Alyssa is ready and excited for school!
Burn injuries are some of the most painful injuries that a person can experience, and may take years of surgeries and treatment to fully heal. However, for many burn survivors, the emotional difficulties of readjusting to the world after their injuries can be almost as hard, if not harder, than their physical recovery. Due to the fact that burns can so dramatically change a survivor’s appearance, they can be bullied, stared at, or treated inferior to others, causing new activities, like going back to school, to be a scary prospect.
To help support school-aged burn survivors, AARBF provides Back-to-School presentations at the survivors’ school to ensure an environment of acceptance by talking about the physical and emotional ramifications of a burn injury, give peers the opportunity to ask questions about burns and burn injuries, and to teach essential burn prevention and fire safety messages.
In April 2011, Margarita Rodriguez, AARBF Survivor Services/Prevention Coordinator, and Stacey “Snoopy” Shames went to Powell Elementary School in Glendora, CA, to provide a Back-to-School presentation to several grades for Alyssa, a young burn survivor who was being bullied by older children because of her scars. Since that presentation, Alyssa’s mother reports that she is doing better in school and looking forward to Champ Camp this summer.
Fermina, Alyssa’s mother writes, “We really want to thank the Foundation for helping us with the back to school presentation and for allowing Alyssa to participate in Champ Camp. We don’t know what we would do without AARBF. We really hope that those reading this can help the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation spread the word about their services to burn survivors.”
If you or someone you know is in need of a Back-to-School presentation, please, contact your local AARBF office (www.AARBF.org) for more information.
