Burn treatment center planned for Bakersfield

BAKERSFIELD

March 14, 2016

•  To be located at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital

•  “A larger burn unit that offers more comprehensive burn care services”

•  UPDATED with additional information from San Joaquin Community Hospital

Dignity Health says it has finalized a deal with the Grossman Burn Center to establish a new, state-of-the-art burn unit at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital.

Preparations for the new burn unit are expected to get underway next month after GBC fulfills its contractual obligations to San Joaquin Community Hospital.

The new burn unit at Bakersfield Memorial will open in a temporary space and transition to its permanent location at the hospital once construction is finished and all necessary regulatory approvals have been completed, the hospital says. There will be no disruption in care for current GBC patients, it adds.

“With the establishment of the new Grossman Burn Center at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital we are seeking to strengthen our commitment to the Bakersfield community and the surrounding region,” says GBC President and Medical Director Peter Grossman. “By building out a larger burn unit that offers more comprehensive burn care services, we can treat more patients locally and reduce the need to transfer cases to hospitals outside of Bakersfield.”

The Grossman Burn Center at Memorial Hospital will offer expanded services including an eight-bed inpatient unit with four ICU-level and four medical/surgical-level beds, catastrophic burn care, pediatric intensive care burn services, a dedicated OR suite for burn patients, psychological support services and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, in addition to an ambulatory clinic.

“With our full-range of adult surgical and intensive care services, and our continued expansion of the Lauren Small Children’s Center, we will now be able to treat burn patients of any age and acuity,” says Jon Van Boening, president and chief executive officer of Bakersfield Memorial Hospital. “The Grossman Burn Center has proven its commitment to Kern County and is a valuable resource and asset in this market. We are thrilled to partner with one of the industry’s most successful and trusted surgical pioneers.”

The Burn Center at San Joaquin Community Hospital will continue to operate as it always has, says a spokesman for Adventist Health, which operates San Joaquin Community.

"There's really nothing from an operational standpoint that is changing about our burn center," says Jimmy Phillips, executive director of marketing communications at San Joaquin Community Hospital. "Rather, we are just shifting the management agreement away from Grossman to focus on our local physicians that provide the care on a day to day basis.

"For the last seven years, San Joaquin Community Hospital has provided high quality and compassionate care to nearly 3,000 local burn survivors," he says.

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