Rescue to Recovery: Firefighters Burn Institute and the Power of Community

What happens once the flames are out?

In this powerful episode, I sit down with Joe Pick, Executive Director of the Firefighters Burn Institute and a 30-year veteran of the fire service, to explore what recovery really looks like for burn survivors and their families.

Born from tragedy following a devastating 1972 plane crash in Sacramento, the Firefighters Burn Institute was created to ensure our region would never again be without specialized burn care . What began as an effort to establish a local burn unit has grown into a comprehensive, lifelong support system for burn survivors — from emergency response to emotional recovery.

Joe shares how the Institute now serves hundreds of individuals and families each year through:

• Little Firefighters Kids Camp (ages 6–17)
• Little Heroes Family Retreat (for children under six and their families)
• Mental health support and trauma-informed counseling
• Survivor peer groups and virtual BurnNet gatherings
• Community-building events that help reduce isolation
• Partnerships with burn centers and survivor organizations across the country

This conversation goes beyond the medical side of burn injuries. We talk about grief, guilt, psychological safety, and the importance of sacred spaces where families can process trauma together. Joe speaks candidly about what it means to move from the fireground — where firefighters often hand patients off at the hospital — to walking alongside survivors for years in their healing journey.

One of the most moving themes of this episode is simple but profound: no one heals alone. The Institute’s work ensures that survivors don’t just survive — they rebuild confidence, connection, and community.

We also discuss one of their greatest current needs: expanded access to trauma-informed mental health care for burn survivors and caregivers — a critical but often underfunded piece of long-term recovery.

If you’ve ever dropped a dollar in a firefighter’s boot during a Fill the Boot drive, this episode shows you exactly where that impact goes.

To learn more or get involved, visit: ffburn.org

🎙️ Episode Chapters

00:00 – The 1972 Tragedy That Sparked a Movement
03:00 – From Burn Unit to Lifelong Survivor Care
07:00 – Little Firefighters Kids Camp & Little Heroes Retreat
12:00 – National Partnerships & Survivor Support Networks
16:00 – Why Mental Health Access Is the Greatest Need
19:00 – Building Community Through Events & Outreach
23:00 – How Survivors Discover the Institute
27:00 – A Firefighter’s Perspective on Trauma & Healing
30:00 – “Bad Things Happen. Good Things Can Too.”
33:00 – How to Support the Firefighters Burn Institute

Thank you so much for listening to this nonprofit story!  We appreciate you. Please visit the website to sign up for our email updates and newsletter. https://www.nonprofpod.com/  And if you like, leave me a voicemail to comment on the program, leave a question for us to ask in the future or a message for me, Jeff Holden. I may even use your voice mail message in a future episode of one of our incredible local nonprofit organizations. https://www.nonprofpod.com/voicemail. Thanks again for your support in listening, commenting and sharing the great work our local nonprofits are accomplishing. 

Transcript

Joe Pick: [00:00:00] The reason why I love my job is I get to see better outcomes. I get to see adult burn survivors that were isolated, that are now counselors at at our camp, and not only helping younger kids, but helping themselves. I learned three things in the fire service. One bad things happen. Two good things can happen.

If somebody says, we're gonna change it. And three, it takes a community, it takes a family.

Jeff Holden: Welcome to the nonprofit podcast network. Our purpose and passion are simple to highlight the incredible nonprofits that make our communities stronger. Each episode is a chance for these organizations to tell their story in their words, sharing not just what they do, but why it matters to the people they serve, to their supporters, and to all of us who believe in [00:01:00] the power of community.

Through podcasting, we hope to amplify their voices, inspire connection, and give them one more tool to impact the hearts of donors, partners, and neighbors alike. Our work is made possible through the generous support of our partners captrust, offering fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations.

Western Health Advantage, a local not-for-profit health plan that believes healthcare is more than coverage. It's about caring core executive leadership and comprehensive support services. They work in it so you can work on it. And Five Star Bank, a local trusted advisor to community nonprofits for over 25 years.

Our episode sponsor is Sacramento Venture Philanthropy. A community of generosity, combining people, expertise, and capital for good. This episode, I sit down with Joe Pick, executive director of the Firefighters Burn [00:02:00] Institute, and a 30 year veteran of the Fire Service for a conversation that's as powerful as it is personal.

