To meet in the critical need for medical care for young burn survivors, the specialised burns unit at the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital (RMSH) in Kimberley has been revamped further.
Purportedly, 1,6 million burn incidents take place in South Africa every year, with 60% involving children.
Many incidents are rooted in socio-economic factors like lack of electricity and inadequate housing. Major burn incidents are often caused by paraffin stoves, open fires and candles.
With the RMSH being the only major hospital in the Northern Cape, it has a large geographical catchment area.
To facilitate the further revamping of the RMSH Burns Unit, the Smile Foundation joined hands with the Avela Foundation and the Signature of Hope Trust, and the second phase of the three-phase project was launched on 24 August.
The completion of the first phase already provides young burn survivors with a warm, engaging and child-friendly healing sanctuary in the form of a state-of-the-art paediatric section.
Offering additional facilities, rooms and wards to meet in the need for the treatment of burns in children, phase two includes a psychology pod – a dedicated counselling area offering psychological support to survivors and their parents.
Pod rooms and rooms for wound dressing rooms with different childlike themes resemble an environment far removed from a typical hospital and create an engaging, sensory-friendly environment that helps distract children from their situation and the discomfort of bandage changes. There is also a new and more inviting reception area.
Two of the many young burn survivors receiving treatment at the burns unit are Kano and Lamono.
Kano (8) from Kuruman recently experienced an epileptic seizure, causing him to fall into an open fire. Having sustained extensive wounds to his left leg and back, Kanohe was admitted on 6 August and underwent surgical wound 2 debridement – the removal of dead, damaged or infected tissue to improve the healing potential of remaining healthy tissue. Skin graft surgery was also scheduled.
Lamono (11) was searching for wood with his grandfather in Roodepan, Kimberley, when he stepped onto a live electrical cable. He sustained severe burn wounds to his left foot, leg, back and his right arm. He too underwent surgical wound debridement and will be having ongoing skin graft surgery.
Kim Robertson Smith, chief executive officer of the Smile Foundation, thanked sponsors for their contribution and said the foundation was grateful for the invaluable partnership with the Avela Foundation.
Smith thanked Dr Maria Giaquinto-Cilliers and her team at RMSH team for their passionate commitment to helping burn survivors.
“So many lives are being changed for the better because of you,” she concluded.
