Articles Posted in Burn Severity

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A few weeks ago, the Associated Press reported that an explosion in a home in Fairborn, Ohio killed a 75-year-old man and caused debris injuries and severe burns to six others, including four children. The blast was so powerful that it also significantly damaged neighboring homes.

Both the gas and water service were turned off inside the home so repair crews could work on the water line. But the house exploded when the crew apparently hit the gas pipe while doing their work. The explosion sent debris and the victims literally flying through the yard, and a neighbor reported seeing a baby with burns, and bloodied from being hit with flying glass.

That 1-year-old baby was in fair condition while a 5-year-old child was in good condition by the next morning, said a spokesman for Dayton Children’s Medical Center. A third child, whose age wasn’t available, was treated and released the same day. But a 13-year-old was transferred in critical condition to Shriner’s Hospital for Children, one of about four hospitals in the country specializing in pediatric burns.

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In mid-November, at story in the Gaston Gazette from North Carolina covered the long, very painful, but ultimately successful recovery of Lucille Camp. Lucille is a 70-year-old woman who found the inner strength to survive and even modestly recover from third degree burns she suffered across half her body nearly three years ago.

Today, Lucille can stand from her wheelchair to take crutches and, with help from her daughter Sandy Johnson and nurse Judy Tate, slowly walk across a room. Johnson said her mother’s fierce determination has kept her alive and improving since being caught in a house fire in January 2009. When that happened, Lucille was taken to the Wake Forest Burn Center in Winston-Salem, where doctors told the family that she wouldn’t make it through the first 24 hours.

Lucille not only survived, but she has continued to amaze doctors with her small improvements over time. But her recovery has not been steady, and it is very trying not just physically but psychologically. The assistance of workers from Palliative Care Cleveland County, a local group, has been essential to Lucille’s progress.

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In Maple Grove, Minnesota, a 15-year-old boy is spending a few days in a burn unit at Hennepin County Medical Center after a flash explosion in a science class that burned him and three other Maple Grove Junior High School students. The three others were treated and released, but the boy, Dane Neuberger, is still in the hospital suffering from second-degree burns on his face and neck.

Neuberger said he was simply taking notes in class when suddenly, and from seemingly out of nowhere, he was on fire. Neuberger was sitting in the front row of class when his teacher asked the ninth-graders to turn their desks toward a lab table while he conducted experiments. They were learning about the flammable substance methanol. But the flame that was supposed to stay in the bottle and consume the methanol did not do so, the container exploded.

The flame from the container came in contact with some spilled methanol that was left on a lab table, which caught fire. This is the fire that hit Neuberger in the face, neck and hand. It also caught his shirt, which he ripped off while the teacher rushed to help him.

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There is an uplifting story on CNN.com today about a burn victim who is not only is healing physically from his burns, but also psychologically. Here’s the proof: The boy, Youssif, was given a “certificate of citizenship” recently, which is an award for being exceptionally nice to a fellow classmate in school. Another boy got hurt, and Youssif helped the boy with his gashed arm by applying an ice pack and helping to stop the bleeding.

Youssif is proud of his award–and his family, his doctors, and his entire support system should all be proud as well. Four years ago, Youssif suffered third degree burns to his face–much of it melted, actually–during a battle among local sects in Iraq. But after dozens of surgeries in the United States, doctors have been able to reverse a lot of the horrible burn scars. Not only that, but Youssif is no longer the sad, quiet child he was in the few years after his burn injury.

Through extensive counseling with his family, he is now able to cope with the facial scars he still has from the attack, and he also has an upbeat attitude that’s hard to believe. He says his looks no longer bother him, “because none of my other friends make fun of me,” he says in English. His mother is so happy to see her boy like he was before he was burned. “His personality has changed so much,” she told CNN.com. “The way he interacts with people, and everything else. It began as soon as he started school and realized that the children don’t care about his appearance. It allowed him to have a normal life.”

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On October 31 in the Chicago suburbs, a fire at a residential mental health facility early in the morning forced the evacuation of about 400 residents to a village community center, officials said.

A mattress fire, probably caused by cigarette smoking, broke out about 1 a.m. on the sixth floor of the Lydia Healthcare Center, a long-term care center in the south suburb of Robbins, Illinois. The building had to be closed because the fire sprinkler system was activated and the building then had to be cleaned. Most of the damage to the building was caused by smoke and water.

