Dr. Victor Joe, director of UC Irvine Regional Burn Center, is overseeing her treatment, which includes multiple skin grafts and other surgeries to address complications of the major burns.

“Jane’s wounds cover her chest and much of her back but she seems pretty resilient,” Joe said. “We wanted her to regain her strength in the first week or so here before we started doing skin grafts.”

Treatment in the hospital will take approximately one month, and will be followed by regular outpatient visits and therapy lasting up to a year. Jane will stay with family members during outpatient  care.

Medical expenses will be covered thanks to a special relationship between Circle of Care Burn Foundation and UC Irvine Medical Center. She is the first patient to benefit from an arrangement that both organizations hope will heal many others.

Jane Doe came to UC Irvine Medical Center on March 1, after having gained legal entry into the U.S. on a humanitarian visa that allows her to have access to care not available in Mexico.

“Jane had no access to proper medical care, no money and nowhere to turn, and the board of Circle of Care Burn Foundation stepped up to help an international burn survivor, one who was just across our border,” said Linda David, executive director of the Circle of Care Burn Foundation.   “Jane is a brave woman who deserves the protection and quality of care we offer. Her recovery will be a testament to her heroism and the encouragement of those around her.”

The Circle of Care Burn Foundation also provides direct support to burn survivors from UC Irvine Regional Burn Center that includes in-home nursing, burn pressure garments, and physical and occupational therapy. In some cases, the foundation provided assistance to patients whose injury had caused financial hardship and it helped underwrite the 2012 UC Irvine Burn Survivor Picnic attending by 250 burn survivors and their families.

For further information on Jane or to help support her healing journey, please visit www.circleofcareburnfoundation.org

UC Irvine Regional Burn Center is Orange County’s only American Burn Association and American College of Surgeons-verified burn center. It has been a national leader in providing burn care since 1967.

Circle of Care Burn Foundation is a local 501(C)3 non-profit based in Encino, Calif.  The foundation was founded in 2005 and its mission is to improve the lives of burn survivors and their families.  Our programs address the physical, psychological and financial challenges that accompany a catastrophic burn injury and importantly, COCBF provides assistance to survivors and their families throughout their entire healing journey.

UC Irvine Health comprises the clinical, medical education and research enterprises of the University of California, Irvine. UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, Calif. is a 411-bed acute care hospital providing tertiary and quaternary care, ambulatory and specialty medical clinics, behavioral health and rehabilitation. It is the primary teaching location for UC Irvine School of Medicine, which is ranked as one of the top 50 U.S. medical schools for research by U.S. News. The School of Medicine includes more than 730 faculty members, 700 residents and fellows, and graduates more than 100 medical students annually. UC Irvine Health serves a region of more than 3 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County.

About the University of California, Irvine:Founded in 1965, UCI is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UCI is among the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system, with more than 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,400 staff. Orange County’s second-largest employer, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $4.3 billion. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu.

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Dr. Robert Bristow

IN THE MEDIA: The New York Times highlighted a study led by UC Irvine’s Dr. Robert Bristow which found that most women with ovarian cancer don’t get the proper treatment for their disease:

Most women with ovarian cancer receive inadequate care and miss out on treatments that could add a year or more to their lives, a new study has found.

The results highlight what many experts say is a neglected problem: widespread, persistent flaws in the care of women with this disease, which kills 15,000 a year in the United States. About 22,000 new cases are diagnosed annually, most of them discovered at an advanced stage and needing aggressive treatment. Worldwide, there are about 200,000 new cases a year.

Cancer specialists around the country say the main reason for the poor care is that most women are treated by doctors and hospitals that see few cases of the disease and lack expertise in the complex surgery and chemotherapy that can prolong life.

“If we could just make sure that women get to the people who are trained to take care of them, the impact would be much greater than that of any new chemotherapy drug or biological agent,” said Dr. Robert E. Bristow, the director of gynecologic oncology at the University of California, Irvine, and lead author of the new study presented on Monday at a meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology in Los Angeles.

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Dr. Leonard Sender

IN THE NEWS: The Orange County Register interviewed Dr. Leonard Sender for an article about the unrealistic view of cancer shown in the movies:

Dr. Leonard Sender, a UC Irvine oncologist who specializes in young-adult cancer, said when he watches movies, he particularly focuses on the portrayals of doctors, sometimes cringing at their arrogance.

He attended an event where Will Reiser, the screenwriter of “50/50,” spoke about the 2011 film, which was based on his diagnosis of spinal cancer at 25. In the movie, the character played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt undergoes chemotherapy, sees a therapist and ultimately survives.

“I thought it was really realistic,” Sender said. “Not everyone has to die in the movies. A lot more people are surviving from cancer than dying of cancer.”

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Dr. Jose Carrillo, 36, uses his iPad to explain a patient’s case to third-year medical student Michelle Wedemeyer, 32, of Newport Beach. MACKENZIE REISS/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

IN THE MEDIA: The Orange County Register took a look at how iPads are used in the iMedEd initiative of the UC Irvine School of Medicine, which Apple recently recognized as a distinguished program:

UC Irvine’s pioneering medical school program put an iPad loaded with books, apps and notes covering the first year of curriculum in the hands of 104 incoming medical students a few months after Apple debuted the devices in 2010…

Apple last week singled out UCI’s trailblazing iMedEd Initiative as a distinguished program for its use of the company’s tablets. In addition, the medical school announced a 23 percent increase in scores, on average, on the initial test for a medical license taken by the first class to get iPads.

“Hopefully this will encourage other schools now that they can see it wasn’t a detriment,” said Dr. Warren Wiechmann, who heads up implementation of the program.

