June 6, 2011
| WHAT: | The Hermosillo Fire Relief Fund Committee will provide an update on their efforts to raise funds for doctors, nurses and medical students from Hermosillo, Mexico, who are being trained at the Arizona Burn Center. In June 2009, 46 out of 142 children, from six months to five years old, died in a local daycare center fire in Hermosillo. Many more were burned. To respond to this terrible tragedy, a Phoenix firefighter has visited Hermosillo giving workshops to hospital staff on burn treatment and fire prevention. A number of Hermosillo medical staff also have received hands-on training at the Arizona Burn Center during the past two years. Local businesses and individuals have provided financial support to cover the cost of hosting the Hermosillo medical staff when they visit Phoenix and to fund visits to Hermosillo by the burn center and Fire Department staff for the workshops they offer. No city of Phoenix funds have been used. Currently, no dedicated burn treatment facility exists in the entire northwest of Mexico. The Mexican and Sonoran governments are in the process of developing a children’s burn center as part of an existing children’s hospital. The Phoenix Sister Cities Hermosillo Committee will continue to support this project once the burn center is built. The city of Phoenix has had a sister city relationship with Hermosillo since 1976 and it is the first of Phoenix’s nine sister cities. |
| WHO: | Councilman Claude Mattox, Hermosillo liaison for Phoenix Sister Cities Committee Larry Contreras, deputy chief, Phoenix Fire Department Layla Ressler, COO, JSL Management Dr. Ruth Rimmer, director, Psych/Social and Prevention Research, Arizona Burn Center at Maricopa Medical Center Dave Selzer, chair, Hermosillo Sister City Committee Michael Braden, president, Phoenix Sister Cities |
| WHEN: | 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 7 |
| WHERE: | Phoenix Fire Department Administration Building, Great Room 150 S. 12th St. |
Media Contact:
| Stephanie Ribodal Romero Cell |
602-2618512 602-412-7228 |