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Prince George's County
University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center Opens This Week in Prince George’s County
William J. Ford WI Staff Writer
Samantha Augustus delivered all three of her children at Medstar Washington Hospital Center in Northwest.
The licensed cosmetologist of Fort Washington said other mothers she knows who delivered their babies at Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly, Maryland, “had negative experiences.”
But the new $500 million University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center in Largo scheduled to open Saturday, June 12 seeks to change a patient’s experience.
“If [expectant mothers] are seeing a lot of people going there to deliver their babies, more people will come,” Augustus said. “The new hospital will have a trauma center, so people won’t have to go to Johns Hopkins [in Baltimore] for treatment. The new hospital will be a good aspect to the community.”
The 11-story hospital, located in what former County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, labeled as “downtown Largo” near the Largo Town Center Metro station, features brighter lights, an emergency wing for pediatric, trauma and behavioral services and 45 emergency treatment bays.
All employees and nearly 200 patients at Prince George’s Hospital
5 A view looking down on the lobby from the second floor inside the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center in Largo. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer) 5 Dr. Joseph Wright, chief medical officer, stands inside one of the eight operating rooms at University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center in Largo. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer)
5 The University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center in Largo scheduled to open June 12. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer)
Center will relocate to the medical center the same day it opens. The 70-year-old hospital in Cheverly will close.
“The old facility has outlived its life,” said Chief Medical Officer Joseph Wright. “It brings with it an upgrade of technology…to practice 21st Century medicine and it brings us …just a total upgrade of what is needed in this county.”
Hospital and county officials have proclaimed the hospital will improve health care in Prince George’s.
A report released in the fall by the Rand Corp. of Arlington, Va., cited healthcare challenges in Prince George’s including lack of primary care physicians, limited mental health providers and the rate of emergency room visits for Black and Latino children with asthma more than quadrupled that of white children.
There’s an anticipation of health care professionals flocking to Prince George’s with the medical center being part of the University of Maryland Medical System and its 12 other hospitals. It will also serve as a teaching hospital equipped with 205 patient rooms, eight stateof-the-art operating rooms and two helipads on the roof with one to accommodate the size of the Marine One helicopter.
Another main difference from the current hospital versus the medical center stems from emergency services with children and maternity care, especially with Prince George’s residents traveling to other locations such as Children’s Hospital in northwest D.C. and Anne Arundel Medical Center in Anne Arundel County.
The medical center’s third floor will be specifically for women and infants with nine labor and delivery rooms with a water birthing room, a special-care nursery with 16 beds and a healing garden visible from the rooms.
In addition, each room offers a couch that pulls out to a bed for fathers and significant others.
Besides the state-of-the-art technology, the medical center also plans to protect the environment.
Nathaniel Richardson, president and CEO of the University of Maryland Capital Region Health, said the building can transfer steam into energy and enhanced technology to inform visitors, patients and employees trash placed in the wrong receptacle, you will be told “it’s not supposed to be in there.”
“When you think about the technology we’re going to have here, the efficiencies that we will be able to achieve and really being able to have the community be a part as we continue to develop ourselves in Prince George’s County,” he said. “It has been a very long time coming.”
WI
Twitter: @jabariwill
Food Remains Major Need in Prince George’s
William J. Ford WI Staff Writer
With nearly half of those ages 12 and older who reside or work in Prince George’s County receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a few clinics closed as the supply has increased over the demand.
However, weekly food giveaways continue for residents such as Patrick Robinson and his wife, Maria de Houx Robinson of Hyattsville. The couple joined dozens of other motorists lined up in vehicles snaking around the corner to receive boxes and bags of food outside Ebenezer Church of God.
Both got laid off last year from their jobs in Montgomery County – Robinson worked 45 years at Chevy Chase Country Club and de Houx Robinson 19 years assisting some senior citizens who reside at Leisure World of Maryland in Silver Spring.
“We’re here to get food. We need it,” Robinson said. “Black people are paying the price right now, but God is stepping up.”
The church served as one of three locations Saturday, June 5 as part of County Executive Angela Alsobrooks’ “Stand Up & Deliver” food distribution initiative. Some of the food included bread, fruit, vegetables and eggs.
Ebenezer Church distributed 600 boxes of food. It also received a donation of fruit, salad and other items Saturday from Celestial Manna of Montgomery County.
Since the pandemic affected the county last year, the Church distributed food for more than 25,000 families and counting.
