Allograft Possibilities

AlloSource responds to sugar plant explosion crisis in Georgia

On February 8, 2008, 62 people were seriously injured in a large sugar plant explosion in Port Wentworth, GA. Notified the next day of the disaster, the AlloSource Burn Care team in Cincinnati and Denver immediately jumped into action to deliver the great amount of allograft tissue needed by the Doctors Hospital of Augusta burn unit, where all the victims were being treated for severe burns.

The day AlloSource received notice of the accident it delivered 100 square feet of allograft skin grafts to Doctors of Augusta and placed 300 additional square feet of grafts on reserve for the burn unit. Later in the month, the hospital requested an additional 100 square feet of grafts. But the AlloSource team in Cincinnati was faced with another challenge: a weather forecast predicting heavy snow in the area resulted in the company’s normal carriers not being able to guarantee speedy delivery of the allograft tissue.

Determined to deliver the life-saving tissue to the Augusta burn team in time, Don Douthit, AlloSource National Director of Allograft Burn Care, chartered a plane from Cincinnati to Augusta. Despite more than 10” of snow falling in Cincinnati, the plane was able to get to Augusta on time and deliver the grafts to paramedics waiting on the ground, who immediately transported the tissue to the hospital.

Sixteen people remained hospitalized in critical or serious condition with severe burns for several weeks post-explosion. Surgeries continued at the burn unit on these and 21 other non-explosion patients that were already being treated in the burn unit. Due to the severity of burns and number of patients from the explosion, AlloSource prepared for 8-12 weeks of increased need of allograft skin grafts.

Today only two explosion burn victims remain in the burn unit at Doctors Hospital of Augusta. In total, AlloSource provided 1,200 square feet of allograft skin grafts in response to the disaster.

In late April, Tom Cycyota, CEO and President of AlloSource, and Don Douthit visited Augusta to help celebrate the burn unit’s tremendous efforts. AlloSource catered a lunch for the entire burn team, which numbered more than 100 people – covering three shifts at the hospital. Tom and Don met with Dr. Fred Mullins, Chief of Burn Surgery at the hospital and many others of the burn team staff.