Inside the lobby at Parkland Memorial Hospital on Monday, December 10, a check for $120,000 was presented by the Sons of the Flag nonprofit group to the Parkland Foundation. The funds will help underwrite the Parkland Burn Survivor Support Group and support SOTF’s existing endowment to care for burn survivors and their families throughout the year, among other things.
Sons of the Flag was founded in 2012 by Ryan “Birdman” Parrott, a former Navy SEAL, to support military, first responder, and civilian burn survivors by funding innovative research.
“This is the fourth year that we’ve given the foundation at least $100,000,” Ryan said.
Surrounded for the check presentation by Parkland representatives including Dr. Brett D. Arnoldo, medical director and chief of the hospital’s burn center, Ryan said of Arnoldo’s unit: “It is extraordinarily underfunded and extraordinarily overlooked. We are super-gratified to have been part of [it] for six years.”
Added Brett: “This is just awesome. It’s been a good relationship.”
In addition to supporting the center’s support group and bolstering the SOTF endowment, the new gift will enable the center to “get things we wouldn’t ordinarily get in our operating budget,” said Beth Dexter, Parkland Foundation’s development officer. One good example: a Vecta Distraction Station, which is used to help distract patients undergoing painful procedures and wound care.
The Parkland Foundation secures financial resources for Parkland Health & Hospital System. The Parkland burn center, one of the nation’s largest civilian burn units, is the only adult and pediatric burn center in North Texas that’s verified by the American Burn Association. More than 2,000 burn victims are treated there every year.
Others attending the Monday check presentation included Kym Nguyen, Parkland’s vice president for nursing and surgical services; Kathy Doherty, the hospital’s director of nursing and surgical services; Christine Owens-Lane, a Parkland unit manager; Mark Poteet, associate unit manager for the hospital; Amy Gloger, Parkland burn unit educator; and Sherry Whidby, director of development for Sons of the Flag.
* Photo provided by Sons Of The Flag