Nurse

The cost of caring for dementia patients has reached $109 billion annually, exceeding that for heart disease and cancer, and will double by the time the youngest baby boomers reach their 70s, according to a study. Dementia is characterized by a group of symptoms that prevent people from carrying out the tasks of daily living. Reduced mental function makes it impossible for them to do things like keep track of medications or finances. In more severe cases, patients lose the ability to handle basic tasks like bathing and dressing.

KELLY CLARK looked forward to the Saturday "Irish Hour" on the radio, drifting into a pleasant reverie and occasionally shedding tears at one of those songs only the Irish can make so poignant. "You would never see her happier," said her son Stephen M. Clark. "She was a typical Irish girl. " On March 16, her 73rd birthday, she got a pleasant surprise. The "Irish Hour" DJ on Chester's WVCH, Mike Concannon, announced her birthday and wished her well. "She was the most beautiful person who ever walked the earth," said Stephen.

Lorraine Appiott, 83, a psychiatric nurse and advocate for her patients who wrote critically about her experiences in the mental-health system, died Sunday, March 17, of lung cancer in the hospice unit at Holy Redeemer Hospital. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Mrs. Appiott graduated from Frankford Girls High School in 1948. She studied piano and played as a concert pianist, earning a scholarship that enabled her to study nursing. She graduated from Frankford Hospital School of Nursing in 1951.

Independence Blue Cross is hiring 100 nurses as health coaches this year, to intensify attention on members with certain chronic conditions, Richard Snyder, the health insurer's chief medical officer, said. The health coaches will be the "go-to" people at IBC for members in the program, Snyder said in a panel discussion Thursday at a meeting of the Philadelphia Health IT Circle. "This consistency ensures patient-centered coaching that is individualized and coordinated," Snyder said.

Mildred Dalton Manning, 98, an Army nurse who was held captive for almost three years in the Philippines and who was the last known female military prisoner of war from World War II, died March 8 at a hospital in Hopewell, N.J. She was being treated for pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, her son, James Manning, said. Mrs. Manning, then known as Millie Dalton, joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1939 in her native Georgia. She asked for a transfer to the Philippines because she wanted to see more of the world.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - No criminal charges will be filed after a care worker's attention-grabbing refusal to perform CPR on a resident of a Central California independent-living facility, police said. The Bakersfield Police Department said Wednesday that it had closed its investigation into the death of Lorainne Bayless, 87, who died Feb. 26 at Glenwood Gardens while a nurse there refused a 911 dispatcher's pleas to administer CPR, and ignored repeated requests to find someone else who would be willing.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Relatives of an 87-year-old woman who died after a nurse at her retirement home refused a 911 dispatcher's pleas to perform CPR expressed satisfaction with the care she received, saying her wishes were to die naturally. Meanwhile, the company that owns the facility now says its worker failed to follow proper procedures. Lorraine Bayless' death last week at Glendale Gardens, a Bakersfield independent living facility, prompted outrage after a seven-minute recording of the 911 call was released.

Vivian Middleman, 84, of Haverford, a retired professor and assistant dean at Widener University who as a young nurse rode on horseback to treat patients in rural Kentucky, died Sunday, Feb. 24, of pneumonia at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Mrs. Middleman devoted her life to nursing. One of her first jobs was with the Frontier Nursing Service, which provided nurses to remote areas. "She went down to Hyden, Ky., in the early 1950s," said her brother, Richard Hastings. "She worked as a nurse missionary.

SINCE I started this column nearly two months ago, many of you have reached out to tell me about people I must meet. I'm keeping a list, and plan to write about some of them. In the wake of Gov. Corbett's spending plan - which doesn't look like it's going improve life much for everyday Pennsylvanians - I thought I'd start with someone who helps those most in need: Eudora Burton. On paper, Burton is a housing specialist for an organization that connects first-time moms with nurses who come to their homes.