Burn Bulletin

Join AARBF on February 13th from 6:30 to 8 pm for our monthly Burn Care Professionals Support Group.

This group is designed as a monthly group in which burn care professionals such as Nurses, Firefighters, Social Workers, and other related professionals can come together to share their experiences while caring for Burn Survivors in both hospital and acute settings. The fires in Southern California continue to have a tremendous impact on the residents and first responders in the affected areas, and for those not in SoCal, the fires might serve as a difficult reminder of past fires in other parts of the state. AARBF holds space for any burn care professional having difficulty processing the impact wildfires, past and present, have on us. We welcome you to join us if you would benefit from support, or offer support to those currently in need. Our support group will be facilitated by an AARBF Care Manager aimed at supporting the mental health of our dedicated healthcare professionals, first responders, and support staff.

The support group will take place via Zoom. Please reach out to Michael at mknopf@aarbf.org for questions.

Did you hear the news? Registration is now open for the Women’s Empowerment Weekend, March 27th-30th in Oakhurst, CA. The weekend event is open to women burn survivors ages 21+.

Register today: http://app.campdoc.com/register/aarbf

If you have any questions, please reach out to Erika “Kika” Mendoza at emendoza@aarbf.org.

Mark Your Calendar – The annual Torrance Firefighter’s Spaghetti Dinner & Bake Sale is coming up quickly on March 8th. Proceeds of this event benefit AARBF and Champ Camp. We are so grateful for the tremendous support of the Torrance Firefighters Association, Local 1138. We hope to see you there!

Our hearts feel heavy seeing the devastation in Southern California and our thoughts are with those who have lost homes and businesses, those who have had to evacuate and don’t yet know if they have a home to return to, and of course, the firefighters and first responders working on containment. 

We know this experience can be especially difficult for children, which is why we offer a Children & Recovery from Wildfires guide, designed to help children and families respond to the psychological impact of wildfires. This is a free resource and we encourage you to download a copy and send it to your family and friends. 

Wildfires can also surface a lot of emotions for burn survivors. If you are a survivor, please remember your feelings are valid and it is important to acknowledge them and seek for support when needed. It is okay to talk to someone about it. Our Care Managers are here to support you. We provide both one-on-one peer support and group support. Please reach out to Martha Banks at mbanks@aarbf.org or Michael Knopf at mknopf@aarbf.org and let us know how we can help. 

If you are still facing the threat of evacuation, it is not too late to create a “go bag” with the essentials using the 6P’s of Evacuation:

• People & pets
• Papers, phone numbers & important documents
• Prescriptions, vitamins & eyeglasses
• Pictures & irreplaceable memorabilia
• Personal computer, hard drive & disks
• “Plastic” (credit cards, ATM cards) & cash

For additional resources, please download a copy of the Wildfire P.R.E.P.A.R.E. Guide from the AARBF website at: www.aarbf.org/prepare.

On Saturday, December 7th, we welcomed 100 guests at the Central Valley Holiday Party at the Clovis Rodeo Grounds. It was a great time filled with cookie decorating, bike raffle, food, and visiting with Santa.

We could not create this experience for our burn survivors and their families without our fabulous supporters who provided toys, cookie supplies, bikes, and volunteered at the event. We had 18 volunteers to help make the magic happen. 

Thank you to Central Valley Firefighters Credit Union, CRMC Burn Unit, Fresno Fire (bike helmets), Toy Drive partners Sierra High CSF, Coalinga Fire, and “Bear with Us” the Central Valley Chapter of Good Bears of the World.

With 94 guests in attendance, the SoCal Holiday Party on Sunday, December 8th was a wonderful experience for our survivors and their families. This year we welcomed additional SoCal community partners to help make this event memorable for our survivors and their families. 

Once again, we were fortunate to have the support of Al Malaikah Shrine Club who have opened their doors to us for the past three years. 

We had two organizations conduct toy drives on our behalf. Thank you to F&A Federal Credit Union for having a collection box available in their lobby. 

We also thank LGC and Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc. for creating and executing their toy drive. This fraternity is focused on community service, scholarship, and leadership for the Latinx community and more. In addition to their toy drive, they also provided volunteers for the holiday party where they could see first-hand the smiles their efforts brought to the survivors and their families.

We were also grateful for a generous toy donation from our friends at Children’s Burn Foundation. Thank you for your continued support.

Last, but certainly not least, we would like to thank our AARBF volunteers who so generously give their time to this event and others throughout the year. Thank you for all you do to support AARBF.

On Saturday, December 7th, we held a holiday party in a new space at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC). This was the first of two parties taking place in NorCal. Attendees has a great time with fun family activities such as cookie decorating, making ornaments coloring, painting, and holiday card making. They also got to meet Santa who was able to give out lots of toys thanks the help of some very special holiday elves.  

On Sunday, December 8th, we hosted our second NorCal holiday party at the UCSF Health Saint Francis Hospital in San Francisco. Having this party within the hospital, as with the party at SCVMC, is very special. AARBF’s Michael Knopf was delighted to see survivors who he first met while they were patients return to the hospital with their families for a fun day rather than medical reasons. It was great to see them be able to interact with the nurses and staff on a different level. Attendees had a variety of activities while awaiting their turn to see Santa. They enjoyed snowman sculpting, tree decorating, Jenga, Cornhole, and a variety of other board games. Even though it was December the ice cream sundaes were a bit hit. 

In addition to the holiday parties, Santa was able to visit burn patients at both hospitals who were unable to attend the festivities, greeting families and sharing gifts. At SCVMC, we were delighted to have our friend Rana “Lil Bear” Stephan join Santa for the hospital tour where they also visited the pediatrics unit.  

We are so very grateful for the many volunteers who support our annual holiday parties. At SCVMC, Linda Carrier along with her family and friends assisted with party planning and the toy drive through BMO Bank; Rana Stephan, Lea Lyn Zaballero, and Carissa Chezar along with other hospital staff facilitated the use of the room and helped to welcome families to the event; and Natalie Plecque and volunteers arrived extra early to help set up for the event. 

Making the magic happen in San Francisco were Donna Europa, Rommel Gotico, and Grace Rivera for providing the space for the holiday party and Donna and Rommel for providing the wonderful decorations; Amber Piggue, Berkeley Fire, Shelby and John Fischer supplied the amazing food, beverages, and ice cream that were so appreciated by our guests; Hydra, Chop Suey and volunteers arrived early to help set up for the event and Emmet from Berkeley Fire made all of the volunteers happy by arriving first and setting up an incredible coffee/hot cocoa station and breakfast for the volunteers.

On December 18th, CRMC joined the Fresno Fire Department who opened their doors at the Headquarters building in Downtown Fresno for a unique shopping day for three Central Valley burn survivor families. Youth burn survivors were invited to “shop” from toys donated from the Traffic Controllers Supervisors Association (TCSA). AARBF’s Katrina Arthur accepted the toys at a TCSA luncheon earlier in the month. This is the second year TCSA has conducted a toy drive for this purpose. The generosity of the TSCA also included a little something for the parents with the donation of gift cards to local retailers. Thank you, TCSA, your partnership helps make the holidays a little brighter and easier for these families.

We love our volunteers and supporters. We would not be able to provide the programs and services that our burn community has come to depend on without our team of dedicated volunteers and generous donors. As we strive to always show our love, in 2025, we are doing it a bit differently. Starting this month, we will be issuing an exclusive sticker to anyone who volunteers or donates $100 or more within the given month. Each month will have an exclusive design, representing our appreciation, or highlighting one of our programs or services. This month’s sticker represents our excitement for 2025!