Cramped within a tiny, aging section of Santa Clara County’s flagship public hospital, a team of people in cyan and navy scrubs treats the worst burn injuries in California. But a wave of massive federal spending cuts may complicate efforts to expand.
The 55-year-old burn unit is one of only three centers of its kind between Los Angeles and the Oregon border. It’s not at Stanford — but Valley Medical Center, a San Jose hospital that predominantly serves the poor and uninsured. Its doctors treat people across seven counties and from as far south as the central valley. Those suffering life threatening burns — be it a wealthy tech executive or homeless person on the Guadalupe River — are going to the same place.
“We see patients all the way through to recovery. When we have a child burned, we’re there to help them re-enter school,” Clifford Sheckter, director of VMC’s regional burn center, told San José Spotlight. “We just did that with a girl from Contra Costa County. We drove out to her school to let all the kids know their friend from last year looks a little different now.”…