For the second year in a row, Team Sadie has committed to raise funds for the Johns Hopkins Hospital Children's Center at the Oct. 11 Baltimore Running Festival. The 100 currently registered runners will participate in this year's 5K, Half Marathon, Marathon and Relay races, with the goal of raising dollars through the support of family, friends and local businesses. Several additional Team Sadie runners will participate in various races across the country in order to meet the same goal.

One hundred percent of the funds raised will go directly to the Johns Hopkins Children's Center project via Sadie's Gift, a charity established by Ellicott City residents Jason and Amy Abell. Last year, Sadie's Gift met and exceeded its initial annual fundraising goal of $100,000 by bringing the total to $130,000. The original funds went to sponsor a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) family consultation room named in memory of their daughter, Sadie Elizabeth Abell.

Sadie was born on Dec. 17, 2006 at Howard County General Hospital. Within a few hours, it was determined that she had Group B streptococcal septicemia, a serious bacterial infection that is a leading cause of infant fatality in the United States. Sadie was immediately transferred to the Johns Hopkins Children's Center pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

The Sadie Elizabeth Abell endowment will exist in perpetuity to fund on-going research and training for Johns Hopkins Hospital students and staff, who worked tirelessly to save Sadie's life. The attending physicians consistently made themselves available to talk with Sadie's family, answer all their questions, and simply provide comfort when nothing else would do. After three days, Sadie died on Dec. 19.

This year's goal of $100,000 will be used to support the Johns Hopkins Medicine Simulation Center's mission of teaching students and trainees better diagnostic and communication skills by utilizing simulation mannequins that breathe, have a pulse, and are very similar to "real-life" patients. Participants can learn and practice procedures "on plastic" before performing procedures on patients, ideally enhancing both the educational experience and patient safety.

For more information on Sadie's Gift, the Johns Hopkins Pediatric ICU, or to get involved with Team Sadie and The Baltimore Running Festival, please contact Amy or Jason Abell at (410) 480-2591 or go to www.sadiesgift.org.

Program on academic achievement to be held

HC DrugFree, a nonprofit organization that seeks to empower the Howard County community to raise drug-free teens, will hold a free program about academic achievement.

The program, on Oct. 16, is "Whose Homework Is It Anyway? Promoting Academic Self-Reliance During the Teen Years." Dr. Brad Sachs, author of "The Good Enough Child" and "The Good Enough Teen," will discuss teen responsibility, independence and academic achievement. The workshop is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Long Reach High School, 6101 Old Dobbin Lane, Columbia. It is open to parents only and is aimed at helping parents understand hidden reasons why teens struggle with class and homework. Sachs will offer strategies to decrease family tension and increase teen self-reliance in middle school, high school and beyond.

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