On Sunday and Monday, over 100 Cooper employees and local volunteers will be trading in their work uniforms for aprons and chef hats as they prepare for our annual Clare’s Cupboard bake sale.

Since its creation two years ago, Clare’s Cupboard has raised more than $50,000 dollars used towards the purchase of basic baby supplies for struggling new mothers and infants in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Cooper cares for over 450 NICU patients a year and we have already helped nearly 100 families leave our hospital with new baby clothes, bottles, wipes, toys, diapers and other essentials.

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Cooper University Hospital is proud to announce the 2010 Nurse of the Year, Patricia Pearlman, R.N., R.N.C., staff nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

This prestigious, peer-nominated award recognizes a nurse whose leadership and practice promotes the delivery of quality healthcare at Cooper.

“I am truly honored to have been chosen for this award,” said Pearlman. “This is an exciting time to be a nurse at Cooper and I’m grateful to be a part of such a wonderful nursing staff.”

Pearlman, of Cherry Hill, N.J., graduated from St. Francis Medical Center School of Nursing, Trenton, NJ in 1986. She came to Cooper in 1988 as a full time staff nurse in the Intermediate Intensive Care Unit (IICU). Since then, she worked as a staff nurse in several departments including Anesthesia, Critical Care Unit (CCU), Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Although she has excelled in every position she has held, her passion lies in providing direct patient care to mothers and their newborn infants in the NICU.

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Joshua Hoffman of Weston, Florida

You may see a small but mighty young man walking through Cooper’s halls on Wednesday, March 24. March of Dimes 2010 National Ambassador, seven-year-old Joshua Hoffman of Weston, Florida will visit Cooper’s level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) which cares for more than 300 premature and sick babies per year. It is a unit that Joshua and his family know all too well—he was born prematurely, weighing only 1 pound, 11 ounces. He fought hard to survive, spending 14 weeks in a newborn intensive care unit, where he received treatment for serious breathing, heart and vision problems.

As the 2010 National Ambassador, Joshua and his family are traveling the country to share his inspiring story, help raise awareness of premature birth and encourage families and companies to walk with them in the March for Babies.

The March for Babies is the March of Dimes’ annual fundraising walk that supports the organization’s mission to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

So if you see Ambassador Joshua and his family tomorrow, be sure to give them a warm welcome to Cooper!