On Wednesday, August 29, 2018, the scholars of KIPP Cooper Norcross Academy at Lanning Square Primary and Whittier Middle Schools received backpacks full of new supplies for the start of their new school year.

#OperationBackpack is an annual fundraiser organized by The Cooper Foundation benefiting the students of Cooper’s neighborhood schools. Employees of Cooper University Health Care donate backpacks and school supplies so that every student scholar at KIPP Cooper Norcross Academy starts the school year ready to learn. Read more.

Caroline Eggerding, MD, Division Head, Pediatric Neurology and Development, led a research team at Cooper University Health Care that was instrumental in conducting clinical trials for a ground-breaking new drug approved earlier this year to treat phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare genetic disorder.

PKU is a rare genetic disorder in which the body is unable to metabolize phenylalanine, an amino acid found in almost every source of natural protein, as well as a number of sweeteners. Read more.

Former NJ State Senator Raymond Lesniak and representatives from the non-profit organization Toys for Hospitalized Children visited Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper University Health Care to brighten the day of young patients with gifts of toys and music.

Toys for Hospitalized Children is a non-profit organization founded in 1953 to bring smiles and healing to sick children. Since its inception in 1953, Toys for Hospitalized Children has brought smiles to 950,000 children in 150 hospitals in 10 states with gifts and toys. Read more.

Cooper’s Addiction Medicine Program encourages staff and the community to take time on Friday, August 31, 2018, for International Overdose Awareness Day to learn more about addiction, its effect on families and the community, and efforts to reduce overdoses and death. The day is also an opportunity to stimulate discussion about evidence-based overdose prevention and drug policy.

International Overdose Awareness Day, established in 2001 in Australia and now recognized around the world, also acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends remembering those who have died or suffered permanent injury due to drug overdose. Read more.

Cooper University Health Care was recognized as a top performing hospital for treating congestive heart failure in U.S. News & World Report’s 2018-2019 Best Hospitals survey.

“The Cooper Heart Institute is known for its comprehensive cardiac services,” said Kevin M. O’Dowd, JD, Co-President of Cooper University Health Care. “This designation demonstrates Cooper’s commitment, as a leading regional academic health system, to providing the highest level of inpatient and outpatient cardiac services.” Read more.

MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper was recognized as a top performing hospital for colon cancer surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2018-2019 Best Hospitals survey, released yesterday.

“This recognition reaffirms MD Anderson at Cooper’s role as a leading academic health system and our commitment to providing the highest level of cancer care to our community,” said Kevin M. O’Dowd, JD, Co-President of Cooper University Health Care. Read more.

Cooper University Health Care has expanded its life-saving air medical transport service to the South Jersey community with the addition of a new helicopter. Cooper has been providing this vital service to residents of Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem counties since 2010.

“As the regional leader in trauma and emergency care, the medical transport helicopters are a crucial part of our emergency medical services continuum,” said Kevin O’Dowd, JD, Co-President of Cooper University Health Care. Read more.

Seven months ago, the Freeholder Board, Camden County Chief’s Association, and healthcare providers came to the table with a plan to fund the life-saving tool, naloxone, for all police officers in the county. Since that time more than 480 naloxone reversals were deployed county-wide providing a critical antidote to the fatal effects of an opioid induced overdose.

Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli lauded the healthcare systems for tearing down the obstacles to get access to this life saving antidote and applauded the officers on the street administering it. Read more.

Cooper University Health Care recently recognized Chevron Johnson, RN, of Pennsauken, NJ, with the DAISY Award for providing exceptional nursing care. Chevron work on the Pavilion 6 Surgical Intermediate unit.

The DAISY Award, established by The DAISY Foundation, is an international program that celebrates the extraordinary care given by nurses every day. It is presented in collaboration with the American Organization of Nurse Executives. Read more.

Here at Cooper, we are fortunate to have five female trauma surgeons on staff, comprising 50 percent of our trauma surgery staff of physicians. This complement of female trauma surgeons is almost unheard of in trauma centers around the country where many do not even have one female trauma surgeon on staff.

Cooper, one of only three state-designated Level 1 Trauma Centers in NJ, is the only hospital in the Delaware Valley/Philadelphia region that provides trauma care for both adults and children. Read more.