BC Professional Fire Fighters' Burn Fund launch Crowdfunding Campaign for NEW Burn Fund Centre

VANCOUVER, Dec. 7, 2015 /CNW/ - The BC Professional Fire Fighters Burn Fund and SEE The Change Productions have launched an Indiegogo campaign to support the Burn Fund Centre Legacy Project in its goal to fully fund the facility before its opening in March, 2016. Campaign main website is: burnfundcentre.org

An extraordinary opportunity to build a new & permanent home comes but once in a lifetime for a charity. This is our time!  The Burn Fund Centre will meet a critical shortfall in accommodations for burn & trauma patients and their family caregivers. The new Burn Fund Centre will solve this crisis.

Each year over 800 children and adults from around B.C. and the Yukon are admitted to the Burn, Trauma & High Acuity Unit at Vancouver General Hospital and BC Children's Hospital suffering serious trauma. Patients generally stay at least a month in the hospital (but it can be up to several months) during both acute and reconstructive phases of care.

During this time, caregivers need affordable, close accommodation so that they can spend long hours at the hospital with their loved ones and be able to reach them quickly if necessary.

Once a patient leaves the hospital, they often require complex outpatient care. As an outpatient they may need dressing changes at the clinic as often as once every three days for the first six months. About half of burn and trauma patients are transferred to G.F. Strong for rehabilitation. They may require outpatient care for up to two years. Children require yearly follow-ups through their growing years.

When receiving out-patient care, the patient and their caregiver need close affordable accommodation that is conducive to healing for somebody highly vulnerable to infections.
There is currently a critical shortfall in appropriate patient accommodation for burn and trauma survivors that may potentially have resulted in compromised health outcomes.

The new Burn Fund Centre will solve this crisis!

Conveniently located at E. 23rd Avenue and Main Street between the BC Professional Fire Fighters' Burn, Trauma & High Acuity Unit at Vancouver General Hospital & BC Children's Hospital, the Centre will include:

• 8 short-term-stay, FREE of charge, furnished accommodation suites for patients and families while undergoing treatment at VGH or Children's Hospital, on discharge transition or returning for follow up appointments
• Common spaces for all guests; a family friendly great room, children's play area, large family kitchen, laundry facilities, computer stations, resource and games library, secure outdoor spaces, and a healing garden with plants chosen for their burn injury-friendly qualities
• Information, Referrals & Subsidies for Child, Youth & Adult Burn Survivors
• "Future Is Mine"—Adult Burn Survivor Program
• Young Burn Survivor – Summer Burn Camp
• Burn & Safety Awareness Educational Resources & Programs
• BC Professional Fire Fighters' Association & Burn Fund Administration Offices
• Ground Floor includes 3,200 square feet of prime retail space—a social venture to support the building's operations

Burn Fund Centre key highlights and donor generosity:

• City of Vancouver provides land for Centre
• $4M investment from BC Housing & BC Ministry of Health
• $2.5M donation from the Jack & Darlene Poole Foundation
• $1.3M pledged from Fire Fighter Locals
• $825,000 in in-kind project management services plus a cash donation to sponsor the meeting and workshop room by Concert Properties
• Ground Breaking – September 17, 2014
• Construction Started – November, 2014
• Burn Fund Office relocates to Burn Fund Centre - December, 2015
• Grand Opening – March 18, 2016!

The generosity of individuals, companies, and foundations is crucial to the continued development and delivery of the more than thirty essential programs; including equipment purchases and support that is so desperately needed by burn survivors, their families, caregivers, and hospitals. The Burn Fund Centre will bring all of this work together under one roof. 

"I was nine years old... I was a patient for almost two months... my family could not always be there with me, which is why the new Burn Centre that is being planned is so important for families like mine."                                                                                                     

~ Rhea Dyck, Burn Survivor

HOW can you help with the Burn Fund Centre?

Support for this project has been overwhelming and we are in the home stretch of our fundraising with only $440,000 of $13.1M remaining!  We need to raise the last 4% to fully fund the Centre - we are 96% there! 

This will be the first facility of its kind in the WORLD for Burn Survivors and their families, a truly historic opening!

1 - MAKE A DONATION TO THIS CAMPAIGN!
We are grateful for every donation we receive; together we will reach this goal!

2- GET INVOLVED - JOIN and SHARE this CAMPAIGN!                           
Let's get this campaign out there and let's cross the finish line together!

burnfundcentre.org (direct link to campaign)
www.facebook.com/burnfundcentre
twitter.com/burnfundcentre  (official hashtag  #WeAreAllTheBurnFund )

Anyone can help The Burn Fund cross the finish line by joining their campaign at burnfundcentre.org and following them on Twitter (@burnfundcentre), Facebook and other social media outlets.

Thank You for helping us get the word out on this campaign and spreading the links above. 

PS - Also enjoy our latest video from our Bright Nights opening event. The donations that night were $130K and our young reporter does a great job showcasing an amazing evening: https://vimeo.com/147075051 

SOURCE British Columbia Professional Fire Fighters Burn Fund

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