Press + Media

Written on February 08, 2021

Explore news articles and other media content featuring Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors:


Electrical and Construction Industries Must Work Together and Embrace Technology to Prevent Future Electrical Fires and Incidents

Technology in the electrical and construction industries has come far in improving overall safety and helping prevent electrical house fires, shocking incidents, and electrocutions.

IEC Insights Magazine 

Inspirational Women Of the Speaking Circuit: Amy Acton On The Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Speaker

Amy Acton is the Chief Executive Officer for Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, where she has served the organization for over 20 years. Amy is a burn survivor, former burn nurse, and leading advocate for the burn community. She has dedicated her career to promoting the expansion of burn recovery services and resources for burn survivors and their loved ones.

MEDIUM 

A History of Excellence in Burn Care

Shriners Children’s is noted worldwide as a leader in pediatric burn care. Since opening our three pediatric burn hospitals in the 1960s, our healthcare system has been at the forefront of innovative programs and treatment techniques that have both dramatically improved the survival rate for children with severe burns and enhanced their quality of life. Here’s a history of how it happened.

Shriner's Hospital 

Burn survivors group, Orlando Health team up for after-care pilot program

Amber Wilcox found the Phoenix Society two weeks into her recovery after a frantic 3 a.m. Google search for solutions to uncontrollable itching.

Orlando Sentinel 

Telgian's Russell Leavitt Elected National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Chair

At the recent National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) annual conference, Russell B. Leavitt, Executive Chairman of Telgian Holdings, Inc. assumed the role of NFPA Chair of the Board, a position he will hold for two calendar years. 

Open PR 

'Journey Forward’: Spectrum joins pilot program for burn survivors

WOODTV 8

Spectrum Health is one of six burn centers in the country taking part in the pilot program called the ‘Journey Forward Kit’ from the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors. The kit includes special products that burn survivors need, from lotions and creams to bedding. It also provides local and national resources and community connections.

WoodTV 

UMC one of 6 burn centers piloting a first-of-its-kind burn survivor kit

University Medical Center is one of six U.S burn centers piloting a first-of-its-kind burn survivor care kit to help burn survivors with the transition from hospital to home.

Newsbreak 

Phoenix Society For Burn Survivors Launches Engage Series

To stay true to this mission the organization is expanding the event Phoenix: Engage beyond the one-day format to seven events throughout the year. This will be done In lieu of this year’s Phoenix World Burn Congress, to ensure the organization can reach survivors where they are in their journey.

Michigan Business Network 

SmartBug Media® Earns Coveted Communitas Award for Work With Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors

Focus on SEO helped the organization increase organic traffic and connections with burn survivors.

SmartBug Media 



How to Cool Down When It's Really Hot Outside

Temperatures are climbing around the globe. Record heat has been cooking large swaths of the U.S. as well as Europe and China, and the hottest part of summer is still ahead. For most people, that means much more time spent as a sweaty, sticky mess.

Time Magazine 



As Fires Rage, Survivors Struggle to Find Care

With vast forestland, suburban developments, and urban high-rises alike burning in recent months and years, it can feel as if few places in the U.S. are safe from fire.

WebMD 

Phoenix Society appoints new leadership

Grand Rapids-based Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors hired Michael Gantt as COO and appointed Sandra Cramonlini to its board of directors.

GR Business Journal 

Phoenix World Burn Congress

The Phoenix World Burn Congress kicked off on October 22, virtually, speaking with the CEO of Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors about the mission and welcoming for many burn survivors.

WGVU 

2021 Fire Season Results in Collaboration

Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, the leading national non-profit dedicated to supporting burn survivors, launched a national campaign in conjunction with nine west coast burn centers, the National Fire Protection Association, and fire rescue organizations nationwide.

Yahoo Finance 

“Hold on to your loved ones.”

Wildfire survivor who lost children in wildfire offers advice for others.

Mirage News 

Kechi Okwuchi Talks Survival, Singing and Self-Love for Face Equality Month

As one of two survivors in the sosoliso airlines flight 1145 crash, okwuchi is using her platform as an entertainer to bring attention to the discrimination of those with facial differences.

Essence Magazine 

Identical Twin Left with Severe Burns After House Fire: 'I Don't Let My Injury Define Me'

A horrific house fire left then 2-year-old Michelle Anderson with burns over 90 percent of her body. But her sister Katherine escaped uninjured.

People Magazine 

I Suffered Burns Over 65% of My Body in a Plane Crash—But My Scars Don't Define Me

Kechi Okwuchi got the world's attention on "America's Got Talent." Now she's working to spread her message to other burn survivors: "You are more than what people see."

