European Burn Association

Transcription

1 European Burn Association BURN CAMP COMMITTEE N E W S L E T T E R V O L U M E 9 S U M M E R News from the BCC THE COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON: Mona Lunke (Nurse, Norway) VICE CHAIRPERSON: Anita Boekelaar (After Care Nurse, The Netherlands) COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Caroly Cripps (charity advisor, UK) Katarina Akesson (Intensive care Nurse Sweden) Marinke Plantinga (Physiotherapist, The Netherlands The BCC has had its bi-annual meeting in Bergen Norway in May this year. During this meeting the Prevention committee saw the light! The Prevention Committee is currently made up from members of both the PAM and the Burn Camp Committees, who meet twice a year. Through this committee we hope to establish a prevention site on the EBA website soon. The purpose would be to act as a clearing house for links to different organisations and countries sites for burn prevention. To include an image and illustration library that would be available for downloading. Read more about the prevention webpage in an article of Carolyn, the founder of the prevention committee, on page 4! During the BCC meeting Katarina sadly had to announce that she is going to leave our committee in November. Since the hospital where she works does not have a Burn Centre anymore and the fact that she has 2 small children, it is hard for her to find time and energy to go on with this committee work. We are very sorry about it, but we understand! This means that there is a vacancy in our committee. Normally new members apply during a congress, but in this case it would be nice to have someone taking Katarina s place sooner, because there is a lot to do! So if you are involved in Burn Camps in your country and if you think you can contribute to this committee in any way, please let us know that you are available! Since we also started as a prevention committee it is helpful to have interest in prevention too! So far about the last BCC meeting. ( photograph: Anita, Carolyn and Mona in Bergen) Other interesting items in this newsletter: Scar care at a Burn Camp (page 2) IABC workshop (page 2) Burn Camps for Adults in Australia (page 3)

2 Scar care - a nice activity at a Burn Camp! During a 4 days lasting Burn Camp for Adults in the Netherlands a few skin therapists and camouflagists came one afternoon to inform the participants about their work and possibilities for massage, camouflage etc on scars. There was a opportunity to feel a massage and to get real soft skin in a paraffin hand bath. All men and women who were interested could get a camouflage, make-up and colour advise. For many participants a brand new world! Tips and tricks: If you have sparkling eyes, people don t see the scar near your mouth. If you use the right make-up and wear the right colours you feel more confident in your daily live! And so one. A very interesting afternoon for anyone! The 2012 IABC Workshop The Burn Camp Workshop, held biannually, enhances the knowledge of those who are committed to empowering young burn survivors through camping and associated programs. The Workshop is a great opportunity to learn new techniques from worldrenowned experts, explore new ideas, share practical knowledge and experiences, make new contacts and reconnect with old ones while you re-energize and have fun with others who share your commitment to young burn survivors. The 2012 IABC Workshop will be hosted by the Alabama Children s Burn Camp, operated by Children s Hospital, Birmingham Alabama October 11-14, See: www. iaburncamps.org This massage by a skin therapist feels good! Practical advise given by a camouflagist DATABASE We have an ongoing collection of names and addresses of people in Europe who work with, or are interested in burn camps and clubs. This list is updated after each congress, and will be sent out to all who are listed. If corrections are needed, please send them to : monalunke@gmail.com TO CONTRIBUTE TO FUTURE NEWSLETTERS, PLEASE CONTACT ANITA BOEKELAAR AT Summer 2012 aboekelaar@rkz.nl Page 2

