TREATING BURN VICTIMS

The fire was already out when the Millersville Volunteer Fire Department responded to a report of a lawn mower fire one day last summer. But they found a boy with burns over 30 percent of his body.

Fortunately, the two firefighters who answered the call were first responders, people who have received basic training in emergency medical service. But about 90 percent of the firefighters in Cape Girardeau County are volunteers who have had little or no training in first aid for burns, says Millersville firefighter Neil Lavanchy.

Lavanchy, who also is a certified registered nurse anesthesiologist at Southeast Missouri Hospital, proposed that the hospital's LifeBeat program and the Cape County Area Volunteer Firefighters sponsor a burn seminar.

The day-long seminar, the first ever held here, drew approximately 150 firefighters, EMTs and paramedics from around the region to the Drury Lodge Saturday.

Among the speakers was Dr. Vatche Ayvazian of St. John's Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. He talked about managing burns and provided case studies of people he had treated.

One man was electrocuted while trimming a tree. Firefighters could not extricate him from the situation until the utility company turned off the power. After showing slides of the man's blackened body and explaining the extent of his injuries, Ayvazian put up a slide of the man with his arms around his family on a skiing trip.

"He recovered fully with zero complications," the doctor said.

"And he is fully adjusted."

That adjustment doesn't occur easily, especially for burn victims who have been disfigured.

Sally Frese, a clinical nurse specialist at St. Louis University Hospital, talked about the psychological factors involved for burn patients and their family. These result in part because the accident is "unexpected and devastating," she said.

She tries to help burn victims accept or face their injuries in small doses and to help them gradually begin to take control of their lives again.

"We want them to participate in getting better," she said. "The people who do participate have less depression and anxiety."

The patient's family also is part of the psychological mix. While the patient is merely trying to survive, the spouse or perhaps parent is juggling the roles of care giver and taking care of the family still at home.

"They need to be pacing themselves and getting back on some kind of normal system," Frese said.

Burns are different from other injuries because of the disfigurement, she said. "They feel very isolated. And there's the lengthy recuperation and the risk of infection."

Integration back into their normal lives is a gradual process that includes preparing the patient for the reaction they will receive from other people. "Part of it is choosing who you are going to be with," she said.

Another speaker was Linda Hansen, who last year founded the Missouri Children's Burn Camp at Lake of the Ozarks. They goal of Camp Sabre is to give children who have been burned an experience away from the rejection and isolation they often experience in their daily lives.

They go boating, fishing, horseback riding and participate in all the traditional summer camp activities. Children sometimes go swimming in the lake in their jeans and long-sleeved shirts at the beginning of the camp, Hansen said. "By the third day they're usually wearing shorts."

The counselors include firefighters and adult burn survivors.

"It's a healing time for the volunteers too," she said. "The firefighters see burn victims. They don't often see burn survivors."

The age range of the campers is 8 to 17. Nineteen children attended the camp last year, and Hansen hopes 30 to 40 come this summer.

The camp is free. More information about Camp Sabre is available by phoning (314) 981-0362.

Hansen's husband, Gary, was burned in a car fire seven years ago. She and other speakers said burn victims and their families learn that feelings about the experience can be triggered no matter how long ago the trauma happened.

"I can't watch `ER," she said. "For me that's real. I don't find it entertaining."