Newsmakers

This week, the Courier-Post’s weekly “Cooper Connections” health and wellness column featured an article written by Perry J. Weinstock, MD, Head, Division of Cardiovascular Disease and Director of Clinical Cardiology at Cooper.

On Wednesday, May 25, 2011, children undergoing treatment at Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper were smiling brighter and laughing a little more after a new Starlight Fun Center™ was unveiled at the hospital for its pediatric patients.

This summer, three patients who are treated at Cooper University Hospital for sickle cell disease got a chance to forget about the fear and uncertainty of their illness and just be a kid again.

The August edition of SJ Magazine features an article about the dangers of concussions in young athletes and the warning signs of head injury. Doctors are seeing an increase in the number of young athletes suffering from concussions. “One to three patients a day are coming in, and it’s not just kids who are playing organized sports like football, hockey and cheerleading,” said Michael H. Goodman, MD, Chief of Pediatrics at Cooper.

This week, Eagles defensive tackle Mike Patterson had a seizure while at practice. Medical tests have indicated Patterson has arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a rare congenital condition of abnormal connections between arteries and veins in the brain that short-circuits the flow of oxygen-rich blood.

Sixteen years ago, Anne Koons took her son to the Cooper Learning Center located in Voorhees, N.J., for some academic help. Her positive experience with the center stayed with her and left a lasting impression. “I was truly impressed with the different programs that Dr. Richard Selznick had started at the Cooper Learning Center to help children with difficulties they were having in school,” said Koons.

When Dayshawn, 7, first came to the Cooper Summer Reading Institute at Lanning Square Elementary School two years ago, he could barely sound out a word, let alone read an entire sentence. His frustration caused him to lash out and misbehave—he became a “shutdown learner.”

On Tuesday, Carla Fynan, RD, Manager of Clinical Nutrition at Cooper, was interviewed by CBS3 about menu changes being made at McDonalds to make Happy Meals healthier for kids. The fast-food chain plans to reduce the portion of french fries and add more produce such as apple slices and oranges.

This week, the Courier-Post featured an article written by Andres J. Pumariega, MD, Chief, Department of Psychiatry at Cooper, about children under treatment for emotional and behavioral issues who are common visitors to hospital emergency rooms throughout the United States.

This week, the Courier-Post featured an article about injuries associated with cheerleading and new research which shows that cheerleading is the most dangerous activity for high school female athletes. David B. Gealt, DO, Director of the Sports Concussion Program and Assistant Director of the Sports Medicine Program at Cooper, has seen an increase in cheerleading injuries like concussions.