By Prentiss Findlay
Reprinted from The Post and Courier

A resolution asking the Medical University of South Carolina to reopen its adult burn unit will be considered Monday at a meeting of the James Island Public Service District Commission, Commissioner Eugene Platt said Wednesday.

The commission, which oversees a fire department with dozens of employees, already has approved two resolutions calling for the resurrection of the 10-bed adult burn unit, which was the only one in the state.

The first vote was in 2002, the year the unit closed. The second resolution approved in September called on MUSC to reopen the burn unit because of the Sofa Super Store fire on June 18 that killed nine firefighters.

Platt said the new resolution is in response to the nine deaths from the explosion and fire Feb. 7 at the Imperial Sugar Co. plant in Port Wentworth, Ga. Fifteen plant workers were in critical condition Wednesday at the 59-bed Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta.

The resolution notes that some of the burned workers could have been taken to MUSC if it had an adult burn unit. Adult burn patients from South Carolina often are treated in Augusta, officials said.

“We are not only concerned about the greater community but we are particularly concerned about our firefighters. We would like to have treatment more readily available. They (MUSC) do outstanding work there. We could do it here at home,” Platt said.

Platt, who is a candidate for the state House, said that if elected in November he would do all that he could to encourage MUSC to reopen the burn unit.

“We would support that 100 percent. I can’t imagine any firefighter or fire chief would oppose that,” said Roger Yow, president of the Charleston Firefighters Association.

Some Lowcountry patients who have been airlifted to Doctors Hospital for treatment of serious burns have complained about the hardship on their families when they are nearly 200 miles from home.

Today, Citgo is scheduled to announce a plan to provide a total of $2,000 in gas cards to families of the victims of the Imperial Sugar blast who are commuting from the Savannah area. Burn victims require weeks to months of intensive care treatment.

The James Island PSD serves more than 22,000 people with four fire stations. The resolution says that the nearest burn unit is nearly 200 miles away in Augusta.

MUSC had no immediate response to the resolution. The university, which has a child burn unit, has said that the adult burn unit closed for financial reasons.

C. Thomas Fitts, a retired general surgeon who operated on MUSC burn unit patients, has said a burn center is not a money-maker but it is just as important as the MUSC heart and transplant surgery centers. A burn center needs a strong advocate or it can fall prey to cost-cutting measures, he said.

Former state Rep. John Graham Altman, who fought to keep the burn center open, and police Chaplain Rob Dewey have also expressed support for an adult burn unit at MUSC.

MUSC closed its adult burn unit in 1992 when its burn surgeon left to concentrate on plastic surgery. The unit lost money, and it needed to see twice as many patients, or 300 burn victims annually, to be solvent, officials said.

Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charleston, chairman of the Charleston County Legislative Delegation, has said he is not optimistic about reopening a burn unit at MUSC when the economy is troubled, although he would like to have it.

According to the American Burn Association, 38 percent of burn unit patients are uninsured. And while the treatment is not necessarily more expensive than other in-patient care, longer intensive care unit stays often are required. In recent years, burns centers have closed in Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Iowa and South Carolina.

Burn specialists are usually attracted to larger institutions, and without government funding, a burn center is too expensive for the university to maintain, MUSC media relations specialist Megan Fink has said. The university is confident in the care that the state’s patients receive at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, she said.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postand courier.com