Three residents and one employee were taken to a local hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, but none of the injuries were life-threatening. A representative of the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago said they were providing blankets and food for the displaced residents, and that they would be able to go back to the group home within a day or two.

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In Clear Spring, Maryland a few weeks back, an electrical malfunction in a stereo speaker caused a fire that sent a woman to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. The woman was taken to Meritus Medical Center east of Hagerstown.

Authorities said the fire started at 5:46 a.m., when a stereo speaker on a living room shelf in the two-story home caught fire. The fire caused several hundred dollars in damages to the home and its contents. But even with so little damage, the fire required 15 firefighters from the towns of Clear Spring, Halfway, Maugansville, and Williamsport to hose down the house for five minutes to bring the fire under control.

Most importantly, a smoke alarm alerted the occupants of the fire. Without smoke detectors, the fire could have filled the house with hydrogen cyanide-laden smoke so quickly that the occupants would not have gotten out alive–and all because of a stereo speaker malfunction. Remember this story, so that you will make sure to check the batteries in the smoke alarms in your house.

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According to a recent article in the Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota, a lawsuit seeking compensation for pain, medical expense and loss of income was filed in Northwest District Court in Williston, ND against seven companies on behalf of three men who sustained second degree burns and third degree burns when an oil rig exploded in late July.

The workers, all from North Dakota, were bringing up drilling pipe on a rig for their employer, Cyclone Drilling Inc. when gas escaped the well, causing an explosion and fire. Andrew Rohr, 53, and Timothy Bergee, 53, were hospitalized for well over a month. The lawsuit says Rohr has burns over 60 percent of his body, also suffered septic shock and now has heart problems. Bergee has burns covering 80 percent of his body, and a compromised immune system has caused life-threatening pneumonia, the suit says. The third worker, Jeff Morton, 39, of Stark County, is being treated on an outpatient basis for significant burns to his arms, said their attorney, Robert Hilliard of Texas.

“These men have all been put through hell. Two of our clients have more than half of their bodies covered with burned flesh. The third has had his arms horribly burned,” Hilliard said. “The bottom line is that six different companies failed to protect human lives [in order] to turn a buck.”

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On this day before Thanksgiving, as everyone wraps up their work and other responsibilities and focuses on enjoying the long weekend with loved ones, it’s the right time for victims of severe burns to step back and consider the good in their lives. And there surely are several positive things, and positive possibilities, in each person’s life, no matter how difficult the circumstances of one’s burn injury might be.

This point is driven home by someone like J.R. Martinez, the U.S. military veteran who has overcome second degree burns and third degree burns across 30 percent of his body to be a motivational speaker (partly through the burn-survivor support group Phoenix Society), a TV actor, and now a winner on the TV show “Dancing With The Stars.”

When J.R. was first injured in Iraq in 2003, he was not only in significant physical pain but was also very distraught over how he looked because of the burns across his face and head. But he kept saying to himself that things will get better as time goes on, and this positive attitude (plus 22 surgeries) have helped him to feel so confident that he is fearless in front of TV cameras and large in-person audiences alike.

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Here is a research finding that could improve the recovery experience for pediatric patients who have suffered severe burns.

In mid-October, a study was released by researchers at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Missouri that says that fewer treatments are just as effective as the present standard of care given to children suffering from burns. The research was presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition in Boston.

“Given the risk of infection, dressings for burn patients need to be changed once or twice a day. This experience can be traumatic, especially for a young child,” said Daniel Ostlie, M.D., director, Surgical Critical Care at Children’s Mercy and lead investigator of the study. “If we can reduce this trauma just the slightest bit by eliminating one of the topical applications – with no major implications for outcome – we can make a significant improvement in the patient recovery experience.”

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When it comes to extinguishing a fire, there is nothing to say except this: DO NOT try to do it yourself–call the fire department and let them fight the fire when they arrive.

In the event of a fire or a smoke condition, the only concern you should have is getting yourself and others away from the situation so that nobody suffers severe burns or smoke inhalation that can result in death.

You need some proof of how easy it is to become injured or killed by small fires? We have plenty:

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