Steel beams and construction vehicles will once again enter the Cooper Plaza neighborhood as development plans progress for a 25-unit condominium building on New and 7th streets. “The Cooper” will provide needed housing for existing Camden residents and for Cooper employees. It will also help create a safe, vibrant neighborhood for people to live and work.

In an effort to alleviate overcrowding in the Emergency Department (ED) and ensure that patients get the medical care they need in a comfortable environment, Cooper University Hospital has opened the new Clinical Decision Unit (CDU). This unit is for low risk patients who require further observation before a decision can be made to admit them to the hospital or send them home. Now, instead of spending the night in the ED, these patients get the observation they need in a hospital room on the CDU. The CDU consists of 18 beds on the tenth floor of the hospital equipped with telemetry capability. “The patients who are transferred there are patients first seen in the ED. These patients require observation and evaluation to determine whether they need to be admitted to the hospital or discharged after a period of observation,” said Gina Marone, R.N., M.S.N., Senior Director of Patient Care Services. “Examples of some of the most common ailments that require further observation are asthma, low risk chest pain or abdominal pain, mild congestive heart failure, pneumonia and dehydration.” The CDU staff is a multi-specialty team of physicians, nurses and case managers who are focused on quickly providing the necessary clinical tests to enable patients to progress efficiently with their care. The goal is to evaluate a patient and make a decision within 24 hours. “We safely expedite our patients’ care through their course of treatment in the hospital in order to get them back home or admit them if indicated,” Marone explained. “The CDU’s focus enables us to accomplish this while also being fiscally prudent with hospital resources, which is an added benefit."

Over the decades, school nurses, athletic trainers and coaches have had to expand their technical and educational skills to handle new and increasingly complicated health issues facing children today. Some of these conditions include: diabetes, child obesity, sleep disorders and ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). The Nurses Education Series offers training from Cooper physicians to provide useful information and resources to this core group of community care givers.

The Cooper Cancer Institute (CCI) and its Director, Generosa Grana, M.D., will be the recipients of two distinguished honors from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Philadelphia Affiliate. Dr. Grana, a nationally renowned oncologist, has been selected as the 2009 Light of Life honoree by the Komen Philadelphia Affiliate. Dr. Grana was chosen because she is “an extraordinary individual we feel represents the spark that brought the beacon to life, as well as the continuous source of inspiration that fuels its perpetual guidance in our community,” explained Executive Director of Komen Philadelphia Affiliate, Elaine I. Grobman.

“We commend the Governor for giving priority to healthcare and particularly to safety net hospitals in this toughest of budget years,” said John P. Sheridan, Jr., President and CEO of the Cooper Health System.

(Camden, New Jersey) — John Ainsworth, Rudolph Freda and Michael Landis didn’t know each other and all had different cardiac conditions that required three different surgeries; but in one single day they became part of a cardiac surgery trifecta that would save their lives. “What is particularly special about this day is that in the majority of hospitals, these procedures are not even performed. At Cooper they were all performed in one day by three different surgeons,” said Michael Rosenbloom, M.D., Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Cooper.

(Camden, New Jersey) The Cooper Health System has appointed George J. Weinroth, Esq., as Chief Operating Officer of Cooper University Physicians (CUP). He will oversee all contractual and financial responsibilities of the physician group serving Cooper University Hospital. Cooper University Physicians is comprised of more than 439 employed physicians at Cooper. In addition, there are 260 Residents and Fellows at Cooper who are physicians in advanced training programs in various medical specialties.

(Camden, New Jersey) Cooper University Hospital has received a generous gift from Dennis and Cathy DiFlorio of Voorhees, N.J., for the new Cooper Healing Garden to be constructed later this year. The DiFlorio’s donated $375,000 towards the construction of the healing garden, which will be named in their honor. The Healing Garden is part of the new Patient Pavilion on the Cooper Camden campus which opened in December 2008. The DiFlorio Family Healing Garden, adjacent to the Pavilion lobby and Garden Walk, will be a place of quiet beauty and natural light, providing a contemplative and comforting haven for patients, families and Cooper staff. This scenic, outdoor garden will feature a water-wall fountain (providing soothing sounds of rainfall), evergreen trees, sculptures and an array of plants and flowers.

(Camden, New Jersey) Breast cancer screening provides an opportunity to save someone’s sister, wife, mother, daughter or companion. To help underinsured and uninsured women fight breast cancer, the New Jersey Cancer Education and Early Detection Program at Cooper (Cooper CEED) provides education, free mammograms and clinical breast exams, follow-up care, and support. A renewal grant for $30,000 from the Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund will enable Cooper’s CEED program to continue it’s outreach to underserved women who live in Camden and the surrounding areas. This is the second year this grant is funded by the Avon Foundation, after having educated 568 women the first year, as well as provided 301 breast exams and 226 mammograms in 2008.

(Camden, New Jersey) Cooper University Hospital is proud to announce that the Intensive Care Unit and the Coronary Care Unit nursing teams have received the Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence, an award given by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). The award is specifically designated to recognize the nation’s top pediatric, progressive, and adult critical care units across a multitude of hospitals. The recognition itself is priceless, as it represents extraordinary commitment to high-quality critical care standards, and dedication to the exceptional care of patients and their families.