How Valleywise is helping care for Hawaii burn victims

The Diane & Bruce Halle Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health recently received a transfer of burn victims from an explosion in Hawaii that occurred at a New Year’s eve celebration.

What happened: The explosion happened at Aliamanu on the Island of O’ahu. Fireworks holding approximately 50 illegal aerial rockets tipped over and ignited in a carport which triggered additional fireworks.

Dr. Kevin Foster, the Arizona Burn Center director said in a briefing on Monday that this is a new situation for the hospital. “We’ve never had this experience of taking direct transfers from Hawaii, especially with this number of patients and this level of acuity, so this is unique”

Currently six patients are being treated by Valleywise, all in their twenties or thirties. 

“All of them have very extensive burns,” Foster said. “All of these people required breathing tubes and ventilator management.” Furthermore he said that he would not be surprised if the patients have PTSD, but that they have therapists at the hospital prepped for that. 

He emphasized the “commitment, collaboration, and dedication” demonstrated by everyone involved. “We have a couple people who work in the burn center who have volunteered their homes.”

About the Arizona Burn Center: The Arizona Burn Center serves as the premier regional burn center in the Southwest, providing specialized care for various burns, severe skin infections, and complex wounds. Boasting a survival rate exceeding 98%—among the highest in the nation—the Center annually treats more than 1,200 inpatients, 3,000 emergency room patients, and 6,000 outpatients from Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico.

It is also distinguished as the state’s only adult and pediatric tertiary burn center verified by the American Burn Association and the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

“I want to start off by thanking our partners in this whole process, the military and the Phoenix Fire Department for safely transporting these patients over a really long distance on Saturday,” Foster said. “I also really want to thank the folks in Hawaii who took care of these patients before we were able to take over. It was a tremendous disaster, it would be formidable in any city. And I think the folks in Hawaii did a tremendous job at taking care of these patients and getting them prepped safely for us.”  

Dr. Foster also reassured that despite the intensity of care given to these patients that the Arizona Burn Center needs “to take care of patients in the Southwest, so, yes, we still have capacity.”