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Local magicians team up to help the disabled
LATEST ON THIS STORYRelated Topics: Harford County
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Harford County (Map, News) - Local magicians David Breth and Lindy Scarborough are bringing magic to disabled patients in area hospitals through Project Magic, a program developed by celebrity magician David Copperfield.
They performed at Edgewood Assembly of God in Harford County on Saturday.
Project Magic, a program developed by Copperfield in 1982, was founded in an effort to “strengthen dexterity and motor skills in disabled patients,” according to Copperfield’s Web site, www.davidcopperfield.com.
The program is accredited by the American Occupational Therapy Association and is used in thousands of hospitals worldwide.
Breth opened the Maryland chapter of Project Magic about 10 years ago, around the same time he became a professional full-time magician.
“It’s not about teaching [patients] a trick; it’s about teaching them the dexterity behind the trick,” Breth, 34, said.
Patients who lack in motor skills improve, while patients who suffer from mental illness are given something to focus on.
Breth said tricks like the “jumping rubber band,” in which patients magically manipulate a rubber band on their index and middle fingers, occupy patients with something other than their illness.
Having already brought Project Magic to Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, Breth and Scarborough are in the process of reaching out to other hospitals in the area, including Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital and Upper Chesapeake Health in Harford.
Kim Lovett, spokeswoman for Upper Chesapeake, said Project Magic “might be a good fit” among Upper Chesapeake’s complimentary therapies program.
“[We appreciate] anything that can make the patient feel more comfortable,” Lovett said.
Upper Chesapeake’s current complimentary therapies include programs such “The Healing Clown,” massage therapy and “The Nurturing Touch,” which is a form of massage therapy, pet visitation and spiritual therapy.
mplum@baltimoreexaminer.com
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Examiner Reader said:
i can relate this article in our hospital her in the philippines. especially in the main e.r. patient came in and out inh the e.r and i observe some of the staff are not attending the patients; and the e.r doctors are not in the duty or they are not in the e.r room. also i noticed that our e.r is lack of instrumnet being used to the patient. may the problem is in our goverment not in the hospital... thanks for the insight author.
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""Several members of the board, left, right and center, think this has been poorly thought out,” Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin told The Examiner. “Fisherman’s Wharf is the goose that lays the golden egg for San Francisco. We don’t want to commit economic suicide.”" What an absolute crock... completely political on the part of this Supervisor and any other of them. Neighborhood groups continually contact their District Superviors about impact of street fairs and large events in and close to residential areas for years and we are told we are just "killing" the spirit of fun in The City. Well now is a chance to have fun when it doesn't impact neighborhoods. Just the same old political BS from Supervisors who continually enjoy conflict.
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Examiner Reader said:
Sometimes Mayor Newsom can be so clueless. Real life can be considerably different outside "Newsom-land" in the Mayor's head.
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Examiner Reader said:
In March, Izzy's got a 42 and spent quite a bit of money to follow code and improve. 3 months later they recieve negative press while pending inspection. Latest score--94. How about positive press instead of slamming local hard working firms.
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Examiner Reader said:
My 9-year-old son had open heart surgery and was on the heart/lung machine during his surgery,after which he experienced anxiety and depression and had thoughts of suicide. He took his own life at 17 years old. I wish I had known this risk of the heart surgery and specifically the risk of being on the heart/lung machine.
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Examiner Reader Hater said:
Did you even read the article?
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I think its incredibly important to know exactly what goes into our food so we can make an educated guess in deciding what goes into our bodies is the best thing for us in order to take better care of ourselves. Had we been informed of the risk of adding sugary and fattening fried food into our diet, we would have never allow these filthy thing to touch our lips. Fried and sugary food should have been expensive, and NOT healthy, nutritious food for our consumption. Also once these bad, nutritionally poor food is consumed, it is unusually addictive and bad habits can be hard to break.
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