U.S. Volunteers to Provide Burn Care Training and Care in Central America

NORFOLK, VA (01/20/2011)(readMedia)-- In February, a group of volunteer healthcare professionals will provide training, education and clinical care at burn clinics and support organizations in the Dominican Republic, on behalf of Physicians for Peace. During the mission, which is partially funded by a grant from the AMB Foundation in Phoenix, Ariz., the Physicians for Peace team will train representatives from three Dominican healthcare groups in three core areas: rehabilitation, nursing and psychosocial care.

"I have 25 years' experience in burn care, and I feel blessed to be able to give back," said Cynthia Hester, RN, a resource nurse with Texas Tech Health Sciences Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. "My work is all about the patients."

By working with in-country partners, Physicians for Peace volunteers seek to advance the skill set of burn care professionals so that they can provide sustainable care to burn survivors. Physicians for Peace founded its Burn Care program in response to challenges faced in under-served regions: burns are among the most common pediatric injuries in developing countries, according to the World Health Organization, and within Central America and the Caribbean, 70 percent of burn victims are children. The Burn Care program supports clinics in their efforts to provide holistic burn care by training nurses, therapists, surgeons and psychologists.

During a Physicians for Peace mission last August, Hester trained in-country Salvadoran nursing staff on current practices in wound care and pain management. On the same mission, Physicians for Peace volunteer occupational therapists taught clinic workers to make an adult UVEX face mask, the first of its kind produced in El Salvador.

"We left the country with fully trained, competent clinicians who are a self-sustaining team that will be trainers of future clinicians in this difficult skill," said Jonathan Niszczak, OTR/L, an occupational therapist with the Temple University Hospital Burn Center in Philadelphia and a member of the volunteer team heading to the Dominican Republic in February.

Four years ago, Physicians for Peace facilitated the creation of a consortium of NGOs and medical facilities that support 10 burn clinics in Central America and the Caribbean. The group's fourth annual conference took place last August in Managua, Nicaragua. The event brought together more than 100 professionals from 35 different organizations and 12 countries. The February mission builds directly upon the Managua conference and will include U.S. volunteer nurses, occupational therapists and a psychologist.

For more about Physicians for Peace, visit www.physiciansforpeace.org.

ABOUT PHYSICIANS FOR PEACE

Physicians for Peace is an international non-profit organization that mobilizes volunteer healthcare professionals to assist developing nations with unmet medical needs and scarce resources. Through effective, hands-on medical education and training, clinical care and donated medical supplies, Physicians for Peace develops long-term, sustainable, replicable, and evidence-based programs to help partner nations build medical capability and capacity to help themselves. Since 1989 Volunteers for the 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization have conducted medical missions in more than 60 countries. With its headquarters in Norfolk, Va., Physicians for Peace has programs in 22 countries and offices in Manila, the Philippines and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

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