Many of us know and love our firefighters. We see them at community events. We pass them on the road, we support the annual fill, the boot drives. But what many people don't realize is that behind those boots stands a nonprofit born from tragedy, a 1972 plane crash in Sacramento that claimed lives and exposed a heartbreaking reality.

Our region had no burn unit to care for survivors. Out of that moment came action. Within a year, the Firefighters Burn Institute was formed. Shortly after Sacramento had its own burn unit, and what started as a response to crisis has grown into a comprehensive continuum of care. From emergency response to long-term survivor support, Joe shares how the Institute now serves hundreds of burn survivors and families each year through pediatric and adult programs, little firefighters, kids camp, mental health services, survivor gatherings, and [00:03:00] partnerships that stretch across the country.

One of the most moving parts of our conversation centers around the idea of sacred ground. The safe space created for families to process trauma, grief, guilt, and recovery. We also talk about the culture of the fire service, the power of peer support, and why mental health access is one of the institute's greatest current needs.

This episode is about resilience. It's about what happens after the sirens stop and the smoke clears. It's about a community that refuses to let survivors heal alone. If you've ever dropped a dollar in a firefighter's boot, this conversation will show you exactly where that impact goes. Joe pick Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network.

Joe Pick: Thank you, Jeff. Thanks. Uh, it's nice to be here 

Jeff Holden: and it's an interesting discussion we're going to have. 'cause I think everybody understands they're firefighters. They, they know that exists. I'm sure the majority of people don't know that there's a Firefighters Burn Institute, and we need [00:04:00] to learn a little bit more about that.

There was a, an incident here in Sacramento at a Pharaoh's ice cream parlor in 1972 where a plane crashed into this ice cream parlor that was full, and that was kind of the genesis of this organization. But it's grown so considerably now into even, I didn't realize when we started the conversation that this has become a national organization and you have deep ties, not only to the firefighters across the country, to the burn victims, but to also survivor aftercare.

Joe Pick: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: Tell us a little bit about. What happened after that incident in the ice cream parlor 

Joe Pick: again? It was in 1972, the largest air to land collision in the country's history. At that time, talking to the firefighters, it was the worst call they had ever been on. Over 20, 23 people died, and over 20 people had.

Burn injuries. A firefighter in his family, eight members of his family perished [00:05:00] that day. There was one Sac City firefighter. He was on duty that day. He didn't, because he was downtown, he didn't actually respond to that, but he realized that we were having to transport these burn survivors all over the place, down to the Bay area, to Houston, outta the area, because we had no burn unit.

In Sacramento. And he said that that was unacceptable. And so within a year, he formed the organization under our local 5 2 2, which is our governing board and our local union. And within a year after that, we had a burn unit in Sacramento, which is pretty incredible, the hoops you have to go through to make that happen.

And that was the initial goal. And actually about 15 years later, Shriners came to Sacramento. Because of the level of care that uc Davis had to partner so that they could do pediatrics, and then uc, Davis could focus on adults. After that, he realized he wanted to get, you know, there was more that we could do.

He always lived by that vision. What is [00:06:00] next? Which I think is in the heart of a firefighter. And so we started looking at prevention programs. And specifically aftercare programs, because what we realized is when a burn survivor comes out of the hospital, their journey's just begun. They've gone through a lot of procedures, graphs, a lot of care, but that journey beyond the hospital and the return visits that they continue to have to do was significant in their care.

And so we started establishing programs for the aftercare for survivors. 

Jeff Holden: So it just. Continued. It just cascaded. Once you got one thing started, the next thing came along and the next thing came along. And here you are now really from rescue all the way to Survivor Care. 

Joe Pick: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: Which is a spectrum of continuum that you.

You just don't typically see with an organization? 

Joe Pick: Well, and that's, and it continues what we say in the fire service. When you're a part of our family, we always refer to our fire service family. We spend a third of our lives with our brothers and [00:07:00] sisters in the firehouse. And so we take that same concept with the community.

When you're a part of this community, you're a part of this community for life. And so there's individuals, I've known as little kids that are now adults. And pay it back forward to come back to be counselors, to be, uh, support for that next generation. 'cause they've been through it, they know what it's like.

