8/Maryland Manual

LIBRARIES, 1989

Twenty-four public library systems include 195
public libraries and 29 bookmobiles, with total
collections of 12.5 million items. School library
media centers are located in 1,502 elementary, mid-
dle and secondary schools, with total collections of
nearly 16.4 million items. Sixty-three college and
university libraries have collections numbering 12.4
million items.

The Maryland State Library Network serves over
400 libraries throughout the State, primarily
through interlibrary loan of materials and informa-
tion. The Network is composed of the State Library
Resource Center (Enoch Pratt Free Library, Central
Building in Baltimore City); three Regional Library
Resource Centers (Eastern Shore, Southern
Maryland, Western Maryland); four academic
libraries that lend specialized materials and informa-
tion; and more than 125 libraries that fill inter-
library loan requests from their collections.
Libraries and their users locate needed items
through the statewide union catalog,
MICROCAT/ULPM, which describes holdings of
100 libraries on microfiche and in electronic formats.

Maryland residents are eligible to register with and
borrow materials from any public library in the
State. Information and materials found through the
Network may be transferred electronically, sent by
delivery truck, or mailed to the local library, at no
charge to the user.

MEDICAL CARE, 1990

Personnel licensed to practice in the State: 40,581
physicians; 41,683 registered nurses; 9,351 practi-
cal nurses; 3,728 dentists; 1,854 dental hygienists;
1,083 dietitians; and 898 professional counselors.
Licensed facilities: 87 hospitals; 5 emergency
(shock trauma) centers; 225 nursing homes (com-
prehensive care); 32 alcoholic intermediate care
facilities; 72 domiciliary care homes; 10 residential
treatment centers for emotionally disturbed youth;
8 mental retardation centers; 26 adult day care
centers; 1,559 developmental disabilities com-
munity program facilities; 254 outpatient drug and
alcohol abuse centers; 242 rehabilitation facilities;
152 mental health outpatient community
programs; 110 home health agencies; 85 medical
test units; 50 end-stage renal dialysis units; 47
ambulatory surgical centers; 23 health maintenance
organizations; 18 hospice programs; 5 portable
X-ray machines; 2 therapeutic adolescent group
homes; and one unafliliated birthing center.

Maryland medical institutions have long been
recognized as vital contributors to medical research
and discovery since the College of Medicine (now
part of the University of Maryland System) was
chartered in 1807 and pioneered in preventive
medicine. As early as 1853, a researcher at that

institution advanced the diagnosis of cancer by
identifying malignant cells with a microscope. The
Johns Hopkins Hospital, founded in 1889, has
revolutionized medical education. Physicians there
opened the first school of public health; stand-
ardized surgical techniques for specific procedures;
initiated the use of rubber gloves and nerve-block-
ing anesthesia; discovered vitamins A, B, and D;
and, more recently, catalogued genetic traits.
University Hospital in Baltimore opened the
nations's first shock trauma unit in 1961. The Shock
Trauma Center has developed lifesaving methods of
trauma management; it remains in the forefront as
the hub of the State's emergency medical services
system, admitting over 3,000 critically injured or ill
patients per year.

The National Instirutes of Health in Bethesda carry
on this innovative research tradition, as does the
National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Tumor
Cell Biology in Bethesda where trailblazing AIDS
research is underway

Maryland also is the site of the world's first institu-
tion of dental education, the Baltimore College of
Dental Surgery, which opened in Baltimore in
1840. The College is now the School of Dentistry
at the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

The Maryland Medical Care Programs enable per-
sons below certain income levels to receive medical-
ly necessary services through enrollment in the
Medical Assistance, Pharmacy Assistance, and
Prenatal Assistance programs, which reimburse par-
ticipating health care professionals and facilities. In
1988, the Medical Assistance Program (Medicaid),
funded jointly by the State and federal govern-
ments, averaged monthly enrollments of 340,000
persons, or 7.5% of the State's population. The
State-funded Pharmacy Assistance Program
averaged monthly enrollments of 16,659 persons
who were not eligible for Medicaid and could not
afford prescriptions and other pharmaceuticals.
Through the State-funded Prenatal Assistance Pro-
gram, 1,250 low-income pregnant women under
21 years of age received prenatal medical care.

Local health departments administer and enforce
State and local health laws and regulations in each
county and Baltimore City. They also offer basic
public health services to citizens on a sliding fee
scale based on ability to pay, in facilities provided by
the local jurisdiction. Services emphasize preventive
care tailored to a community's needs and may in-
clude maternity care and family planning; im-
munizations and child health; AIDS testing,
education, and counseling; mental health support;
drug and alcohol abuse counseling; home health
care; geriatric programs; monitoring for environ-
mental health hazards; rabies and communicable
disease programs; health education; and migrant
and refugee health services.