Gov. Perdue’s husband visits Jaycee Burn Center

First gentleman Bob Eaves brought smiles and laughter to the Jaycee Burn Center on Wednesday as he toured the facility.

To celebrate the center’s 30th anniversary, a team of doctors and nurses from the center greeted visitors to the N.C. Memorial Hospital with a welcoming smile and a bar of Hershey’s chocolate.

But despite the balloons and festive mood downstairs, doctors and nurses at the center marked the anniversary by conducting business as usual.

Patients were served breakfast or wheeled through the automatic doors toward their morning physical therapy sessions as Eaves observed the morning routine.

Soft-spoken but charming, Eaves seemed to absorb and question everything — moving beyond politics to focus on how the center helps the citizens of the state.

“We get quite a few visitors here, but it’s not everyday we get the first gentleman,” said Joel Ray, director of surgery services at the center.

Burn victims from across the state — and even the world — have been receiving treatment at UNC for 30 years. Last year, the center hosted several patients from the massive earthquakes in Haiti.

The comprehensive burns unit was built through a fundraising partnership with the state, citizens and the University.

“I was impressed today, learning about the burn center and what they do,” Eaves said. “I’m very proud that North Carolina is a leader, maybe the leader, in this field.”

North Carolina is the only state with two burn centers certified by the American Burn Association. The other is located in Winston-Salem.

Bruce Cairns, the center’s director, gave the governor’s husband a tour of the facility.

Cairns said Eaves’ visit highlights the continuation of the partnership between the state and the University.

While on the tour, Eaves surprised Warden Hunter, a patient in the center, with a visit.

“I’ve seen him on TV, but this is the first time seeing him close-up,” Hunter said. “He seems to be really nice.”

Cairns also showed Eaves how to stretch what he calls “biological Band-Aids,” or skin grafts from pigs.

For patients who have extensive burns, doctors often use pig skin as a temporary graft because of its genetic similarity to human skin, and they can only take so much skin from the patient.

Eaves got hands-on with the pig skin, using a machine that stretches it to cover more surface area in a graft.

But Cairns said he wants to move beyond pigs, adding that UNC researchers are investigating ways to use donor skin as an alternative to pig skin in transplants.

The 21-bed facility treats an average of 900 patients a year for injuries sustained from everything from minor kitchen burns to extensive wounds from house fires.

Though the center has a heavy caseload, Cairns said only half of the patients who ought to have their burns treated actually make it to a burn center.

“As busy as we’ve been, we feel there are others who can benefit from the center,” he said.

“Almost all these injuries are preventable.”

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