Third Annual Health Fair Held at the Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Monday, September 20, 2004

New Brunswick – More than 1,000 children and their families attended Family Health & Safety Day at The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital on Saturday, September 20.

“Family Health and Safety Day is a way for people to become familiar with the children’s hospital and its many programs,” said Dr. Daniel Notterman, Physician-in-Chief of the children’s hospital. “It is also a way to combine fun with important information on health and safety.”

This is the third year the hospital has held this event, and the first year it was co-sponsored by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.

”The Family Health and Safety Day is an important partnership between the medical profession, law enforcement and the community,” said Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan.

The event offered children and families information about various hospital services, including breastfeeding, the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit and its pediatric emergency department; community organizations, such as the SIDS Center of New Jersey and Ronald McDonald House; and safety topics, including domestic violence, gang awareness and car seat safety.

Demonstrations on inline-skating, bicycle safety, fire prevention and karate, as well as booths about fingerprinting, child identification kits and stranger danger, allowed children to participate while learning about these topics. Other interactive activities included games such as poison jeopardy and the bicycle wheel of safety.

Radio Disney, pony rides and face painting entertained guests. Food and giveaways were also available.

Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula (17th District) presented a resolution to the hospital and the prosecutor’s office on behalf of the Senate and General Assembly, commending them for their efforts in raising awareness about family health and safety.

Participating community organizations included the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Department, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, the SAFE KIDS Coalition of Middlesex County, the New Brunswick Domestic Violence Coalition and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities. The East Brunswick Bureau of Fire Prevention, the Middlesex County Fire Academy, the New Brunswick Fire Department and the New Brunswick Division of Fire Safety assisted with all fire safety-related activities.

Police from Edison, Metuchen, Middlesex Boro, Monroe, New Brunswick, North Brunswick, Old Bridge, Perth Amboy, Piscataway, Rutgers University, Sayreville, South Brunswick, South Plainfield, South River and Spotswood also participated in the event.

About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Selected as one of four hospitals nationwide to offer the world's first self-contained implantable artificial heart, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.rwjuh.edu) is a 600-bed academic medical center and the principal hospital of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ. Robert Wood Johnson is an innovative leader in advancing state-of-the-art care in medicine. Its Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, and women's and children's care including The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.bmsch.org). The hospital is also a Level 1 Trauma Center and serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.

The hospital has earned significant national recognition for clinical quality and patient safety. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is ranked among the top 50 hospitals in the nation for both heart and heart surgery and respiratory disorders, according to U.S.News & World Report's 2008 ranking of "America's Best Hospitals." The American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer has rated Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital among the nation's best comprehensive cancer centers. The Leapfrog Group rated Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as one of the 50 exceptional U.S. hospitals, as published in Consumers Digest magazine. Harvard University researchers, in a study commissioned by The Commonwealth Fund, identified Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as one of the top 10 hospitals in the nation for clinical quality. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is also a recipient of the prestigious Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence for more than 10 consecutive years.

Attention members of the media: For more information on this release, please contact the Department of Public Relations (732) 937-8521.


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