Oxy donates $200,000 to burn center
| Tuesday, Nov 03 2009 06:08 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Nov 03 2009 06:08 PM
One of the final building blocks for Bakersfield's first major burn care center was set in place Tuesday evening.
That's when Occidental Petroleum Corp. announced that it will provide $200,000 toward the development of the new Grossman Burn Center at San Joaquin Community Hospital.
San Joaquin Vice President Jarrod McNaughton thanked the oil company for its generosity, noting that Oxy's gift increases the development fund to $1.2 million, now just $300,000 short of the target of $1.5 million.
The center, a permanent five-bed inpatient facility, is already up and running on the third floor of the hospital's south tower. The Los Angeles-based Grossman Burn Center partnered with the Bakersfield hospital, recognizing there was no place for burn victims to get treatment between Fresno and Los Angeles.
"It's really huge for our community," McNaughton said. A world-class burn center in the south valley will help families of burn victims avoid frequent and expensive trips to distant facilities and also provide immediate, top-level care for patients.
