Learn how to care for burn-injured skin, improve the appearance of scars, and manage frustrating symptoms like itching in this comprehensive session on skin. Burn survivors and experts will explore skin changes after a burn injury, wound healing, sun exposure, pressure garments, tattooing, and more!
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Barbara Kammerer Quayle, MA, developed the BEST (Behavioral & Enhancement Skills Training) program, now called Beyond Surviving: Tools for Thriving After a Burn Injury to facilitate community reentry for burn survivors. In addition to leading social skills workshops for fellow burn survivors, Barbara has written numerous articles and chapters on living successfully with a facial or body difference, as well as THE BOOK of Image Enhancement for Burn Survivors, a Common Sense Approach to Creating Your BEST Image and has participated in and produced videos for burn survivors. She has helped develop Phoenix Society’s SOAR (Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery) program and has served on the Phoenix Society board of directors.
Melissa Kersten is a Nurse Practitioner at Ascension – Columbia – St. Mary’s Hospital in Wisconsin. She is a member of her local Burn Peer Support Group and the Director of her local camp for burn survivors. She initially became passionate about burn care during her college clinicals at Columbia St. Mary’s Regional Burn Center in the burn ICU, and now she strives to promote peer support within the burn survivor community.
Kimberly Sherfeld is a licensed esthetician who has been with ETC the Spa in the Richard M. Fairbanks Burn Center at Eskenazi Health since 2010, where she provides services for burn survivors that include: image enhancement makeup consultations, chemical peels to decrease pigmentation issues, sunscreen education, and microdermabrasion to help smooth texture irregularities. She has volunteered at the Image Enhancement Program at past Phoenix World Burn Congress’s. Her favorite part of attending Phoenix WBC is seeing all of the smiling faces and the connections that happen. Kim has a passion for skincare and helping clients to feel their best.
As a childhood burn survivor of 19 years, Brianna Bolinger has learned how to grow through her story to have a multitude of lived experiences. She discovered she was more than just her scars through her years of being a competitive baton twirler. The confidence she gained led her to become a four-time national champion, two-time member of Team USA, and the feature twirler for Western Michigan University. She gained a servant's heart at a young age that led her to travel as a volunteer to Africa twice before the age of 21. Now, you can find her on the floor of a burn unit working as a nurse or outside...enjoying her free time riding some trails on a pair of roller-skates!
Kechi Okwuchi is a Nigerian-born author and award-winning singer. She is an inspirational and TEDx keynote speaker, MBA student, and bullying prevention advocate. Her dramatic story, as well as her impactful messages of resiliency and overcoming combine powerfully to inspire personal and cultural transformation. In 2015, Kechi graduated First Class from University of St. Thomas, Houston, with a Bachelors in Economics. Kechi was a finalist on America's Got Talent 2017 and a finalist on the premiere season of America's Got Talent: The Champions in 2019. Since then, she has become an active ambassador for multiple organizations, advocating for various global causes such as youth empowerment, bullying prevention advocacy, and sustainable living. Kechi is currently working on the 2021 release of her self-titled debut album, and she is signed with Baker Publishing Group to work on the publication of her memoir in 2022.
As a paramedical tattoo artist, Murphy Miñoso provides a safe space where her clients can transform physical and emotional scars through the healing art form of micropigmentation and she loves aiding them in their journey towards turning insecurity into confidence. Learn more about her work here.
