As part of the expert team at our Firefighters Burn Center, Anton Hill Jr. helps patients with everything from cleaning burns to specialized wound care.
He also provides something more personal – the example of someone who has been in their shoes.
Hill was a patient at the burn center after being injured while working at a firefighter, and his experience inspired him to pursue his career as a medical care technical and soon as a burn nurse.
When Anton Hill Jr. cares for a burn patient at Regional One Health’s Firefighters Burn Center, he relies on his training and experience as a medical care technician.
Hill, 24, also draws on something more personal: his own months as a patient after he suffered serious burns while working as a firefighter for the Memphis Fire Department.
“I understand no one comes in here having a great day. It’s their worst day,” Hill said. “I’ve got a soft spot for my patients because I’ve been there.”
Hill, who was born and raised in Memphis, was working an overnight shift July 18, 2023 when his crew was called to respond to a house fire at around 11 p.m.
“I was inside the house, and the next thing you know, something from the ceiling fell,” he said. “It threw me to the ground, and then the whole house ended up collapsing.”
Hill was buried under debris, and for 30 terrifying minutes, he remained trapped while his fellow firefighters continued to battle the blaze, which kept reigniting. He remembers feeling the steam around him as water from their hoses hit the flames.
His colleagues were eventually able to free him, and rushed him to the Firefighters Burn Center with second and third degree burns to his legs, arm and abdomen.
“I understand no one comes in here having a great day. It’s their worst day,” Hill says. “I’ve got a soft spot for my patients because I’ve been there.”
As the only full-service burn center verified by the American Burn Association within a 400-mile radius of Memphis, the Firefighters Burn Center has a multidisciplinary team ready around the clock to treat the most serious burn injuries. Burns are unique and complex injuries that impact multiple systems in the body, often requiring surgery, intensive medical care, specialized rehabilitation therapy, and follow-up treatment such as wound care and laser therapy.
For Hill, that expert treatment not only helped him make a remarkable recovery, it helped define his journey for the future.
He had always wanted to go back to school to get his nursing degree, and was leaning toward specializing in pediatrics. But as he underwent care at the burn center, enduring four surgeries, he found himself curious about every aspect of his treatment.
He asked a lot of questions and learned about his injuries, and was able to relate to his nurses, many of whom were around his age and one of whom was even a former classmate. “My nurses were great – day shift and night shift. I have no complaints. I definitely had great care,” he said.
As he grew stronger, he started thinking about his next steps.
Rather than dwell on the challenges of a long hospital stay, he spent the time setting goals. First, he wanted to finish the classes he was currently taking. Then, he’d take the classes he needed to be eligible for a nursing program. Finally, he’d apply and get accepted to nursing school.
“I couldn’t go back to firefighting because of my injuries, and my ultimate goal had always been to become a nurse,” he said. “I started thinking about burn.”
So, while continuing with outpatient rehab and laser treatments, Hill was also getting certified as a medical care technician. In 2024, he joined the team at the burn center, where he is responsible for performing wound care, providing hydrotherapy to clean burns, and assisting nurses.
He’s starting nursing school in January 2025 with plans to graduate in late 2026. After that, he wants to continue working at the Firefighters Burn Center as a burn ICU nurse.
Hill will start nursing school in January 2025 and looks forward to continuing to care for patients at the burn center. “I like that I can do the job and also say I’ve been through it before,” he said. “I can be empathetic and sympathetic.”
“It’s been cool because everything that was done to care for me, I understand more why it was done,” he said. “You’re always learning. Every burn is different; every treatment is different. But fortunately, for a lot of our patients, the outcome is the same.”
Indeed, the Firefighters Burn Center has a documented track record of not only helping patients survive serious injuries, but getting them back to the activities they enjoyed before their injury. They accomplish this thanks to world-class resources and the highest level of expertise delivered by a team of board-certified plastic surgeons and specialized nurses, advanced practitioners, therapists, pharmacists, etc. who focus on helping patients regain independence and function.
For Hill, it offered a chance not only to fulfill his own dreams, but to help others fulfill theirs.
Professionally, he’s putting his passion for serving his hometown to work at the burn center and looking forward starting nursing school. Personally, he’s enjoying time with family and sharpening his cooking skills: “That’s been my hobby lately. I’m always looking for something new to try,” he said.
Meanwhile, watching his patients get back to their own families, hobbies and careers is humbling, and Hill is grateful that he can be a source of hope by sharing his own story with the people he cares for. “I like that I can do the job and also say I’ve been through it before,” he said. “I can be empathetic and sympathetic.”