Search

Leilani is the mother of two boys. When her one son was 14-years old, he was burned in a propane gas explosion. He spent 3 weeks in the hospital and another year in recovery. Driven by her newfound passion to help burn survivors and their families, she left her career as a Program Manager for a detention center and began working as the director of Burn Survivor Services for the Burn Institute. She found MSKTC’s burn resources very beneficial for burn survivors and their families. Leilani incorporates these resources into the work she does now to help families in burn recovery.

Why does Leilani want to be an ambassador?

Leilani found MSKTC’s resources to be very clear and evidence-based, which has helped to inform her about her son’s recovery. As the Director of Burn Survivor Services at the Burn Institute, Leilani works to instill best practices on how to treat and manage burn injuries after clients are released from care, including managing the effects on families. She wants to continue disseminating MSKTC resources to burn survivors and their families in the burn community.

What has Leilani done as an ambassador?

At the Burn Institute and the University of California San Diego Health Regional Burn Center, Leilani works with the clinic’s social workers to disseminate MSKTC’s burn resources to clinicians and burn patients and their families. Wanting a way to condense all MSKTC’s information and make it easy for people to access, she designed a postcard with a QR code that links to the MSKTC burn resources page. She also emails patients and their families’ links to MSKTC’s resources. Leilani shares MSKTC’s Spanish resources with Spanish-speaking clients and the large Spanish-speaking community in her area, which has been helpful.

Learn more about Leilani (PDF, 1 page).

Kaitlyn’s Burn Injury Journey

Kaitlyn volunteered for many years as a summer camp counselor and the most common burns she would see were sunburns. Although sunburns put a damper on summer activities for many, they provoked her to consider the effects of various burns. Today, Kaitlyn is one of the Boston-Harvard Burn Injuries Model System’s (BHBIMS) research coordinators. Through her work, she has witnessed the physical limitations of burn injuries and their effect on people long after they leave the hospital. Likewise, it can be difficult for people with burn injuries to access the resources and services they require outside the hospital for various reasons. The extent to which their lives have changed prompts the daily battle to “thrive, not just survive.” This mindset has helped many people look beyond their limitations and push toward achieving future possibilities. The burn community’s resilience drives Kaitlyn to advocate for fire safety, burn awareness, and overall health wellness. She is able to act as an advocate by hosting informational sessions for people at Mass General and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospitals. Furthermore, the BHBIMS team has shared fire safety, burn awareness, and overall health wellness with the local community elementary school, thus facilitating the dissemination of information at an earlier age in hopes that they, too, can help others.

Why does Kaitlyn think people should consider referring to the MSKTC resources?

What is excellent about MSKTC resources is they have a wide range of resources, so there is something for everyone. Kaitlyn has used burn injury resources to inform herself and provide information to burn survivors within her community. Helpful tips on sun protection, employment, and pain management post-burn injury can all be found on their website. The resources in English are great! Their Spanish resources have been great for her community as well. It often takes more work to find quality resources with good translations, but MSKTC is making this resource more accessible.

Why does Kaitlyn want to be an MSKTC ambassador?

Since beginning her burn researcher position, she has learned many things. The first is that individuals with burn injuries are survivors that can overcome victimization. Secondly, burn care goes beyond acute treatment; many must learn to manage their health independently! Thirdly, seeing firsthand how burn survivors adapt and overcome their challenges with the help of resources is genuinely inspiring. As a Spanish speaker, burn researcher, and aspiring clinician, becoming an ambassador for MSTKC will facilitate the dissemination of aid to the unapproached Spanish population in Massachusetts.

What has Kaitlyn done as a MSKTC ambassador?

Kaitlyn currently manages the social media platforms for BHBIMS and makes it a point to share as many MSKTC resources as possible. She has the unique opportunity to meet many burn survivors at affiliated hospitals and offer MSKTC post-injury care resources to them and their loved ones. The training on the MSTKC page has helped her better advocate for the burn population and reassure caregivers of burn survivors there are resources at their disposal. After receiving these resources, she has found that people tend to feel more confident about managing their burn-specific health even five years post-injury!