birth process to a group of seventh graders. But she had help. Using three-dimensional models of fetal development on lighted, movable panels, Ewing described what happens during each month of pregnancy. "The models helped the students see more clearly what they already talked about in their classroom," Ewing said. "This is different than using a textbook; it's almost a live demonstration. " The seventh graders from Our Lady of Lourdes School at 63d Street and Lancaster Avenue in Philadelphia were among the first students to visit the Lankenau Hospital Health Education Center, one of 10 hospital-based centers in the United States.

For more than 30 years, Bob Lang's parents have taken care of their medical insurance and the resulting paperwork. Now, with his father in the hospital, Lang said, the documents have fallen to him - mounds of them. "I didn't know where to turn," Lang said. "It's difficult enough when you're dealing with emotions when a parent is hospitalized. Then all the paperwork hits you. I've been pulling my hair out. " Lang is not alone in the blizzard of bills and statements from insurance companies.

A wrecking ball is to begin swinging today to demolish Lankenau Hospital's former nursing school residence, a six-story Georgian Revival building that preservationists had tried to persuade Lankenau officials to convert for retirement living. "It's another major loss," said Robert DeSilets, comparing it to the demolition of Ardmore Junior High School in 1992. DeSilets is chairman of the Lower Merion Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB). Geppert Bros. Inc. of Colmar is scheduled to begin the six-week job of demolishing the brick building this morning, said Lankenau spokesman Richard Wells.