Medical & Fire Safety Professionals Remind Residents: Heat Your Home Safely This Winter
February 7, 2022
Categories: Burn Center
Tags: Burn Center
MAYWOOD, IL – Loyola Medicine and the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance (IFSA) say safety must be your top priority when heating your home this winter. Home heating is the second leading cause of home fires.
The IFSA recommends keeping anything that can burn at least three feet away from space heaters, fireplaces, wood stoves and radiators, making sure to pay close attention to kids and pets. Evenings are peak times for home heating fires. Always remember to turn off space heaters when you leave the room or fall asleep.
Make sure you have a home fire escape plan for emergencies that is conscious of older adults who may need extra assistance. “Older adults have a higher home fire death rate, and heating is the second leading cause of fire deaths for people ages 65 and over,” said IFSA Executive Director, Philip Zaleski.
Joshua Carson, MD, medical director of Loyola Medicine's Burn Center, recommends reaching out to your local burn center if you do experience a burn injury. "A burn doesn't have to be serious to call us for advice," he said. Signs of a serious burn include skin discoloration, especially if the skin turns white or black, swelling, loss of sensation and burns covering a large area of the body. If burns cover more than a hand-sized area or affect the face, eyes, hands or feet, seek medical treatment immediately.
According to Dr. Carson, it's important to have burn injuries treated at hospitals with dedicated burn units because as burn injuries become less common, most physicians are not trained for advanced burn care. "There's a lot that goes into treating serious burns. Some require specialized nurses or surgical care, occupational and physical therapists and psychosocial support throughout the treatment and recovery process. By going to a burn unit, you can count on the right experts being there to provide the appropriate care to treat serious burns properly," he said.
Loyola Medicine’s Burn Center provides the most advanced burn care to patients. The center houses an expanded hydrotherapy area for cleaning and dressing wounds and a rehabilitation area where physical and occupational therapists work with patients. An outpatient burn clinic is open five days a week to provide follow-up care. Loyola’s multidisciplinary team at the Burn Center includes specialists from pulmonology, wound management, nutritional support and physical rehabilitation.
About Loyola Medicine
Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago's western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC), Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, MacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from nearly 2,000 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. LUMC is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. and Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, the John L. Keeley, MD, Emergency Department, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois's largest burn center, the Nancy W. Knowles Orthopaedic Institute, a certified comprehensive stroke center, transplant center and a children’s hospital. Having delivered compassionate care for over 50 years, Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org. You can also follow Loyola Medicine on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or X (formerly known as Twitter).
About Trinity Health
Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, faith-based health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 127,000 colleagues and more than 38,300 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 26 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 93 hospitals, 107 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 142 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. In fiscal year 2024, the Livonia, Michigan-based health system invested $1.3 billion in its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. For more information, visit us at www.trinity-health.org, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly known as Twitter).