BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Burn victims are receiving support Friday from a newly renovated facility in central Bakersfield.
23ABC News spent the afternoon touring the new facility and spoke to 23-year-old burn victim patient Alyssa Korum who says the facility has been the source for her speedy recovery.
"They make you feel at home yea like your not a patient like you are their family member," Korum said.
Korum was recently hit by a car and severely burned but she said if it wasn't for the new SA Camp Companies Burn Unit at Memorial Hospital she would still be at home waiting for her injury to heal on its own.
"They took me in an ambulance to KMC and I was there for like five days and they didn't tell me nothing about a burn," Korum explained. "They didn't refer me to no burn center nothing. They told me go home, keep it clean and that was it."
After a week of seeing little to no progress in her recovery she finally turned to the new SA Camp Companies Burn Unit at Memorial Hospital, which recently expanded their facility to treat more patients just like Korem.
"In house of course is ICU level, we also have hydrotherapy sweet, hyperberic oxygen chambers, we have a private room for children it's a play area to promote not only occupational and physical therapy, but it's also a great distraction for the healing process. Then of course we have a private parent room as well," SA Camp Companies Burn Unit at Memorial Hospital Spokesperson Darci Combs said.
A new one stop shop patient and outpatient facility for Kern County residents, a mission hospital officials said has been in the making for the last three years.
"Provides not only in patient for acute stages all the way through reconstruction, but we are right with outpatients so that we can have those services beyond the hospital available," Combs said.
A new and improved permanent and personalized space just for burn victims, that's making sure catastrophic care is more comfortable and convenient.
"Yea I can just come to my appointments when they set them it's really close... like ten minutes away," Korem said.
The burn unit also provides psychological counseling services that are available to patients 24/7.
