The Impact Inside a Critical Care Unit

Maria Theron, R.N.

Maria Theron is a Registered Nurse and has been a nurse for 37 years. As director of the nursing staff at the Critical Care unit at Savannah’s Memorial University Medical Center, Theron was among the team that treated people injured and burned in the February 2008 explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery at nearby Port Wentworth, Georgia.

Memorial is not a burn center, so many of Theron’s staff had never before seen burn victims. Reflecting back, she still remembers how traumatic the experience was for the staff and nurses at her critical care unit.

“Many of the team members who work at the hospital either have family or friends who work at the sugar refinery, and they really felt they had positive contributions to treating these patients,” she says today.

The hospital provided counseling for the nurses after the experience, including internal forums to discuss and learn.

Speaking for other critical care nurses, Theron says, “We feel we had an impact, not on treatment of those hurt in the event, but the healing of those involved and keeping in touch with them.”

Within their own profession, the nurses decided to research, draft and present a paper to their professional organization, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Working through that paper, Theron says, people were able to heal. She and her team also got personal inspiration by working with the people of Imperial Sugar during and after the tragedy and visiting a memorial built near the entrance to the plant, called Legacy Park.

“We did a lot of research. Looking at Legacy Park, what the company and the employees of Imperial Sugar had done, we were reminded that we should never forget.”

To improve future treatment of patients, Theron says her team has held several follow-up debriefing sessions. The team reviewed how they performed then, and what they would do differently now.

“We really came to respect the teamwork we have and to grow from that. We came together as a Memorial family. I was so proud of our organization. It gave us a chance to improve our procedures. We learned from this experience.”