http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061208/NEWS/612080382/1001/NEWS
December 8, 2006
Legislators to push for state?s
own burn center
Two state representatives will push legislation to establish a burn center in Mississippi after a fire Tuesday in Lee County left three small children and two adults fighting for their lives en route to a Georgia hospital two states away.
The state's only burn unit - the Mississippi Firefighters Memorial Burn Center in Greenville - closed its doors last summer over budget and staffing shortfalls after 33 years of operation.
Public Health Committee Chairman Steve Holland and Rep. Willie Bailey both told The Associated Press on Thursday they
will introduce legislation this year to establish a burn unit at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
"It is a
moral travesty in my opinion that there's not a burn center in the state of Mississippi. How many deaths do you have to roll out, or severe injuries, before you see the reality of that," said Holland, D-Plantersville.
The victims of Tuesday's fire were
transported on three separate flights more than 400 miles to Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Ga., hospital spokeswoman Beth Frits said.
When the Mississippi burn center closed, agreements were made with units in surrounding states, and patients are
accepted based on bed availability.
Frits said Thursday that Sinias Grice and Lanazia Hunt, both 2, Natetreuna Hunt, 3, and Carlitha Grice, 26, all were listed as critical but stable. She said Sophia Hunt, 25, was in serious but stable condition.
Calls reporting the fire came in just after 11 a.m. Tuesday,
but it was nearly 12 hours later before the last of the patients had arrived at the Georgia hospital, officials said.
"I can't say enough good about the burn center in Georgia," said Lee County Fire Investigator Ed Fugitt.
"But our people have to travel a great distance across two states when time is of the essence. And it's such a specialized treatment that we have a definite need for the burn center in Mississippi."