6/9/2016
WHAT: Burn Survivor Sunday, now in its 22nd year, allows burn survivors treated at the UPMC Mercy Gertrude P. and Donald C.W. Birmingham Trauma and Burn Center to reunite and celebrate their survival with members of their care team, including doctors and nurses.
Celebrated annually during National Burn Awareness Week, which provides an opportunity for burn, fire and life safety educators to unite in sharing a common burn awareness and prevention message, this year’s event includes visits from a pet therapy dog, a balloon artist, Sparky the Firedog from the Peters Township Fire Department, costumed characters, and arts and crafts.
Burn patients also are being recruited for the local chapter of the Phoenix SOAR® program, a hospital-based, one-on-one peer support program that connects people with new burn injuries to survivors and family members who have been impacted by a burn injury.
WHY: Burn Survivor Sunday has been held annually at UPMC Mercy since 1994. An American Burn Association–verified burn center, the UPMC Mercy Burn Center was the first in Pennsylvania, and one of the first in the U.S. In addition, UPMC Mercy is a Level I Regional Resource Trauma Center. The combination of burn and trauma care services under one roof gives UPMC Mercy the unique ability to care for the most critically ill and injured patients.
In 2015, more than 900 patients were treated in the UPMC Mercy Burn Center.
WHO: Approximately 100 burn survivors, their families and the UPMC Mercy burn care team
WHEN: 1 to 3 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 31
WHERE: UPMC Mercy, Sister M. Ferdinand Clark Auditorium, 2nd Floor; 1400 Locust St., Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Note to media: To cover the event, contact Stephanie Stanley at 412-855-8690 or StanleySL@upmc.edu