Mm-hmm. And that family is just keeps getting bigger and bigger. 

Jeff Holden: Joe, what are some of the programs that you see most utilized? 'cause you've got a variety of programs. If you go to the website, which we'll talk about a little bit later. You provide a lot of service. Are there a handful that are most demanded or most often used?

Joe Pick: I think the two that are nearest and dearest to my heart and two of our most successful ones is little firefighters Kids camp. Mm-hmm. Uh, which started about 32 years ago. We specifically did not wanna refer to it as a burn camp. We do about 50 [00:08:00] kids that come to that camp, and these are the kids, they, it's six to 17 years old and they come to the camp and then when they graduate at 17, we encourage them to come back as counselor in training.

And it's really about helping them with their life skills, you know, maturing. And figuring out what their journey is as young adults, and it allows us to keep 'em close knit. I would say. The other one is, and at the time it was a program that had never been done to our knowledge in the country and it's called Little Heroes and it's a family camp and it's for burn survivors, six years old and younger.

So you can imagine these are littles and very common, just simple accidents, pulling a hot water pod. On them or tripping into a campfire while they're camping. And so we addressed it as a family trauma. And so we take the littles as we call 'em mm-hmm. And teach them how to respond when kids can be cruel, how to [00:09:00] deflect their, you know, had an accident.

And, but I don't want to talk about it. Give them that strength and that courage to be able to respond and hold their head up high. Then we take the siblings and make sure the siblings realize that they're not lost in the shuffle. Too often when there's a traumatic illness or injury, that focus from the family is on that individual.

And we wanna make sure the siblings don't feel like they're left out, and we let them know that you are a part of this trauma too. This was a family trauma, but the most impactful part of it is our adult se sessions with whoever their guardians are, grandparents, parents. And getting into a room. I call it sacred ground because when they're in that room, we give them their space.

We have two licensed clinicians, me mental health care clinicians to work through their, their grief, their guilt, and. Let them know that they're not alone and so many of those families [00:10:00] come back a second year and a third year, and they're become the mentors for that family. Mm-hmm. That is there the first year and we do about 10 families every year for that.

And it's amazing that that's really the camp that that got me hooked 20 years ago, me and my wife. 

Jeff Holden: Well, I can see certainly for the children to have that camp to recognize that they're not alone for for sure. There's other people like you, other people who have similar experiences, other children going through the same things and they get to play and be kids or young adults as they should be.

Joe Pick: Right? 

Jeff Holden: Because there's not that stigma of, I'm so different. As a matter of fact, I'm sure there's situations where they see others and go, my gosh, I thought I was rough and I I don't have it anywhere near as bad as so and so, or who, whoever that might be. And it, it's funny that you brought back that same.

Comment of not alone with the parents, to where that parent grouping is so, so essential because I'm sure you [00:11:00] feel yes, the guilt and the stigmatized and now your child and what happened. Every parent is going through that. Now you can share that with other parents 'cause that's not something you're gonna talk about at the neighborhood picnic.

You know? It just doesn't, it doesn't happen. As a matter of fact, you're probably alienate yourself from it 'cause you don't wanna participate. For all those reasons. 

Joe Pick: We, we had a year. There's a couple of moments that that touch my heart and this one I see quite frequently and it's usually the husband. And this was a big kind of burly guy, you know, and his, with his body language.

And I got it. It was like, I'm here 'cause my wife told me we needed to be here. And he came out. He came out to me and he looked me straight in the eye and he said, you know what I learned in there? I learned if I didn't handle my shit, I was never gonna be able to help my kid with theirs. And he told everybody that that would listen that.

A light went on that, you know, we all go through stuff and that he needed to be in a better place so he could be there for the his kid. Mm-hmm. And then [00:12:00] another one was a lady that her second or third year to camp, she was a single mom. And something powerful happened in that room because I saw all the parents and the counselor come out with.

Tears in their eyes and I don't ask, it's not my business. I don't want to know what that sacred ground in there, and all the counselor told me was this individual. Told the real story of what happened and she'd never told that story to anybody. And just that weight off, and again, I don't have no idea what the story is, but she felt comfortable to share that.

