COMMUNITY BENEFIT REPORT

COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT

ARMC Presents Fellowships to Future Nurses
Each year ARMC sponsors nursing fellowships for Hispanic American students. The full tuition fellowships give the students the opportunity to complete Atlantic Cape Community College’s (ACCC) associate degree nursing program or other nursing programs, tuition-free. They also allow the students to obtain their RN degrees in exchange for a commitment to join ARMC’s staff upon successful completion of their education. Students are selected by the Hispanic Alliance of Atlantic County (HAAC), the Atlantic City Branch of the NAACP and ARMC nursing leadership.

Gun Surrender Program
The Regional Trauma Center at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center sponsored a gun surrender program in collaboration with the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office and the cities of Atlantic City and Pleasantville. This effort resulted in 746 weapons being removed from the streets.

Regional Trauma Center at ARMC Donates Child Life Jackets to Local Marinas
The Regional Trauma Center at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center (ARMC) donated child life jackets to the Dolphin Dock, a marina in Somers Point, New Jersey, as part of the Center’s “Kids Don’t Float” Loaner Life Jacket Program. We distributed more than 70 life jackets to area marinas.

Regional Trauma Center at ARMC Treated Record Number of Patients in 2005
The region’s only state-designated Level II Trauma Center treated a record number of patients in 2005. The Regional Trauma Center at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center cared for 1,610 patients, the most in its 14 years of service to the community.

AtlantiCare and Atlantic City Surf Sponsored Third Annual Helmet Safety Program
AtlantiCare and the AtlanticCity Surf held their third annual “Ticket for Safety Campaign,” a summer helmet safety initiative aimed at promoting children’s use of helmets while bicycling, skateboarding and participating in other sports that have the potential for head injury.

Day of Dance for Heart Health
AtlantiCare Women’s Health & Wellness hosted this free, day-long intergenerational, multicultural event that combined different forms of music and dance to stress the importance of exercise for a healthy heart. The Heart Institute provided free screenings, and AtlantiCare Women’s Health & Wellness, Community Health Services, Breast Health Program, Post Acute Network, Joint Institute and Spine Institute, provided information. AtlantiCare held this event in February, American Heart Month, to promote awareness of heart disease.

Matters of the Heart Seminars and Screenings
In 2005 AtlantiCare provided 6,500 free blood pressure, blood sugar and blood cholesterol screenings to members of the community.

Heart Heroes is a volunteer community group that raises funds through the AtlantiCare Foundation for the purchase of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for schools and other community locations throughout southeastern New Jersey. Portable AEDs have audible and visual prompts that guide users through the defibrillation process. The device can restore a normal heart rhythm in victims of sudden cardiac arrest. Portable AEDs enable a faster response to a medical emergency that requires defibrillation. Heart Heroes placed nine AEDs in our community in 2005.

“Women and Heart Disease” Patient Panel Discussion
AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center held a special panel presentation of women who have had heart disease, in observance of Wear Red Day, a component of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women national campaign, to raise awareness about the issue of women and heart disease.