Bruce Harrison needed emergency burn care after being injured in a jet ski explosion.
Thanks to our Firefighters Burn Center, the only full-service burn center in a 400-mile radius verified by the American Burn Association, Bruce was able to return to normal activities.
The burn Center’s mission is to provide that opportunity to all patiens through care that both saves lives and protects quality of life.
Bruce Harrison doesn’t recall being a human fireball shot 10 feet in the air. His first memory after the explosion is standing up, looking down and seeing the skin come off his hand.
Bruce and his family were at Horseshoe Lake in nearby Crittenden County, Arkansas. His daughter had trouble recharging the battery on their new watercraft, so he sent her to the dock while he reconnected the charger. Bruce didn’t know a faulty O-ring was causing a gas fume buildup, so he couldn’t know a spark from the charger would cause an explosion and send him to Regional One Health’s Firefighters Burn Center. That’s where a team immediately went to work stabilizing Bruce, including treating him for shock and lowering his blood pressure before it killed him.
“I thank God we have this world-class facility in Memphis,” Bruce Harrison said. “I owe my life to Regional One Health and the Firefighters Burn Center.”
Once Bruce was stable, the team began to cut away the burned skin, pulling it from his hands, arms, torso, armpits and ears. They covered him with a skin-like medicine, and the process of removing the damaged skin was repeated every other day for months. But ultimately, Bruce recovered and again resembled his former self.
The Firefighters Burn Center is the only full-service burn center in a 400-mile radius of Memphis that is verified by the American Burn Association and American College of Plastic Surgeons, a testament to its outstanding level of care and patient outcomes. It features 14 beds, an outpatient clinic, surgery facilities, a rehabilitation center, research division and special cutting-edge burn care equipment.
The Burn Center’s multidisciplinary team, led by Medical Director Dr. Ram Velamuri, is dedicated to delivering care that not only saves lives, but allows patients to maintain quality of life. A patient’s care team is by their side through all phases of their journey, from critical care to intensive care to specialized rehabilitation to ongoing outpatient care.
For Bruce, it meant a second chance at life.
Bruce didn’t realize he needed to go to Regional One Health when he called his doctor to meet him at a different hospital. But thankfully his doctor did, and he instructed Bruce to immediately make his way to the Firefighters Burn Center. With no time to wait for an ambulance, Bruce’s wife drove him there from Horseshoe Lake, along with an escort from the Crittenden County Sheriff’s department.
Bruce’s face eventually returned to its pre-burn appearance, thanks to the staff at Firefighters Burn Center. “I thank God we have this world-class facility in Memphis,” he said. “I owe my life to Regional One Health and the Firefighters Burn Center.”