CAMDEN, N.J., April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cooper Health System announced plans today for a $117 million capital project at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ, during its presentation to the Camden County Improvement Authority.
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The plans include a major renovation of existing facilities and substantial new construction that will expand the scope of medical services offered to residents of South Jersey and revolutionize the way the hospital services are organized. This development will involve the largest physical expansion of the hospital in nearly 30 years. Cooper University Hospital, home of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Camden, has experienced tremendous growth in its clinical programs and patient utilization in recent years, and has reached the level of being one of the most sophisticated health care providers in the South Jersey and Delaware Valley region. The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey is also committed to expanding its medical educational and research facilities on Cooper’s Health Science Campus in Camden.
“Under this plan, Cooper will enhance our campus environment, the hospital facade, and vehicular and pedestrian access,” stated Charles E. Sessa, Jr., Chairman of Cooper’s Board of Trustees. “The hospital’s new configuration will also permit the redesign and expansion of Cooper’s cardiovascular and surgical facilities, as well as the expansion of critical care and emergency service areas. It will redefine how Cooper is presented within the revitalized City of Camden.”
The first phase of the initiative focuses on major renovation of the existing facilities in the Kelemen Pavilion with the addition of two operating rooms, bringing the total to 10 OR suites; expansion of existing adult critical care services, increasing from 19 beds to 24; and the relocation of pediatric critical care services to the Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper, keeping all children’s services in the same location within the hospital and increasing the current number of 5 Pediatric Intensive Care beds to 6.
The second phase involves construction of a new six-story Patient Care Pavilion in the center of the existing hospital complex extending toward the north side of the health science campus. Once completed, the new pavilion will greatly expand Cooper University Hospital’s highly specialized critical care and trauma services as well as more than double Cooper’s private patient rooms. The new 140,000-square-foot patient care pavilion will include a 30-bed state-of-the-art critical care medical service. The pavilion will also include 60 private acute care patient rooms, more than doubling Cooper’s private patient room capacity. The new patient rooms are necessary to support the increased demand for Cooper’s Centers of Excellence - the Cooper Heart Institute, the Cooper Bone and Joint Institute, the Cancer Center of New Jersey at Cooper, Cooper Neurosciences, and Cooper Critical Care. Emergency Medical and Level One Trauma Services, including the Trauma Intensive Care Unit, will also be expanded to better serve the community and the entire southern New Jersey region.
“Over the past year Cooper has had tremendous success in recruiting world- class physicians who are international leaders in their fields in cardiology, critical care medicine, orthopaedic surgery, and oncology,” says Christopher T. Olivia, MD, Cooper’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “I’m proud and excited that we will provide them a state-of-the-art environment in which to work.”
Cooper Executives discussed the plans for Cooper University Hospital and the Health Science Campus in Camden at a presentation before the Board of the Camden County Improvement Authority.
Cooper has currently applied to borrow up to $80 million of the $117 million capital project, with $13 million to be funded through proceeds from the Camden Revitalization and Economic Recovery Initiative passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor McGreevey. The remainder will be primarily funded by Cooper University Hospital operating funds.
The Cooper Health System and its flagship Cooper University Hospital is the premier provider of comprehensive health services and advanced medical technology in southern New Jersey. As a clinical and core teaching campus for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School-Camden, Cooper has become a national leader in medical education and research. For patients, that means the widest array of clinical services in southern New Jersey with a full continuum of primary and tertiary care, innovative diagnosis and treatment options with access to cutting-edge research and protocols.
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CONTACT: Peggy Leone, Cooper University Hospital, +1-856-342-3332