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“Our goal is to provide insight and strategies to enhance the quality of life and cognitive function for people with epilepsy,” said Dr. Jack Lin, conference chairman and associate professor of neurology at UC Irvine.

The first session will focus on the influence of stress on epilepsy, as well as such complementary and alternative treatments as herbal therapy, dietary modification and exercise. The second session will address individualized approaches to treating epilepsy, including tailored drug and surgical therapies. Additional speakers will discuss epilepsy and the creative mind and how sleep and epilepsy interact.

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The first-floor Gavin Herbert Eye Institute clinical center will be named the Arnold & Mabel Beckman Foundation Center for Vision Care in honor of the late inventor and his wife.

UC Irvine’s Gavin Herbert Eye Institute has been awarded a $3 million grant from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation for fellowships and instruments that advance research to prevent blindness caused by such diseases as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

“We are grateful to the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation for demonstrating confidence in the quality of scientific discovery taking place at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute,” said Dr. Roger Steinert, professor and chair of ophthalmology and director of the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute. “Researchers here share the late Dr. Beckman’s commitment to excellence and will use this grant to strategically support our bold goal of eradicating blindness by 2020.”

The Beckman Foundation grant includes $1 million for state-of-the-art instruments designed to perform promising medical procedures such as stem cell transplantation for retinal degeneration.

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The event was begun after the 2011 shootings in Tucson to honor the humanistic actions of Randall Friese, MD, the trauma surgeon who first treated shooting victim Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.  Dr. Friese said that the most important thing he did for Giffords in the emergency room was to take her hand and tell her that she would be cared for.

To honor that spirit of caring, the Gold Humanism Honor Society of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation created  GHHS Solidarity Day for Compassionate Patient Care, when medical schools and healthcare institutions across North America create and undertake projects demonstrating the importance of empathy and compassion in patient care.

This year, UC Irvine School of Medicine will support compassionate patient care by focusing on the Art of Solidarity.  Between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., art displays from Plexus, UC Irvine’s Journal of Arts and Humanities may be viewed at UC Irvine Medical Center in the lobby of the UC Irvine Douglas Hospital.  The event will also feature musical performances by Music to Heal and the UCI MEDleys, an a cappella group consisting of medical students, and a station to make “thank you” cards and Valentines to give to members of the medical community who have displayed compassionate patient care.

Particiating medical students will wear red or pink as show their support for compassionate patient care.  Honor Society members Diana Cholakian, Brandon Sievers, and Jacquelyn Haskell, along with faculty advisor Dr. Laura Mosqueda, were this year’s Solidarity Day organizers.

“Like Dr. Friese, UC Irvine Medical Center, is making a difference in people’s lives by its contribution to compassionate care on this, and every other day it is practiced,” said Jacqueline Mintz, executive director of GHHS.

For more information about GHHS Solidarity Day for Compassionate Patient Care, visit http://bit.ly/SolidarityDay2013.

The Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) is an international initiative of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation comprised of over 15,000 medical students, faculty and administrators recognized for practicing compassionate, patient centered care.  GHHS maintains a networked community which shares ideas, resources and support to sustain and advocate for humanism in medicine. For more information about GHHS watch http://bit.ly/GHHSvideo.

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation works to improve healing and healthcare outcomes by restoring the balance between the cutting edge science of medicine and compassionate, patient centered care.  Learn more about their work at www.humanism-in-medicine.org.

About UC Irvine Medical Center: Orange County’s only university hospital, UC Irvine Medical Center offers acute- and general-care services at its new, 482,000-square-foot UC Irvine Douglas Hospital and is home to the county’s only Level I trauma center, American College of Surgeons-verified regional burn center and National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. For 12 consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report has counted UC Irvine among “America’s Best Hospitals.”

Digital notes, outlines and diagrams dowloaded onto iPads aid students during lecture courses in the UC Irvine School of Medicine. It’s part of the iMedEd Initiative. STEVE ZYLIUS/ UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

The iMedEd Initiative – UC Irvine’s innovative medical education program based on iPad tablet computing – has been chosen as a 2012-13 Apple Distinguished Program.

This year, iMedEd Initiative joins select programs that Apple is honoring nationwide as exemplary learning environments. The Apple Distinguished Program designation is reserved for programs that integrate Apple technology into education and meet criteria for visionary leadership, innovative learning and teaching, ongoing professional learning, compelling evidence of success, and a flexible learning environment.

“The iMedEd Initiative has been selected as an Apple Distinguished Program for its innovative, digital-based educational platform that conforms to the 21st century learning styles and needs of students throughout the world,” said Dr. Ralph V. Clayman, dean of the UC Irvine School of Medicine.

The iMedEd Initiative is reinventing the traditional medical school curriculum, Clayman added. It was the first in the nation to build a completely digital, interactive learning environment – which includes tablet-based learning and portable ultrasound clinical training – and continues to lead in adapting emerging technologies for all aspects of classroom and clinical training.

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Dr. Lisa Gibbs

IN THE NEWS: An Orange County Register article about a county health department study of life expectancy quoted UC Irvine geriatrician Dr. Lisa Gibbs. director of the UC Irvine SeniorHealth Center:

Orange County residents continue to exceed state and national average life expectancies, according to a new report by the county’s Health Care Agency.

An American born in 2010 has an average life expectancy of 78.7 years, but an Orange County resident born that year is forecast to live to 81.9 years. The state average is 81.4. …

[A]ccess to health care is important to life span. She said Orange County is fortunate to have a number of agencies and nonprofit organizations that address aging issues.

“Sometimes it’s not all about socioeconomic status,” Gibbs said. “There are plenty of older people that don’t have access to care because they’re isolated. They may not have transportation. They may have some dementia or depression. They may have Medicare and health insurance but there are other factors that isolate them so they’re not getting medical care.”

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