Cooper University Hospital

Description

Cooper University Hospital is the leading provider of comprehensive health services medical education and clinical research in Southern New Jersey and the Delaware Valley With over 700 physicians in over 75 specialties Cooper is uniquely equipped to provide an almost unlimited number of medical services As the clinical campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden the hospital is committed to excellence in medical education patient care and research Cooper offers training programs for medical students residents fellows nurses and allied health professionals in a variety of specialties

Cooper University Hospital offers a network of comprehensive services that include prevention and wellness primary and specialty physician services hospital care ambulatory diagnostic and treatment services and home health care within Southern New Jersey Philadelphia and the entire Delaware Valley

The mission of Cooper University Hospital is to advance the health status of the regions population through the provision of appropriate health and medical care To accomplish this mission Cooper University Hospital serves as a principal site for the education of physicians provides programs of allied and community health education and offers highly complex health care resources to assist in the educational process

Coupled with its educational goals Cooper University Hospital offers a broad agenda in the field of research Cooper physicians are involved in ongoing research and development as they keep abreast of changing modalities of medical care As an academic medical center Cooper continuously attempts to improve patients quality of life through the research efforts of its medical staff

Cooper University Hospital takes pride in its ability to offer a comprehensive array of diagnostic and treatment services The hospital serves as Southern New Jerseys major tertiarycare referral hospital for specialized services These centers of excellence include Level I Southern New Jersey Regional Trauma Center the Cooper Cancer Institute the Cooper Heart Institute the Cooper Bone amp Joint Institute the Cooper Neurosciences Institute and critical care medicine

Cooper University Hospital is situated in an excellent geographic area The academic medical center campus is easily accessible from the entire Delaware Valley located across the street from a commuter highspeed line train as well as the Delaware River Line and just a few blocks from the Camden campuses of Rutgers and Rowan Universities as well as the New Jersey State Aquarium and Campbells Field In addition Cooper is just a few minutes from Philadelphia with its wide variety of cultural culinary and recreational opportunities In addition the hospital is located in an area less than one hour from the New Jersey Shore

Mission Statement
Cooper University Hospital is an academic medical center committed to worldclass patient care education and research resulting in a healthier community

Vision Statement
Cooper University Hospital will be the health care leader in the Delaware Valley providing exceptional medical care and service for every patient every day in a patientcentered familyfocused environment

History

Cooper University Hospital is a dynamic integrated health care delivery system that provides comprehensive medical services to the residents of southern New Jersey As the clinical campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Cooper University Hospital is dedicated to medical education and research excellence University PhysiciansCooper the teaching faculty of UMDNJRWJMS maintains more than 50 office sites throughout southern New Jersey

Based on more than a century of commitment and achievements in the areas of patient care and community service Cooper University Hospital provides a continuum of care in both primary and tertiary areas Cooper offers everything from the most sophisticated technologically advanced medicine at Cooper University Hospital in Camden to a full array of primary care preventive care and wellness resources located in more than 50 sites throughout southern New Jersey

The origins of Cooper University Hospital can be traced to 1887 when a prominent Quaker family named Cooper opened a hospital to provide medical care for the indigent population of Camden Richard M Cooper MD four of his brothers and sisters and one nephew donated money and land for the hospital to be built between Sixth and Seventh Streets from Mickle to Benson Streets Though the fourstory stone building was completed in 1877 the original 30bed hospital stood empty for 10 years until enough money was available to open for patients in August 1887

From the beginning Cooper Hospital was a cornerstone in the Camden community As hospital facilities and medical care advanced Cooper Hospital began to treat not only the indigent population but those who could pay as well The hospital staff physicians nurses auxiliary members and patients were seen as part of a larger quotCooper Familyquot and generation after generation of physicians often called Cooper their medical home

In the first 100 years of the hospitals existence additions to the original building and the construction of freestanding structures on the surrounding five acres of land further anchored the Cooper Hospital campus in Camden Inside these buildings medicine advanced at a rapid pace eventually turning the small community hospital into a 540bed regional tertiary care center that cared for the populations most critically ill patients Hospital officials and leading physicians often engaged in heated debates on the merits of moving to another location but the answer was always the same Cooper Hospital should stay in Camden

Over time Cooper Hospital has not only remained true to its original mission but has grown to meet the medical challenges of a geographically dispersed patient population and a rapidly changing health care environment Before Cooper celebrated its first 100 years of service professional hospital managers had replaced wellintentioned Board of Trustees in managing hospitals while government regulations affected such physician prerogatives as determining patient length of stay and what physicians would be reimbursed for specific procedures Cooper Hospital eventually became The Cooper Health System and the clinical campus of the University of Medicine and DentistryRobert Wood Johnson Medical School The development of the medical school affiliation advanced Cooper as the major teaching hospital in South Jersey

When Cooper celebrated its Centennial Anniversary in 1987 no one could have predicted the dramatic changes that would take place in health care over the next 10 years Dominated by health insurers who pay for patient services hospitals everywhere have aligned with health care systems in order to negotiate favorable payments from payors and develop the medical expertise to draw large numbers of patients

To compete in this managed care environment Cooper HospitalUniversity Medical Center now Cooper University Hospital became one component of an integrated health care delivery system called The Cooper Health System in 1996 The Cooper name is now synonymous with a full range of health system services including prevention primary care specialty ambulatory services all levels of inpatient care and subacute care While Cooper continues to invest in its Camden facility multispecialty physician offices are now also strategically located throughout the southern New Jersey region