The Firefighters Burn Treatment Society, Edmonton Chapter (FBTS, EC) was established in 1977 to support the University of Alberta Hospital with the care and treatment of Burn Survivors. All the funds raised over the last 27 years have gone towards :
- Research & Development for the Care & Treatment of Burn Survivors
- The establishment of the Comprehensive Skin Tissue Bank, which supplies tissue for Burn Units all over Canada.
- Sending young Burn Survivors to Summer Camp at Camp Chief Hector in Kananaskis Country for one week each year.
- Assisting to equip the specialized 11 bed Firefighters Burn Treatment Unit at the University of Alberta Hospital.
- Funds also helped establish the “Firefighter Chair in Burns” a Professorship dedicated to treatment, teaching & research related to burn injuries.
In the year 2000 the fundraising helped aid in the moving of the Firefighters Burn Treatment Unit from the fourth floor to the third floor to make room for the Children's Hospital moving into that area of the Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre. The new location on the third floor helped keep the Firefighters Burn Treatment Unit in the forefront of technology and assist the staff in the areas of Intensive Care, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Wound Care for Burn Survivors as outpatients. Our new location also allowed the development of a laser treatment facility for the management of severe hypertrophic scarring.
TWENTY SEVEN YEAR HISTORY
1977 – 1984 - The Magic Show
The first major fundraising effort was called The Magic Show. Entertainers were brought in from Las Vegas and Hollywood making this a first class show. The first campaign raised $35,000.00 . The show ran for four days with a total of nine shows taking place. A telephone blitz committee proved it's worth and the profit in the second year was $100,.000.00 The 3 rd show in 1979-80 was a huge success raising over $250,000.00 1981 increased to $450,000 and in 1982 from approximately 20,000 hours of volunteer time by the firefighters since 1977 a cheque for $665,000.00 was presented to the hospital. This was the year that the burn unit at the University of Hospital was officially named the FIREFIGHTERS BURN TREATMENT UNIT. The unit first opened with just five beds, and in 1983 a new 10 bed unit was opened in the Walter C. MacKenzie Health Sciences Centre. 1983-84 was the final Magic show, and a special effort was made to make it the best year to date. On May 9th 1984 we presented a cheque to the Firefighters Burn treatment Unit for $750,000.00
From 1978 until 1984 we used the services of a professional fundraising company. After all expenses were paid, we still managed to turn over a little better than 70% of the monies brought in. With this final campaign it brought our total monies raised to $2,975,000.00 .
On December 21, 1994, the FBTS, EC achieved a milestone by raising in excess of four million dollars. As of May 15, 1998, $4,400,000 had been turned over to The University of Alberta Hospital in support of The Firefighters Burn Treatment Unit 4C2. On April 13, 1999, we presented a Cheque to the Hospital for $100,000.00 to bring our total to $4.5 million.
Special Events Include:
Evening of Magic – 1991-2003
A gala evening put on by the clothing designers of Edmonton and area that included a fashion show, silent auction, dinner and dance. In total this show raised over $210,000.00.
Carnival of Champions
A day of fun for the family with the Edmonton Oilers and the Edmonton Eskimos.
Capital City Festival Marathon – 1995-1998
This event ran for three years with the Burn Society receiving a substantial donation.
Allstars Charity Baseball & Golf Tourney
1995- present
These two events have been crucial to our success in the past 10 years. Last year, with the help of XentelDM Incorporated we raised over $ 40,000.00 for the two days. Ex- Major League baseball players and retired CFL players graciously volunteer their services to entertain the crowd. Local athletes, radio and TV personalities join us at the Derrick Golf & Winter Club to help raise the much needed funds for the hospital.
Mothers Day Run
2000- present
A competitive, and fun run sponsored by the Forzanis Group that brings in about $ 1,500.00 each year.
Corporate Donations
We are involved with Shell/Scotford and Atco Gas as the recipients for their charitable donations via payroll deductions. The United Way donates monthly from a dedicated donations program. Big companies have donated very large sums of money to purchase specialized equipment for the Burn Unit. Volunteer & Professional Fire Departments from across Northern Alberta and the Territories have generously donated to the Society over the years. The Edmonton Civic Employees Charitable Assistance Fund also makes a substantial donation to the fund each year.
Volunteer Fire Departments that contribute to the FBTS on an annual basis:
These include: Vegreville, Valleyview( Peace Firefighters Hockey ), Grand Cache, High Level, Lloydminster, Legal( District Ambulance Service ), Tomahawk, Spruce Grove, Joussard, Enilda, Edson, Fort Saskatchewan, Namao, High Prairie & Ponoka.
Childrens Burn Camp
The Children's Burn Camp was established in 1986 and has been very well received by the young Burn Survivors. This week long outing shows them that they are not the only ones with injuries like theirs, and gives them a chance to ride horses, swim and canoe, among other events, in a comfortable environment. The camp is held at Camp Chief Hector in Kananaskis Country.
In 1983 a new ten bed burn unit was opened in the new Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre at the University of Alberta Hospital. This new ten-bed unit (4C2) was officially named the Firefighters Burn Treatment Unit. On March 18, 1983, our presentation of $725,000 was made to the hospital, of this amount $500,000 was set aside, with the annual interest to be matched by the Province of Alberta. This was to establish an endowed professorship dedicated to the treatment, teaching and research related to burn injuries. The professorship become known as the “Firefighters Chair in Burns”.
Recent contributors:
Callingwood Safeway: 2003-04
This wonderful group of people chose our society as their “charity of choice”. In just two years we raised over $ 102,000.00 by holding in store raffles as well as organizing an event called “ Beat The Heat “. A jail & bail type event that alone raised over $50,000.00 .
Several other Safeway stores in the Edmonton area have also contributed to our cause over the years. Canada Safeway has been a huge supporter of ours, with the Inglewood store in St.Albert supporting us this year (2004-05).
- Donations for the past 5 years
2000- $ 260,000.00
2001- $ 235,000.00
2002- $ 150,000.00
2003- $ 182,000.00
2004- $ 210,000.00
With the monies raised this past year the annual cheque presentation this March(2005) will put us over the six million dollar mark for total funds raised since 1977.
Special thanks for years of contributions:
Shell/Scotford
Canada Safeway
Univar Canada Limited
United Way
Tempest Fire Systems
Billingsgate Fish Company
Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation
Edmonton Public Teachers Local 37
Highlands Golf & Country Club
Callingwood Business Assn.
Lazy Boy Canada
Chemco Electrical Contractors Ltd.
Tyco/Simplex Grinnell
Telus Corporation
Red Knights International Motorcycle Club
Edmonton Fire Fighters' Union Local 209
Edmonton Emergency Response Department
Thousands of dollars are also donated each year through bereavements.
Several companies and groups have donated very generous amounts of money to our society over the years and I would like to say thank you, and we hope that you will consider our cause in the future.
Back to top of Page
PLASTIC SURGERY / WOUND HEALING RESEARCH GROUP
FIREFIGHTERS' BURN TREATMENT UNIT
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA HOSPITAL
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA
Despite numerous burn prevention
campaigns sponsored by international, national and local organizations over the last 30
years, burn injury continues to be a considerable health hazard for many people, including
children. Unprecedented recovery from burn trauma is now becoming more common as
resuscitative and intensive care management of thermally injured patients improves.
Despite this major improvement, the
quality of survival for many burn patients is compromised by the development of
hypertrophic scarring (HSc) which limits function and is cosmetically deforming. During
the past several years, we have found that some naturally expressing proteins, known as
fibrogenic growth factors, are involved in the development of this devastating disorder.
Our research interests focus on understanding the mechanisms by which persistent and
overexpression of these fibrogenic factors, such as insulin-like growth factor-1 and
transforming growth factor- 1, promote the development of fibroproliferative disorders
such as post-burn hypertrophic scarring.
Exploring this mechanism will allow us the understanding
to attempt to overcome these problems by finding a therapeutic agent(s) to normalize the
expression of these fibrogenic factors at the site of injury. The results of our recent
experiments demonstrate that interferon alpha has this characteristic feature and
therefore can be used to treat post-burn hypertrophic scarring. As this therapeutic agent
cannot be used orally or topically, one of our current approaches is to encapsulate
interferon into lipid vesicles called liposomes which is penetrable through human skin and
thereby delivering this therapeutic agent into the post-burn hypertrophic scarring with
minimal discomfort and inconvenience to the patient.
Back to top of Page
|