3 Burn camps for adults in Australia, organized by The Peter Hughes BURN Foundation (PHBF) The Peter Hughes BURN Foundation (PHBF) is a not-for-profit registered charity that exists to meet the needs of Burn Survivors and their families in times of trauma. Peter Hughes, Principal of the Foundation, is the man whose face was seen during the first hours of the news coverage from the Bali bombings in October Alongside Peter, the majority of the Board have sustained burn injuries at various levels of severity, bringing a deep understanding and a passion towards achieving the vision of the Foundation. Co-Patrons Professor Fiona Wood (Australian of the Year 2005) and Peter Overton (Channel Nine News) are also working alongside Peter. Also, Dr Peter Maitz OAM, Dr Peter Haertsch OAM, Christine Parker and Frank Li from the Concord Hospital Burns Unit have become Board Advisors the Peter Hughes BURN Foundation. All Burn Survivors deserve a normal life, when a Burn Survivor receives a burn injury they may experience issues and these may extend to the need for career retraining, strain on the family that all too often can lead to relationship breakdowns, issues with self worth, low self esteem, body image and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which can all contribute to isolation from society. We empower the next generation of survivors, by helping to build their resilience and social esteem and establish or strengthen their relationships skills. Free Services, Our services will always be freely available to all who need them, without regard to race, gender, age, political or religious belief, or economic standing. On the website you ll read more about the activities, like a meeting in 2011 in Yarramundi! Our latest Living Skills Enhancement Retreat was held at the wonderful Yarramundi River Park Recreation and Conference Centre at Yarramundi. We had 21 attendees from all over Australia turn up on the Friday and after our meet and greet we all got our bags, found their rooms and settled in for the retreat. After we all settled in we had our first discussion session and who was prepared for what was going to happen, no one was but what we found out was some issues that was haunting some of the attendees and some of the unanswered questions were getting answered. Some of the attendees were in different stages, some early in their journey and some not so and attending their first retreat. We did something different with the catering this year as we split everyone into three groups and they cooked dinner and breakfast. On Friday night we had American night which was decorated with the American Flag and the cooks wore red, white and blue. On Saturday night we had Italian night, the Italian flag as well as Adriano Bocelli. The catering was enough to feed an army and some attendees were not happy about putting on that extra kilo or two but said what the heck the food is too good. On Sunday we went for a day out and took a cruise up the Nepean River on the Nepean Belle Steamboat. The weather could not have been better as all attendees got time to relax and get away. Jessica Smith our new Ambassador joined us on the cruise and shared her amazing story with us on Sunday night. The weekend wasn t all about the serious side of things it was about having fun, letting your hair down, Buzz made an appearance and so did SingStar. All the attendees had a fantastic time, we made knew friends and shared our experiences with each other. Some of the us took one step closer to becoming a BURN Survivor and left the BURN victim part of their journey behind them. On Monday we all said our goodbyes but the friendships, the laughs will last forever. The quiet ones on Friday were not quiet anymore, a big thank you to those that mentored and helped them. They too were in that position and know lead by example, this is what the PHBF does; it shows all Burn Survivors to LIVE BEYOND THE BURN. Summer 2012 Page 3

4 A new Prevention Committee and webpage for the EBA. We are pleased to be able to let you know that the EBA has recently formed a Prevention Committee and will also be including a Prevention Page to their website. The Prevention Committee has been formed by merging two existing committees, - the PAM and the Burn Camp Committees. The Prevention meeting will be held at the same time as the twice yearly PAM/ Burn Camp meetings. The Website Prevention Page this will be developed in two phases. The First Phase - is to act as a clearing house for links to different organisations and countries sites for burn prevention. This will include International networks as well as European and the links provided will give access to useful material and resources in countries own languages as well as English. The site will primarily be targeting burn care professionals and educators but will also be suitable for others who wish to promote the subject i.e health visitors or other community workers. The site will include: prevention tips suitable for all age groups in varying situations; a selection of downloadable educational templates and links to available statistics. The Second Phase, which is still at an early discussion stage, is to create an image library for those wishing to put together their own community prevention projects. Examples: Artist: Steve Sharpe UK. We will invite all of you to contribute to this site! If you have interesting prevention information or images, please send it to: EBAprevention@gmail.com Summer 2011 Page 4

5 Burn Camp CD Next world congres Sept During the last EBAcongress a new CD How to organise Burn camps and other support programmes for Burn Survivors was presented. The last few years we have been working on new chapters of the booklet. The booklet was first presented at the 2001 congress in Lyon, where a burn camp workshop was held. Two years ago we have revised the booklet. At the congress in Lausanne it came available as a booklet and as a CD. The new chapters we have added now, give information of possible activities for older children, young adults and adults. For older children you can think of starting the camp on a more serious tone with conversations about the impact the scars have on their lives, and a workshop self defence for instance. Later on all kind of fun activities can be held. For young adults a sailing trip and a survival weekend are described. The booklet gives suggestions for adult activities like a residential burn camp, a national survivors day, a partner weekend, walking tours and swimming activities. And an example is given of a small camp held in Sweden, with items like horsemanship and Qi-gong. Our experiences have learned that specialised programmes for adolescents, young adults and adults are very much appreciated by the participants. As with younger children, companionship, sharing experiences and learning from each other in a pleasant surrounding, also benefits older participants. Interested people are invited to ask for a CD at aboekelaar@rkz.nl More information about the EBA: Summer 2011 Page 5