Cooper provides 911 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for the City of Camden as well as mutual aid response to surrounding communities. Cooper EMS operates from two stations within the city, to minimize response time to critical emergencies. In every year since its inception, Cooper EMS has met a strict response time goal, with Cooper paramedics arriving at the scene in less than 8-minutes on over 90% of the calls to which they are dispatched.
Cooper EMS uses highly trained and motivated Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and Paramedics to respond to a wide variety of emergency calls. EMTs receive about 160 hours of classroom training before they are certified to function as per-hospital care providers. The EMT curriculum includes patient assessment, oxygen administration, basic airway, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, hemorrhage control, and emergency childbirth. The Paramedic curriculum is comprised of about 2,000 hours of classroom instruction, as well as rotations in various hospital units and time riding as a student on a Paramedic unit to provide a comprehensive learning experience. The Paramedic curriculum builds upon their EMT training and includes advanced airway management, ECG interpretation, medication administration, IV placement, and other advanced skills. Cooper’s EMTs and Paramedics work and train together to be able to function as a well-oiled machine in critical situations.
Through the various programs and practices it has implemented, Cooper EMS has become a leader in the field of Emergency Medical Services. In 2021(?), Cooper EMS became the first program in the nation to allow its paramedics to administer Buprenorphine (“Bupe”), as an innovative means of combating the opioid crisis. Cooper EMS also serves as a training site for our nation’s military and Homeland Security medics, helping them to develop their assessment and treatment skills before deploying in defense of our nation. Unlike many other EMS systems, Cooper EMS has very integrated physician direction, with EMS physicians responding to emergency scenes to provide on-scene direction and work alongside EMS crews to provide patient care.
Many of the patients transported by Cooper EMS benefit from the tertiary services provided by Cooper’s Level I Trauma Center, Comprehensive Stroke Center, cardiology, critical care medicine, neurological care, and pediatric care, among others. The experts in these fields, and others, work directly with the Cooper’s EMS providers to enhance the care that can be given by the basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ALS) providers.
Cooper EMS is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year with dedicated Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics, using a fleet of 15 ambulances, three supervisor cars, four physician response vehicles, and numerous specialty vehicles to provide service to the Camden community .
Steven Hare, MS, NRP
Operations Manager, Emergency Medical Services
hare-steven@cooperhealth.edu
Ron Murphy, NRP
EMS Clinical Manager, Emergency Medical Services
murphy-ronald@cooperhealth.edu
To reach our EMS ground transport team, call 856.757.4800.
Cooper Air Medical Services
Minutes, even seconds, are critical in emergencies. When time and patient care have reached this critical state, Cooper provides rapid air medical transportation direct from the scene to our Level I Trauma Center. Serving the seven counties of southern New Jersey, Cooper’s Air Transport safely delivers critically injured patients to the only Level I adult trauma and Level II pediatric trauma center in South Jersey. Additionally, Cooper Air Transport provides rapid transfer for patients at other hospitals in the region who are critically ill or injured and need the advanced medical and/or surgical care only available at Cooper.
Cooper 1 and 2
Cooper’s helicopter air fleet includes Cooper 1 and Cooper 2, both EC135 Eurocopters owned and operated by Metro Aviation, Inc. To ensure safe and swift patient transport, both are equipped with state-of-the-art GPS, weather radar, aircraft collision avoidance system, and night vision goggles (NVG). For increased safety and efficiency Outerlink’s IRIS system is on board, providing unprecedented flight data monitoring, tracking, and communication capabilities. An experienced crew, including Cooper flight nurses and paramedics, staff each helicopter, are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
To provide complete area coverage Cooper 1 services southern regions flying out of Millville Municipal Airport in Millville, Cumberland County. Meanwhile, Cooper 2 services the northern region of our coverage area with flights originating at the Flying W Airport in Medford, Burlington County.
Rick Rohrbach, MBA, BSN, RN, CFRN, CCRN, MICP
EMS Director, Cooper Air and Ground Services
rohrbach-rick@cooperhealth.edu
856.968.6759
EMS Outreach
Cooper EMS, in addition to providing 911 services, offers medical direction and EMS education to area BLS squads in South Jersey. These services help to implement protocols and to support an effective performance improvement process by:
- Providing education and training for all audiences involved in emergency medical services through didactics, simulation technology, and performance improvement activities.
- Participating in research initiatives to maintain the highest level of preparedness and prehospital care through evidence-based medicine.
- Collaborating with local, state, regional, and federal partners to assist in the implementation of an effective EMS and emergency management system.
Todd Rapczynski, MS, NRP, CCEMTP
EMS Outreach Manager
Rapczynski-Todd@cooperhealth.edu
856.342.2466
If you are interested in an EMS program or service, check out our educational offerings, or call 856.342.2466.