Burned in North Bay wildfires, survivors continue painful healing

She suffered burns on her arms, hands, legs and hips, and required hospitalization in San Jose for about a month before being moved to skilled nursing, Tak-fu Hung’s daughter, Annie Yen O’Hara, said.

She remains fragile a year later, O’Hara said, but Hung is living independently in an apartment and keeping herself busy.

“It’s still a very difficult time,” O’Hara said last week.

Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, the regional trauma center, remained open during the October fires.

More than 300 emergency room patients turned up last Oct. 8 and 9. The total for that entire week was 1,200, compared with 700 in an average week, St. Joseph Health spokeswoman Vanessa DeGier said.

Smoke inhalation and respiratory complaints were the most common, with 139 total cases, 15 percent of which required hospital admission, DeGier said.

About 300 other emergency room cases were attributed primarily to the fires, involving burns but also cuts, broken bones and head injuries related to evacuation and escape, she said.

Most fire victims were treated in the emergency room, but 14 traumatic burn cases required hospitalization. Six people were transferred to burn centers outside the county, including UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, Bothin Burn Center at St. Francis Memorial in San Francisco, and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose.

Others, like Greg and Christina Wilson, who survived the fire in the swimming pool as flames burned their Michele Way Estates home above Mark West Springs Road, went directly from Sutter hospital to a sister medical center in Novato and then to UC San Francisco Medical Center.

They spent about 10 days in intensive care with severe smoke inhalation and some burns. Both are still recovering from lung damage, though they have returned to work and are trying to resume their normal daily life.

Their friends and neighbors, Blaine and Rayna Westfall, also got trapped in the neighborhood and weathered the fire facedown in a meadow down the hill from their house. They were treated at Healdsburg Hospital and have since recovered.

The Shepherds had been in two cars trying to escape the fire as it came up the mountain toward their home of two years, but were forced to flee on foot when the vehicles caught fire. The flames quickly caught up with them again.

Sara Shepherd, 41, was burned from her neck to her ankles, covering about 60 percent of her body, Ramos said. She was hospitalized for three months at UC Davis and later had to relearn to walk using damaged limbs with tight muscles and scarred skin. She recently started riding a bike, “a big accomplishment,” her sister said.

Increased balance and stability also have allowed her to participate adaptively in gentle yoga and Zumba dance, something her daughter once enjoyed. She wears whole-body compression garments to help with healing and is regaining use of her hands and fingers through daily chores like food preparation.

“I think there’s still a fair amount of shock, at least on my sister’s end of things,” said Ramos, also a Ukiah resident. “And I think that they’re driven a lot by living in honor of their children.”

Sara Shepherd experienced extreme smoke inhalation, too, and still has some cognitive healing ahead, Ramos said.

Let's block ads! (Why?)