On Wednesday, December 21, Cook County Health recognized the Illinois Burn Prevention Association (IBPA) for their $60,000 donation, which has been used to purchase skin grafting equipment to help burn and trauma survivors.

“We are so grateful to the Illinois Burn Prevention Association for their ongoing partnership on providing support to burn survivors through their philanthropic endeavors. They have my deepest thanks for their generous support of our health systems and our patients,” said Israel Rocha, CEO, Cook County Health.

Cook County Health has one of the oldest comprehensive trauma and burn departments in the country and last year cared for burn patients at more than 2,000 visits across our inpatient unit and outpatient clinic.

“This donation and these tools are going to impact a lot of lives,” said Dr. Stathis Poulakidas, division director of the Cook County Health burn unit. “When people arrive in our burn unit, it’s on the worst day of their lives and they are not sure if they are going to recover. This state-of-the-art equipment will enhance the quality of skin grafts we can perform allowing patients to not only recover but regain a sense of normalcy after a traumatic injury.”

Both of the devices are used as part of the skin grafting process, in which the damaged skin is replaced by the skin from another area, which helps the healing process and minimizes scarring. The equipment will be used by CCH’s plastic surgery, orthopedics and ENT departments.

The Illinois Burn Prevention Association (IBPA) is a nonprofit organization that raises funds to support burn injury care at Illinois hospital burn units, burn prevention and education programs through the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance (IFSA), and burn survivor support programs through IFSA’s Camp “I Am Me” for burn-injured children and burn survivor college scholarships through the From Tragedy to Triumph Foundation. Over IBPA’s 26 years of running the annual golf outing, just short of $2 million has been raised for these causes.

“The Illinois Burn Prevention Association is honored to support Dr. Poulakidas and his team,” said Thomas Tracy, Chairman of the Illinois Burn Prevention Association. “The dedication that these men and women show to their patients in improving outcomes is truly admirable. IBPA looks forward to continuing this support for many years to come.”