UC Davis burn center celebrates 50th anniversary, honors chief surgeon

Fifty years ago, UC Davis Health started transforming care for burn patients in Northern California. The Firefighters Burn Institute Regional Burn Center at UC Davis opened in January 1973.

The team of expert surgeons, nurses and other professionals, who work together to save hundreds of lives from serious and painful injuries, marked the milestone anniversary Wednesday evening.

“Having a burn unit around for 50 years is a big landmark,” Tina Palmieri, chief surgeon told the roughly 60 people gathered at UC Davis Medical Center. “When I first got here, we admitted about 180 patients a year. Now, we’re up to approximately 700. It just shows we’ve become the go-to place for burns in our region. We’re so honored to be able to serve our community.”

Palmieri joined UC Davis Health in 1999 and is a national leader on burn care.

Endowed chair honor

During the celebration, Palmieri was honored with a new title:  The Helen Marian Bart Endowed Professorship in Burn Care. The endowment, established in 2012, provides additional funding to support the endowed professor holder in areas of teaching, research and service directly related to the purpose of the endowment.

A past president of the American Burn Association (ABA), Palmieri helped found the association’s multi-center trials group that has conducted more than $20 million worth of research. At UC Davis, the data coordinating center team has participated in numerous trials for that group.

Palmieri says she’s honored to the have the new title but is focused on carrying forward the education mission and advancing burn care research.

The crash that launched the center

The center might not have started without the tragic plane crash on Sept. 24, 1972, into Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour in Sacramento. The crash killed 22 and 25 others were taken to local hospitals that lacked the special care these patients needed.

Sacramento Fire Capt. Cliff Haskell, meanwhile, began working to establish a world-class burn center in Sacramento. His fundraising efforts became the Firefighters Burn Institute which, ultimately, paid to open/start/launch the UC Davis burn unit.

“Cliff always looked at what was ‘the next.’ He witnessed the burn unit, then saw Shriners Children’s Northern California locate in Sacramento because of the partnership with UC Davis,” said Joe Pick, executive director of the institute. “I hope he’d be proud that this legacy continues and hasn’t stopped.”

That legacy of support includes the care provided to burn survivors and their families after the initial trauma. In addition to offering recovery programs for survivors, the institute educates the public on burn prevention and funds continuing education for firefighters.

High-quality care verified

Pick joined the UC Davis team at the event to celebrate the anniversary and the reverification for the adult burn center and the Burn Fellowship Training program by the ABA.

“We’ve been training the next generation of burn surgeons through our fellowship program for 20 years now, in both burns and critical care,” Palmieri explained. “Thanks to funds from this endowed professorship, we are adding a third position that will combine burn care with reconstruction. We want to help lead the training of future burn reconstruction surgeons to improve care for scars both immediately and long-term.”

Verification shows patients, families, the government, insurance companies and accreditation organizations that the center offers high-quality care to burn patients from the moment they are injured and through their recovery. And that means every member of the team is involved in burn patient care.

“The burn ICU nurses are some of the most dedicated and hardworking nurses that I have a privilege to work with. I watch them care for our burn survivors with expertise, love and pride,” said Alessandra Renteria-Turley, burn nurse manager. “They channel this passion into helping to establish burn nursing as a specialty by the American Nurses Association and to develop the first Certified Burn Registered Nurse certification. I look forward to what our nurses will contribute the next 50 years.”

When the California Tower addition to the medical center opens in 2030, the capacity of the burn unit will expand from 12 beds to 36, to continue serving the community it was designed to support. That includes new equipment, which the Firefighters Burn Institute hopes to fund.

“The fact that the unit bears our name is huge to us,” Pick said. “Our commitment will continue as we donate for equipment needed for better care in the future.”.

According to Palmieri, the new unit will enable the surgeons, nurses, therapists and others at UC Davis to provide cutting edge burn care for more people.

“I went into medicine to make a difference,” she said. “Being a burn surgeon enables me to help people envision what they can become and then help them get there.”