As the year comes to a close, we take a look back at the top stories of the year in Cherry Hill.
Andy Kim faces constituents
U.S. Sen. Andy Kim’s town hall was met with a range of emotions from the crowd, including some boos.
U.S. Sen. Andy Kim held a town hall at Cherry Hill East on April 22 that drew a crowd of more than 300 people. The Democrat took to the front of the auditorium of his alma mater to address his constituents.
“This idea (is) that we can gather together as people in this nation and talk through the challenges that are there, recognizing full well that we’re not all going to agree on it,” he said. ” … That we’ll have disagreements and issues and different perspectives here and there, but that we’re able to have this type of conversation and talk through what direction our country should be going.”
The senator was met with a range of emotions from the crowd. While many applauded or cheered, others yelled, booed or clapped loudly as they disagreed with him. Before taking questions, Kim laid out his concerns about President Donald Trump.
“First and foremost, a simple yet profoundly important recognition,” he noted, “is that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, is abusing his power.”
New unit at Jefferson
Local and state officials join Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital administrators as they accept a check for a new EmPATH unit in the hospital.
The township took a step toward making behavioral and mental health-care more accessible with a new unit at Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital.
The addition of the Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing (EmPATH) Unit will help address the influx of mental-health patients in the emergency department and offer a new way to guide them through a crisis.
In order to implement the unit, the hospital will create a 4,000-square-foot facility adjacent to the existing emergency department, with private mental- and behavioral-health bays and living room-style waiting areas to create a calming atmosphere.
The unit will be financed by a $4-million grant from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.
To celebrate the addition, Jefferson Cherry Hill hosted a check presentation with state and local officials who played a role in bringing the unit to fruition. Aaron Chang, president of Jefferson Health-East, was there to explain the need for EmPATH, including the fact that Camden County has seen a 400% increase in behavioral-health patients in the last decade.
“They’ll receive treatment, support and, most importantly, dignity in their most vulnerable moments,” he explained, “and they will leave not only stabilized, but with a plan for what comes next.”
Building on the schools
Gina Winters and school Superintendent Dr. Kwame Morton cut the ribbon for the Kingston Elementary all-purpose room.
Among major construction work at township school buildings this year was the building of new all-purpose rooms in six of the district’s 12 elementary schools: Clara Barton, James Johnson, Kingston, A. Russell Knight, Horace Mann and Joseph D. Sharp.
The rooms were among summer projects paid for with a $363-million bond referendum passed by township voters in 2022. To celebrate their openings, the district held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Kingston on Sept. 18.
While the all-purpose rooms had been in use by students and staff since the beginning of the school year, the ribbon cutting made them official. The rooms have a number of features that will help the schools run programs and activities for the entire student body.
At Kingston, the new room consists of a full-size basketball court with a built-in stage accessible for those with disabilities. Its stage has a light system with different functionalities and the room has an integrated audio-visual system with Bluetooth connectable speakers, a projector and a drop-down screen.
