Hamilton General’s burn trauma unit once more treating severe burn injuries
For nearly two years, Hamilton no longer had a fully functioning burn trauma unit, diverting patients with critical burn injuries to a Toronto hospital.
That was before the arrival of Dr. Marc Jeschke, a renowned burn surgeon and researcher, to direct the burn program at Hamilton General Hospital.
The burn unit is now treating patients who have suffered burns to as much as 40 per cent of their surface skin area, and will be treating full-body burns by the fall. (The unit had been diverting patients who had more than 20 per cent burns.)
Historically, about 150 burn patients each year were treated in Hamilton - and that number is the goal for the rejuvenated program that now also includes a burn research centre.
To be able to admit patients with larger burns, it goes to show the work we've put in since we opened, basically in December," Jeschke told The Spectator.
In a Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) news release, he called it the beginning of a new era for care in Hamilton and an opportunity to conduct state-of-the-art research and science to improve the lives of patients."
Patients with severe burns previously were sent to Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital, where Jeschke was based. But in the summer of 2022, he left Sunnybrook and the University of Toronto for Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) and McMaster University.
He ended up bringing about 17 of the personnel from his lab with him to the General.
In addition, he said the burn unit has hired two new surgeons and one physician assistant, with another surgeon landing soon.
A new operating room for burn injuries is up and running, and equipment includes a laser to treat the long-term impact of burns such as scarring.
The burn trauma unit provides treatment for initial resuscitation, intensive care, surgical care, outpatient care and therapy," said the news release.
Jeschke said the bulk of the work to date has been building new patient care teams - involving nurse practitioners, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and social workers - and training that staff.
If you don't practice, you lose your knowledge; if you don't play tennis for a year, you won't be able to play in a high-level tournament, or whatever sports analogy you want to use," he said. It's the same for us, because we need to be diligent in how we approach this as we go up in (the severity of burn injuries treated)."
His HHS bio says Jeschke is a research leader with a proven ability to attract funding and grants."
On May 16, Canada's Stem Cell Network announced research grants including $298,000 to Jeschke's team, to investigate technology that would reproduce skin-like material to help rehabilitate burn injuries - what he has called printing skin."
He said the first-ever human trial employing the technology is not far off.
It's a huge honour, for us as a new lab, to get funded. To me that is remarkable."
The HHS news release said that investments in the burn program have come from Ontario's Ministry of Health, Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation, McMaster University and Juravinski Research Institute.
Jeschke said continuing to fund the expanded burn unit is a challenge, noting that the program has long benefited from the support of the Hamilton Professional Firefighters Association.
It's a massive undertaking and so we are dependent and appreciative of philanthropy."
In the past, Jeschke's has published several books on burn care, conducted burn injury research in his native Germany and treated victims of mass-casualty explosions in a hospital on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
Jeschke and his wife recently bought a home near Lake Ontario that is a 15-minute drive to the General on Barton Street East.
Jon Wells is a feature writer at The Spectator. jwells@thespec.com