“A lot of times the lines go back into the community over a mile long,” said the Rev. Christopher Benjamin, associate pastor at Ebenezer. “People come from near and far. There is a need.”
According to the Capital Area Food Bank, which provides and assesses food programs throughout the D.C. region, the coronavirus pandemic increased hunger by 50 percent and an estimated 211,000 children became deprived of consistent nutritious meals.
The organization’s “Hunger Report 2020” notes Prince George’s with 104,780 people “who are food insecure,” or lack resources to provide affordable and healthy food options.
The majority Black jurisdictions ranked in the report among Montgomery County in Maryland, the District of Columbia and the city of Alexandria and Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William counties in Virginia.
To address the demand for healthy food and lack of it in certain areas of Prince George’s, the County Council voted last year to create a Food Security Task Force.
The council set a deadline of June 30 for the 21-member group to present council with a report of recommendations, but the group agreed it needed more time that includes distribution of a community survey.
To outline some of the proposals, the task force separated into three groups – individual, Family and Community; Food Assistance Provider Capacity and Coordination; Government Agency and Systems Response.
The task force met Friday, June 4 and reviewed a recent session of a fourth group, Food Systems, Policy and Planning.
Some of the recommendations at https://bit.ly/3z5SUQf include:
Provide small grants for activities related to social cohesion and food security.
Make food insecurity a line item in the county budget.
Identify and designate critical food facilities in each neighborhood for prioritized access and recovery support.
One visible item residents are expected to see this summer will be a grocery food truck.
Council approved a resolution last week for a vendor to sell items such as dry goods, fresh fruits and vegetables and dairy products in locations with limited access to grocery stores.
“It will bring so much need and access to healthy food in the county,” said Roberto Melara, a member of the task force who represents the Capital Area Food Bank, which helped create the legislation.
Some county residents and officials envision the long food lines to continue throughout the year, especially with Gov. Larry Hogan’s decision to end enhanced unemployment benefits by July 3. The benefits included an additional $300 per week in payments.
“I want to ask Gov. Hogan if he was in my shoes, would he ask for the cutoff?” de Houx Robinson said. “We pay more than $300 in taxes. God has got me, though.” WI
Twitter: @jabariwill
PGCPS
BRIEFS
Compiled by Dorothy Rowley WI Staff Writer
Congratulations to DuVal High School reading teacher Adrian Leak, who has been named 2021 PGCPS “Teacher of the Year.”
Leak, who teaches 10th graders, was selected from a pool of more 60 of her colleagues for her talent in the classroom, commitment to ensuring all students succeed and support-
5 A volunteer prepares to place a box of food inside a vehicle June 5 during a food giveaway outside Ebenezer Church of God in Hyattsville. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer)
ARETHAing fellow teachers through ongoing professional development opportuthree draft plans and maps depicting potential future boundaries, explores nities. She has been teaching in the school capacity and utilization; disPGCPS system since 2011. tance traveled to school; and facili-
“This past year has been excep- ty condition, in addition to recent tionally challenging for teachers. boundary changes and possible imThey had to adjust quickly to virtual pact on specialty programs and serlearning, then shift again to hybrid vices. learning,” Monica Goldson, schools “We do not take lightly the poCEO said in a statement. “Through tential impact of a change in school her exceptional work and dedication, boundaries on our students and Ms. Leak has demonstrated that it is families,” Monica Goldson, schools possible to continue to provide stu- CEO said in a statement. “[Howevdents with outstanding instruction er], many schools are over capacity, in a virtual environment.” while others are under capacity or
Leak will go on to compete state- need revitalization. Given the exwide for “Maryland Teacher of the pected increase in utilization and Year” coordinated by the Maryland growth challenges, adjusting school State Department of Education. boundaries now will help to provide all students with the educational exINTERIM SCHOOL periences they deserve.” BOUNDARY REPORT PGCPS recently published an interim report for the system’s ComFor more information, visit the Boundary Initiative website at www. pgcps.org/boundary. high schools. Families may also prehensive School Boundary Initiative, which presents findings from FREE VACCINATIONS receive the vaccine. All clinics will run from 1:30 - 5:30 p.m. the first phase of data analysis and Through June 15, students 12 For more information visit pgcommunity engagement. years of age and older can receive a cps.org/coronavirus/pgcps-vacci-
The report, which also includes free COVID-19 vaccine at select nation plan. WI
5 Schools CEO Monica Goldson said in a recent statement that many schools are over capacity, while others are under capacity or need revitalization. (Photo courtesy PGCPS)
