Sidney Health Center Nurses Received Advanced Training To Treat Burns

Sidney Health Center is better able to treat burns after two Sidney nurses recently underwent advanced medical training at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Burn Center in Galveston, TX.

Registered Nurses Kay Hatter and Christa Veltman said they look forward to sharing the information that they received during a week of intensive training at the world's premier burn center with other nurses and doctors at SHC.

With this region's abundance of agricultural, industrial and oil-related jobs there is always a high risk of injury from burns, and they don't all come from fire, Veltman said. Chemical burns are also a concern. Prevention is the first step.

"The best way to treat a burn is to prevent it. We need to teach our children about the dangers of burns," Veltman said. "We can do a lot more for burns now. The chances of surviving critical burns over most of the body have improved through the work being done by the Shriners Hospital in Galveston."

The Shriners Hospitals for Children Burn Center in Galveston is the preeminent world leader in pediatric burn care and has been the world's leading pioneer in the advancement of pediatric burn research.

"The healing advances made possible by our medical and research staff have improved pediatric burn treatment and dramatically increased survival from burn injuries, improving patient outcomes beyond imagined expectations," said Angel Martinez, outreach coordinator for the Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston.

The trip to Galveston was made possible through generous donations from two local Shrine clubs. The Richland Shrine Club in Sidney, along with a grant from the Sidney Health Center's Foundation for Community Care, contributed to the expense, but the bulk of the funding came from the Glendive Shrine Club.

Sandy Stinnett, President of the Glendive Shriners, said his club decided to help pay for the burn training after learning about a group of nurses from Billings who had made the trip. Stinnett wanted children and residents of eastern Montana to also benefit from the training.

"I'd like to see more nurses from our area undergo the training," Stinnett said in offering his club's financial support for future trips by area nurses.

The Shriners Hospitals for Children is a network of 22 non-profit medical facilities across North America. Kids with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, regardless of the patients' ability to pay. The Shriners Hospitals for Children is supported solely through private donations raised by Shrine Clubs throughout the world. The Shriner organization raises more than $2.6 million per day to support the 22 hospitals in three countries. "This is what we do," said Tim Hert, Potentate of Al Bedoo Shrine Temple in Billings. "We help children. That's why we became Shriners."

"If you have money to give, give it to them, "Veltman said. "The work they are doing is incredible and it is helping children all around the world."