ERMA – Lisa Laphan-Morad, Cooper University Hospital’s senior vice-president of integration, gave a year-in-review presentation to a group at Tabernacle United Methodist Church on Thursday, Sept. 25.
Laphan-Morad talked about a lot of the facilities and services already in the Cooper system, but also spoke of new doctors, new clinics and so-called “coming attractions” to Cape May County, mainly at Cooper University Hospital-Cape Regional.
She listed a number of goals for the future, including more specialist access. She said she visited two ambulatory services offices outside the hospital, including the endocrinology office on Village Drive in Cape May Court House.
Laphan-Morad also used the term “expanding access” in talking about making Cooper health services more available to members of the community. One example was establishing eight more beds in the Emergency Department.
She said Cape Regional has to be aware of the need for “surge care,” related to the population surge in the tourist season. She said Cape Regional already had a history of dealing with the surge, and it’s an addition to, but different from, Cooper Camden, which is a level three trauma center.
“We’ve learned a lot from the teams here,” she said.
Laphan-Morad also mentioned some of the new doctors, and advanced-practice professionals who have joined Cooper-Cape Regional. The latter group would include nurse practitioners, for example.
Following the summer, she said, Cooper-Cape Regional had an influx of people who were sick, as opposed to injured, and was able to use flex space to accommodate their needs.
Cooper’s mission, she said, is, “to serve, to heal, to educate,” and she addressed the latter portion, saying the hospital has plans to become a center for medical learning, as through partnering with Atlantic Cape Community College for nursing training. She said the hospital plans to have residents on staff when they have the appropriate number of teaching doctors on staff.
Between the two hospitals, Cooper offers more than 900 beds and brings in more than $2.5 billion in revenue. The system includes seven urgent-care facilities and more than 130 ambulatory care locations across eight counties. Cooper employs 12,000 “team members,” of whom about 1,500 live in Cape May County.
However, some of those who work at Cape Regional travel at least an hour in one direction to get to work. Cooper has more than 1,000 physicians, with 72 of them practicing at Cape Regional.
Laphan-Morad said that Cooper University Hospital has a partnership with Houston-based MD Anderson Cancer Center and thus can bring that center’s experience and skills to Cape May County.
She said part of her mission has been to go into the community, such as at the church, to spread word about the growing services at Cape Regional.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
