 |
|
||
| News | |||
| Click here for past issues of our newsletter Phoenix Update. | |||
| Phoenix burn
prevention program reaches 12,000 children - burn rates decline |
|||
The Phoenix burns prevention team has trained a staggering 12 000 children in
burn prevention since its inception late last year. During the
past 2 years, the population increase for children under 14 years has been
32 257 annually, or 2688 children per month. Under the current economic
conditions, poverty is rife, and the burns epidemic is directly related to
poverty. In 2017, Phoenix embarked on a large-scale
school burn prevention programme. To date, twelve thousand children in 29
Cape Town schools were educated in burn prevention and burn first aid. For
the first time, Red Cross Hospital has not experienced a significant burn
surge over the winter months. During the peak month of July, there were 25%
fewer admissions than in 2017, despite the population growth. It would seem
that this decline in admissions is attributable to Phoenix's prevention
campaign.
|
|||
| Phoenix and ABC donate
new laser to the Red Cross Children's Hospital |
|||
The Phoenix Burns Project, supported by the ABC Charity Challenge Hike and
Bike fund raiser events in 2016 and 2017, has donated a brand new Lumenis
M22 laser to the Red Cross War Memorial Children's hospital. This donation,
valued at R1.5 million, will complement the existing Ultrapulse CO2 laser to offer the full range of
laser scar treatment capabilities in this unit, making it the only burns
unit in Africa to offer this life-changing therapy. Patients who have been
treated with the laser are showing remarkable improvement in scar healing.
Thank you to all our donors for making this amazing, life-changing treatment
possible for young burn survivors!
|
|||
| James Haskell endorses ABC Charity Challenge | |||
England and London Wasps ruby player James Haskell has endorsed the ABC
Charity Challenge for the 8th consecutive year. Haskell said, "This is a
fantastic opportunity to show your support for Action for Burns and
Children, who are raising money on behalf of the Phoenix Burns Project in
South Africa. Your support and commitment to the project will help to reduce
long-term suffering to the lives of many children who have been badly burnt
or traumatised by the horrors of fire. With your help, we are now on our way
to giving them a chance of hope for the future and a better quality of
life."
To find out more about the ABC Charity Challenge, click
here.
|
|||
| Phoenix and
European Burn Association exchange experiences in burn care |
|||
Comprehensive burn care draws on a wide range of specializations beyond
medicine and surgery. These include a wide group of allied non-medical
professionals,
such as Nurses, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Social Workers,
Psychologists, Dieticians and other professionals associated with burn care.
It is often difficult for members of these allied professions to attend
major international burn congresses, so Phoenix and the European Burn
Association's PAM Committee teamed up to organise a workshop
in Cape Town from 16-18 January 2017 where practioners from Europe and
South Africa were able to network and share their experiences in burn care.
|
|||
| Phoenix provides
interactive audiovisual equipment to support physio in the ward |
|||
Burn survivors often need to follow a regimen of exercises as part of their
rehabilitation. Children often find these exercises repetitive and boring.
Popular experience (which is also supported by research) shows that
children tend to carry out their physio exercises much
more enthusiastically if they are part of a game. To this end, Phoenix
recently installed an interactive XBox games system in the Burn Unit at Red
Cross Children's Hospital. The system is equipped with a number of
interactive games. The children love the virtual environment and no
longer have to be coaxed to visit the physio room in the ward. The
physiotherapists simply choose the games that require the movements they
wish to see the children performing. The system also doubles as an
entertainment centre for the ward.
|
|||
| Phoenix equips therapy
room in the Burns Unit at Red Cross Hospital |
|||
The therapy room in the Burns Ward at Red Cross Children's Hospital was
recently equipped by Phoenix with a sturdy table and ten
chairs, as well as coffee and tea facilities, to facilitate group meetings for mothers. Most mothers of children
with burn injuries suffer feelings of guilt and depression that can
compromise their ability to support their child effectively
in the ward. Group sessions with the ward psychosocial counsellor and adult
art therapy sessions bring out these issues and provide a supportive forum
to discuss them. The therapy room's informal "kitchen table" atmosphere helps
to create a safe space where the mothers feel free to express their thoughts
and feelings, and is conducive to effective
therapy.
|
|||
| Time to stock up for winter - Fire Kit Appeal | |||
With the onset of summer we are starting to see a marked reduction in the
number of burnt children admitted to hospital. The quieter summer months
provide an opportunity for us to stock up our Fire Recovery
Kits, which are
in demand during the peak fire season in the winter months.
This is
because, in informal settlements, open flames are used for lighting, heating
and cooking. The cold temperatures, and longer hours of darkness in winter, mean
that many more
fires are lit, for longer times, than during the summer months, thus
increasing the risk of shack fires.
A
dramatic video shows how rapidly a fire spreads in a
shack.
Phoenix's Fire Recovery Kits are given to people who lose all their
possessions in a shack fire. The kit comes in a sturdy 100-litre box that
contains blankets, crockery, cutlery, toiletries, |
|||
:: Phoenix Burns Project ©
2024 | Designed & Hosted by :: |
|||