Olivia Chambers, a former Shriners Children's Hospital burn patient, graduated from Merrimack College as a nurse

 Olivia Chambers' burn treatment, "at Shriners Hospital as a young teen, and the nurses who cared for her, helped set the course for Olivia’s future. A decade later, she is now being mentored by some of those same nurses as she provides care to children impacted by burn injuries."

"On a summer night when she was 13, Olivia went out on the back deck of her family’s home to ask her older brother a question. Home from college, he was outside with friends and began adding citronella oil to a tabletop firepot as Olivia approached. Suddenly it burst into flames, immediately burning her hands, chest and face. Thinking quickly, Olivia’s brother pushed her onto the outdoor couch and smothered the flames with a pillow. Olivia remembers being in shock and telling her parents she was okay when they rushed outside. They immediately drove her to their local hospital."

“My parents were really panicked, so I was trying not to be,” Olivia recalled. “I remember looking in the car mirror and I saw the burn on my face, then I looked down at my hands and saw the skin was starting to bubble. I was scared.” After it was determined that Olivia needed care at Shriners Children’s Boston, she was transported there by ambulance. Her wounds required debridement, removal of the damaged skin, and frequent dressing changes over the course of her week-long inpatient stay."

Olivia went on to attend nursing school at Merrimack College and accepted a position as an inpatient nurse at Shriners Hospital in Boston. A full circle experience!

Read more at: From Grateful Patient to Proud Employee: Olivia’s Story | Shriners Children's

Cheers!

Donna