New burn ward opens at University Hospital
The $4-million ward boasts a 14-bed intensive care unit.
Published Aug. 31, 2007
Although many other burn and wound centers throughout the country are closing, University Hospital unveiled a new, $4 million intensive care unit to rival the best in the nation.
The George David Peak Memorial Care Center, which opened Monday, is a 14-bed intensive care unit that was built exclusively to care for wounds and burns.
The center was previously combined with a general intensive care unit, but since 1994, burn and wound injuries have been on the rise, and it became apparent that the region needed a center solely to treat these types of problems, center director James Kraatz said.
"We have had an increase in the volume of trauma that we serve, and we really are the go-to hospital for the entire central part of Missouri," he said. "We even get people from up in Colorado and Minnesota. We are really a regional asset. I really do think that the care we are able to provide here is absolutely state-of-the-art."
The new addition also allows doctors to provide more specialized care for burn and wound patients, who nurse manager Christina Vollrath said require special care.
"Burns are so incredibly specialized that we thought we really needed to advance and give the burn unit the special dedication and isolation that they deserved," she said.
One of the special features geared toward burn victims are climate-controlled rooms that doctors can control based on a patient's individual needs.
Kraatz said this is a necessary technology because burn and wound victims often have trouble regulating their own body temperature, which makes them vulnerable to infection.
The center also has a large, on-site operating room that allows for many surgeons to work at once making meticulous work, such as skin-grafting, go faster.
The burn unit has a staff of three full-time surgeons and a team of nurses who are trained specifically to treat severe burns and wounds.
Vollrath said these factors are important because many burn and wound centers throughout Missouri and the region are closing and patients need a place they can go to for special care.
"These patients deserve a different environment that's dedicated to their wounds," Vollrath said. "That's just what they've gotten. They have more space and more technology and they really seem to love it."
Also, because different burn centers around the nation are closing, burn victims can always be treated.
"We are the only place in the state that never goes on diversion," Kraatz said. "We'll always find a way to take care of these patients. We don't cherry pick. We don't worry about if a patient has insurance or not. We're just trying to do the best thing for the patient, not make a profit for the hospital."
Kraatz said he has high expectations for the center.
"I can't think of a better burn unit, and I've seen a lot of burn units," he said. "We asked a lot of people, 'What could allow you to do your job better?' and we tried to incorporate all of that feedback, and I really do think that we were fairly successful. I really haven't had any negative feedback. Nobody's said, 'Gosh, I wish we had done that.' Preliminarily, we've hit a home run."
