Burn buddies use their experience to counsel younger kids. Eventually, the younger buddy will become an older buddy.
By RITA FARLOW
Published June 22, 2005
MADEIRA BEACH - After a boat ride through the Intracoastal Waterway, Jasmine Bradley returned to the Elks lodge with her burn buddy to eat a hot dog and visit with the Morton Plant Mease clowns.
The high point of the trip, said Jasmine, who is 7, was a dolphin sighting.
The Anona Elementary second-grader was a guest Saturday of Holiday Isles Elks Lodge 1912 at its second annual Fun Day for Children with Special Needs. She has been with the Children's Burn Foundation of Florida since she was burned on her arms and face in a house fire when she was 2 years old.
The foundation's buddy system pairs volunteers with burn survivors from 6 to 16 years old. Irene Gaccek, the foundation's regional coordinator and fire inspector for Madeira Beach, chooses a couple of children each year to be junior burn buddies who use their own experience to act as peer counselors for younger kids.
Jasmine's burn buddy, Karen Jackson of Seminole, retired from the Clearwater Fire Department in May 2004. Jackson was a volunteer with the foundation before she was burned while fighting a fire at the Dolphin Cove Condominiums in Clearwater in June 2002.
During her own recovery, the children's struggles became even more real to her, Jackson said. She vowed to continue to do her part to make things easier for them, and liked the foundation's idea of getting them to reach out to each other.
"They help each other, and they're so encouraging to each other," Jackson said. "It's very hard because burns are so disfiguring."
The fun day and youth camp are annual programs sponsored by the Elks that focus on special needs children. This year's fun day brought more children and more sponsors, said Bob Pitney, exalted ruler of the lodge.
The programs are important, Pitney said, because they give kids a chance to experience new activities despite their physical limitations. The Elks-sponsored activities also foster independence and self-esteem.
"These kids typically do not have a chance to get out and be on the water," he said.
Gaccek, the regional coordinator, said foundation trips provide some kids with their first excursion out of the house since they were burned.
"The whole point is for the kids to learn they are burn survivors, not burn victims," she said. "We don't do pity parties."
Getting together with other burn survivors helps the kids relate to one another and realize that they're not alone in their situation, said Tyler Wheeler, 17, of Largo. After six years with the foundation, Tyler will be a junior burn buddy and will be assigned a child later this year.
Burned on his arms and legs when his home caught fire a month after his 11th birthday, he will assist his burn survivor at the Florida Elks Youth Camp in Umatilla in November.
"Probably the best part is just being able to see someone like you," Tyler said. "You think you're the outcast of society."
After spending time with other burn survivors "You realize you're not so different after all."
