The Curtis P. Artz Distinguished Service Award is awarded annually to a non-physician member of the American Burn Association for outstanding contributions in the burn field. Katie was awarded this distinction during the 2019 ABA Opening Ceremony, Las Vegas, NV, 51st ABA Annual Meeting.
Katie is the Outreach Education Coordinator at the Burn Center at MedStar Washington Hospital in Washington DC. She has been a burn nurse since beginning her career at Loyola University Medical Center in 1982. After 7 years she relocated to the Washington, DC area where she continued to grow as a bedside burn nurse until her transition to the full-time position as the Outreach Education Coordinator in 2000. She has developed numerous education, awareness, and prevention programs for the tri-state area that the burn center serves. The goal of the program is to improve care for the burn patient from the time of injury until the patient returns to their pre-injury life.
She provides education to all the first responders and emergency departments in the area as well as the trauma and emergency room staff at her own institution. Katie has always had a passion for educating nursing students on burn care since her own education on burns was limited to 15 minutes which only addressed the Parkland Formula! Burn awareness and prevention is another area that she has a passion for and in her own words “I feel like I’m with my parents when I speak to the seniors in the community.” She enjoys spending time in the community to bring awareness and prevention information to a variety of organizations.
Katie has been an active member of the American Burn Association since 1983 serving on numerous committees over the years, a four-year term on the Board of Trustees, and occasionally presents research related to burn care from pre-hospital care, to acute care and through the rehabilitation phase.
As an advocate for many things, she is a strong believer in the TEAM! Team is in every facet of life and by working together the Team can accomplish great things!! Her family is a team, her work life is a team, and the ABA is a team!
Together Everyone Achieves More!
Burn Center at MedStar Washington Hospital, Washington, DC
