How Resources Like the Phoenix Society Help Burn Injury Survivors

A burn injury can affect your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Successful burn recovery often requires much more than simple medical treatment. While first and second-degree burns are usually mild and heal without issue, third and fourth-degree burns can damage all three layers of your skin and sometimes the fat, muscle, and bone tissue beneath. These injuries can be life-threatening and result in permanent disability. 

The trauma of how your burn injury occurred, such as escaping an accident or wildfire, can trigger PTSD, nightmares, and crippling anxiety. Getting dressed, going to work, driving and other simple tasks can be overwhelming. Years of costly rehabilitation can leave you feeling like full recovery is out of reach.

For burn injury survivors and their families, finding a comprehensive support system can transform despair and hopelessness into a brighter future. Survivors with access to burn centers, support groups, and experienced burn injury lawyers stand the best chance of reclaiming their lives. 

Once immediate medical needs have been addressed, non-profit organizations like the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors can provide emotional, educational, and community support. 

What Is The Phoenix Society?

The Phoenix Society helps burn survivors “rise from the ashes,” just like the mythical phoenix bird. It was founded in 1977 by Alan Breslau, a chemical engineer who helped design Neil Armstrong’s seat on Apollo 11. Breslau was just 37 years old when he survived a horrific plane crash in upstate New York that left him with severe burns on 40 percent of his body. After 80 surgeries, Breslau met with a young boy in a burn center and realized burn survivors didn’t have much in the way of support. Today, the Phoenix Society is the leading national organization empowering burn injury survivors. 

The Phoenix SOAR program (Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery) works with nearly 100 hospitals and burn centers across the country, providing peer mentoring, educational workshops, support groups, community events, and more. Burn injury survivors can contact them to get connected with their own peer counselor and local burn support community. 

The Phoenix Society’s website has a massive collection of resources, from survivor stories and blogs on healing to a large list of national and local resources. There are also resources for caregivers, medical professionals, and children.

Burn Centers For Physical Recovery

It’s critical to address your burn injury itself before seeking mental and emotional support. Hospitals aren’t always equipped for severe burn treatment, and that’s where burn centers come in.

State-of-the-art facilities like the Burn Center at University Medical Center (UMC) in New Orleans have specialists on-site for every stage of physical recovery, from critical care to surgical reconstruction and rehabilitation. 

Getting care in one place, rather than bouncing between facilities and doctors, is far less stressful than waiting days or weeks in a hospital room. In addition, burn wounds cared for by general physicians often become infected later on, sending patients to burn centers anyway when they could have just started there.

The American Burn Association recommends burn center treatment for the following types of burn injury:

• Third and fourth-degree burns
• Burns involving the hands, feet, face, genitals, or major joints
• Pre-existing medical conditions that can jeopardize burn treatment
• Chemical or burns in electrical accidents
• Burns covering 10 percent of the body or more

Studies show that patients who go to a burn center have shorter hospital stays and fewer post-treatment complications. Burn, trauma, and plastic surgeons, along with critical care physicians, will work together to create a comprehensive treatment plan that will get you on a faster road to healing.

Burn Injury Lawyers Can Fight For Your Rights

When someone else’s negligence causes your burn injury, the recovery process becomes much more complicated. You can’t focus on healing if you’re worried about how to pay medical bills, lose time at work, and coordinate long-term care. 

Burn centers, burn recovery support groups and a competent legal team can work together to provide you with the all-encompassing care you need to move forward. The Louisiana burn injury attorneys at Herman, Katz, Gisleson & Cain have been fighting for burn injury survivors for decades. You don’t have to do it alone. Call us toll-free at 844-943-7626 or contact us online anytime for your free consultation.