Health Magazine 
Providing Much-Needed SEO Help to a Nonprofit

In their first ever pro bono retainer with nonprofit, SmartBug Media® helped an organization committed to supporting burn survivors advance its SEO strategy.

SmartBug Media 
MAKING LEADERSHIP PAIN POINTS DISAPPEAR

Deb Minton, senior director of philanthropy and strategic initiatives at Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, shares why inviting others into your vision is critical for success. Deb dives into how self-knowledge and the EOS framework have transformed her personally and made her workplace stronger.

EOS Worldwide 
$1.5 Million Gift Made To Phoenix Society For Burn Survivors

Jeffrey Mosher speaks with Deb Minton, Development Director at Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors. Deb shares about Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, the leading national non-profit dedicated to empowering burn survivors, announced the receipt of a $1.5 million gift in honor of their founder, Alan Breslau.

Michigan Business Network 
This man with no hands can shave, grill and drive a car — and he helps other amputees learn how

Samoana “Sam” Matagi can scale a coconut tree, shave and cast a fly rod on a pristine river — all with no hands. Matagi, 42, is known on YouTube as the “No-Handed Bandit,” a moniker he bestowed on himself. Since he lost his hands in an accident, he has made dozens of how-to videos, entertaining step-by-step tutorials showing amputees across the globe how to tie a necktie, brush their teeth, drive a car or go rock-climbing.

The Washington Post 
For Burn Survivors, a Place That Offers More Than Healing

Nearly half a million Americans survive burn injuries each year. For many of them, recovery would be even tougher without the support of The Phoenix Society.

NationSwell 
World’s Largest Burn Survivor Conference to Take Place October 2-5th

Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors will welcome over 1,000 members of the burn community for the 31st Phoenix World Burn Congress in Anaheim, California

Yahoo Finance 
Phoenix Society Advocates: Part of the Solution

The summer before I went off to college to pursue my dream of becoming a nurse, I suffered an electrical burn injury at my job at a local marina. The accident, which caused the death of a coworker and left me in the hospital for two-and-a-half months, was preventable. In the time since my injury I have focused, or even obsessed, on trying to understand why this happened. I found myself asking a lot of questions: Why did I survive? Why did someone have to lose their life? How can I make sure something like this never happens again?

Sprinkler Age 
Protecting My Family’s Future and Paying Tribute to the Past

On Thursday night, February 20, 2003, I attended the “80’s Hair Band” Great White concert in West Warrick, Rhode Island at a little roadhouse nightclub called The Station. I had seen friends’ cover and tribute bands play this venue, so I had a little idea of the layout. I was with my fiancé and three other friends. Three of us went across the street to grab some dinner while the other two went in The Station to hear the opening bands. Never in my life would I have thought that about 90 minutes or so after we met up with the rest of our group in The Station, I would be in the back of an ambulance in route to Rhode Island Hospital with severe burns on my head, face, hands and shoulder, along with internal injuries, only to wake up from an induced coma 12 days later to find out that my fiancé, Donna, had been buried that morning.

NFSA Magazine 
Philanthropists donate $1.5M to Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors

A trio of supporters made a large gift to a national burn survivors’ organization in honor of its founder, who died in November.

GR Business Journal 
Interview with SHELLEY IRWIN

Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, the leading national nonprofit dedicated to empowering burn survivors, based in West Michigan, receives a gift in honor of the founder. Development Director Deb Minton with the details.

WGVU NPR Radio 
“I literally survived a fire.” Burn survivor finds strength in helping peers

UC Davis Health support group offers healing for burn survivors and their families

UC Health Davis Newsroom 
NFPA Electrical Video Series Highlights Surgeon Helping Burn Survivors

The Faces of the Fire video series is a partnership between the NFPA and the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors.

T&D World 
Sherpa Highlight

Just as every database is a little different, each person’s journey with their data has its own twists and turns. After working for the same nonprofit for over 29 years, Shari Ruschmann accepted a position at the Phoenix Society of Burn Survivors in 2019, when the organization was right on the cusp of big changes. Shari was immediately thrown into the task of helping to evaluate a replacement for their old Razor’s Edge database. It turns out that was the easy part.

Database Sherpa 
NFPA, ESFI Underscore Safety at Home and in the Workplace during National Electrical Safety Month

As people continue to balance work, school, and daily living at home, or are employed in the office or out in the field, it is critical that homes and workplaces are electrically safe, secure, and efficient. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) actively supports National Electrical Safety Month, an annual campaign sponsored by Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI), which raises awareness of potential home electrical hazards, the importance of electrical fire safety, and the safety of electrical and non-electrical workers, each May.

Firefighter Nation 
We Cannot Let Complacency or Progress Outpace Safety

Ensuring that professionals and practitioners are skilled on safety basics and emerging threats can be an uphill battle.

Occ. Health Safety