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t m c » p u l s e | j a n / f e b 2 0 1 6 26 B y S h e a C o n n e l l y Patient Joseph Adam Mason visits the Blocker Burn Unit tub room to have his wounds cleaned and examined. Healing the Whole Patient Carrying on the legacy of the legendary surgeon for whom it was named, UTMB's Blocker Burn Unit uses a multidisciplinary approach to treat burn victims It takes a great deal of trust between a nurse and a patient to get them through what is a very difficult experience. It takes a lot of training and experience and compas- sion to do this job. — JASON SHEAFFER Nurse Manager at the Blocker Burn Unit recognized as having the highest survival rate for major burn injuries in the country. The Blocker Burn Unit was named for Truman G. Blocker Jr., M.D., a sur- geon widely renowned for treating burn victims. Blocker held numerous posi- tions at UTMB, from professor to dean, and was the institution's first presi- dent. After treating victims of the 1947 explosion of a freight ship in Texas City, which killed over 600 and wounded thousands, Blocker championed UTMB as a leading center for burn treatment, research and education. Today, the Blocker Burn Unit con- tains a six-bed intensive care unit that is uniquely outfitted for burn victims. "If you are burned and you come to UTMB, you'll be sent directly here for care—there's no waiting in the emergency room," said Jason Sheaffer, nurse manager of the Blocker Burn Unit. "For the nurses who work here, this is the only thing they do—take care of burn patients." Rooms in the unit are kept at a much higher temperature than normal hospital rooms to prevent hypothermia in patients, many of whom have lost significant amounts of skin, hampering their body's ability to regulate tempera- ture. Each room is also equipped with plumbing and drainage systems that enable patients to be washed right in the center of the room. Regular, thor- ough cleaning of wounds is vital for burn patients. For patients like Mason who are admitted to the Blocker Burn Unit, wound cleaning and debridement, or the removal of dead and damaged skin, begins as soon as they arrive. New patients visit the tub room, which consists of several shallow, metal tub tables. "They're examined by a doctor and their treatment plan is made right here on the spot. If they require emergency procedures, we will do those right here. That would be everything from central line placement to escharotomies," Sheaffer said. "After they've been here for a few days, they will start coming to the tub room daily for washing and wound care." Tub room treatment is provided I n the spring of 2014, Joseph Adam Mason was working an ordinary day when the unthinkable happened: a line broke off an insulator on the power pole he was working on, hitting his wrist and sending 15,000 volts of electricity through his right arm and out his back. "My vest melted to my back, my left arm had second degree burns," Mason said. "My right arm and my back had third degree burns. My heart stopped for a little over a minute." The freak accident turned Mason into one of the 40,000 people who are admitted to hospitals for burn injuries each year. Though Mason was living in Mississippi at the time, his injuries were severe enough to send him to the Blocker Burn Unit in the John Sealy Hospital at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB),