Suites would accommodate families of burn center patients
Please note—this article originally appeared in the February 8, 2010 edition of The Fort Wayne Greater Business Weekly.Original Web site link
The Northeast Indiana Burn Council expects to open a four-suite overnight stay facility at Fort Wayne's St. Joseph Hospital by late April, council officials said.
The hospital is home to a regional burn center.
Doug Rodenbeck, the council's board chairman, said the Burn Family Suites of Northern Indiana will be for immediate family members of people who have been critically burned.
The suites will occupy 1,507 square feet of renovated space on the third floor of the hospital's medical office building. Included will be a shared living room, kitchen and the burn council's first-ever office.
Rodenbeck said more than $122,000 has been raised thus far for the renovation and operating costs, and council members have planned a benefit dinner March 6 at the Marriott Hotel to reach the council's goal of $150,000.
Among the initial supporters are the Steel Dynamics Foundation and Lions and Leos clubs throughout Indiana.
A number of details have yet to be worked out with the suites, including signing contracts with the hospital, determining how oversight will be handled and establishing a nominal fee for use of the suites.
But Rodenbeck said he foresees no roadblocks. He said the council has been working closely with the hospital to ensure the suites augment the hospital's operations.
The suites, Rodenbeck said, will allow family members to be close to their injured loved ones and provide comfortable privacy. No longer will family members have to sleep on the floor beside the injured or with their heads against walls in public waiting areas, he said.
"No one knows when they're going to need (accommodations), but when you need it, you need it bad," he said. "It's really, really a long hard road."
