New Orleans Psychologist Helps Burn Victims

In countries like Honduras, burns cause more pediatric deaths annually than malaria or tuberculosis. In Central America and the Caribbean, 70 percent of burn victims are children.

By Joseph Halm
Lisa Tropez-Arceneaux's recent trip to Honduras to help burn victims, most of whom were children, was heart-wrenching work, but seeing its impact on children’s lives is worth every minute, the licensed clinical psychologist said.

“It is such important work,” she said. “I remember one young man that I helped told me that I had to write to him so he could tell me how he was doing. Things like that prove that you’re making a difference.”

Tropez-Arceneaux traveled to Honduras in November as part of a group of five volunteers from Physicians for Peace, an international nonprofit group based in Virginia. The team -- which also included a nurse, an occupational therapist and a translator -- visited a burn-care clinic in Tegucigalpa to improve Honduran health workers’ skills.

“Our model is not bricks and mortar,” said Anne Klinkhammer, who oversees the burn care program at Physicians for Peace. “We work with people who are already working in their country but who lack the necessary training to provide adequate care. The goal is to educate and enable them to provide quality care for their patients.”In countries like Honduras, burns cause more pediatric deaths annually than malaria or tuberculosis. In Central America and the Caribbean, 70 percent of burn victims are children.

“In many of these countries, people are cooking over an open flame that is just in the middle of the kitchen floor, so you’ll have little ones running through the house and they’ll fall in the fire,” Tropez-Arceneaux said. “Children can also knock over a pot of boiling water.”

Without proper care, burn victims can develop painful contractures, as the skin tightens over their wounds and limits their ability to move. Depression and emotional trauma are common consequences.

“A lot of times, the patients are just released from the public hospital with no follow-up care,” Tropez-Arceneaux said. “For a burn injury, it is imperative that they have that follow-up care because there are a lot psychological concerns in terms of body image and depression, especially with children.”

A native of New Orleans, Tropez-Arceneaux graduated from McMain Senior High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Xavier University and a master’s of education from the University of New Orleans. She began her career working with troubled students in Orleans Parish schools.

She and her husband, Stephen Arceneaux, live in New Orleans with their 11-year-old son, Maxwell, and a dog named Mack.

The family moved away for a time to follow Stephen’s job with the Army Corps of Engineers. Tropez-Arceneaux’s experience with burn patients began when she was training at a military hospital in Hawaii. She worked in the burn-care unit at Johns Hopkins University as well as the pediatric burn unit at Shriner’s Hospital.

Today, she conducts psychological and forensic evaluations at Mercy Family Center.

On her most recent trip with Physicians for Peace, Tropez-Arceneaux said, she aided more than 25 children and worked with local officials to help bridge communication between the public hospital and the private rehab center in the area.

She hopes it will provide seamless care for patients in the future.

“We are really committed to building people’s skill sets so that they can have the resources and support they need to help their community,” said Mary Westbrook with Physicians for Peace. “When we’re looking for volunteers, we look for people who are not only experts in their field but who also have the ability to teach, too. Lisa definitely has both.”

Klinkhammer said the burn-care program helps about 200 children a year through direct visits. But there’s more to do, Tropez-Arceneaux said.

“We are definitely going to go back to Honduras,” she said. “The work there is not quite done in terms of bridging the relationship between the public hospital and the private hospital to ensure that patients have the continuity of care.

“This work is so important to ensure that those children become happy, successful adults.” (12/8/11)

Note: This article was reprinted with permission of the author. It was originally published in the The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, Louisiana.