And these parents become lifelong friends and rely on each other. It's amazing to see. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah, I can see that. I mean that, that's that psychological safety because you're amongst a group of peers. 

Joe Pick: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: And nobody else is gonna understand that. Yeah. Especially if you're carrying the burden of guilt in, in many cases, as it would be to that share or, or maybe it was just an accident that was caused by even worse.

Right. You know, to where you, you need that catharsis at some [00:13:00] point. Otherwise you're gonna be miserable the, the rest of your life. Yeah. You're providing an outlet for that. Tell me about collaboration. Who, who do you work with? What other organizations do you work with? 

Joe Pick: I want to clarify what you said.

That we've gone national, we are still a Sacramento based charity, but our partnerships are what is national and, and international. We partner with Canada. We get kids that come from Mexico. We have adults that come from the East coast to our events and the way we're able to. Do that is to partner with different foundations.

The Phoenix Society, which is a national organization for burn survivors, is probably one of our bigger partners because they have connections with different burn foundations throughout the country and worldwide. But our smaller connections within the state, Alicia Ann Rouche, Bakersfield's Firefighters, San Jose Firefighters, what we do is just, it's.

Because Sacramento serves such a wide area of people with [00:14:00] Shriners taking people from all over the country and beyond uc. Davis serving such a wide lot of times they come into those hospitals and then they go home. Mm-hmm. To Southern California or Arizona. Or Oregon or wherever they're, they're from and.

Having those relationships with those other foundations, we can connect with them and say, Hey, we've met this person. They were up here for a while, and now they're coming home. I want to connect with the resources and the programs that you have down there, and they're still eligible to come to our programs and we figure out ways for transportation to get 'em here.

Jeff Holden: Well, what's beautiful about that? That's a nice handoff. 

Joe Pick: Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: So you don't get left. 

Joe Pick: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Okay, now, now we're outta the hospital. Now what? 

Joe Pick: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: I don't, what am I supposed to do? 

Joe Pick: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Or I understand the medical side of things, but is there anything more, because there certainly is more than just the medical side of a burn, right?

There's the emotional and the, the trauma, the family, everything all the way into the school system, depending on how that individual is going to be reintegrated [00:15:00] after the, after the tragedy, 

Joe Pick: right? 

Jeff Holden: Back to. 

Joe Pick: Okay. 

Jeff Holden: Collaborators, people that you work with, who are some of the organizations that you see? You mentioned Shriners already.

Uc, Davis, correct. 

Joe Pick: Uc, Davis International Association of Firefighters. It's firefighters from union, firefighters from all over the country and Canada. We send our kids out to a camp for them. We help support, we just did a donation for them for firefighters with injuries so bad that they have prosthetics or things like.

That. Mm-hmm. It's in Colorado, and so just staying connected with different, like I said, Phoenix Society, they, every two years do a World Burn Congress where they bring burn survivors from all over the world. We sponsored over 23 people. To go there and then had outreach from different foundations that said, we have an individual that really wants to go and we've tapped our budget.

And so we look at ours and go, okay, we can, if you can, you know, pay for the registration, we'll pay for the flight. [00:16:00] So, and specifically because we are a fire service, fire departments. Throughout the state and beyond Oregon, Nevada, pretty much West coast. Mm-hmm. Um, in regards to connections with the fire departments and they do satellite boot drives for us.

They communicate to our, their community when they go on a call and there's, they see there's a burn survivor being an advocate for us and letting them know the programs that, that are available to them. So that's a huge part of it. 

Jeff Holden: Do you find interesting, I, I'm sure Ronald McDonald House and, and. Come on house and things like that.

'cause you have families that come here also participate in support. But do you find opportunity or engagement with any of the, let's say the child services organizations? I'm thinking like maybe a uc know United Cerebral Palsy or a foster youth, or, 

Joe Pick: yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Tell me a little bit about that. 

Joe Pick: So, as you know, I did, uh, fast Pitch Yes.

A while ago I coached somebody for FA Fast Pitch, 

Jeff Holden: which I, I, I will say is for those who don't know, that's the [00:17:00] Sacramento Venture Philanthropies program. 

Joe Pick: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: To support nonprofits here in Sacramento, 

Joe Pick: where, and it's. Twofold, uh, program. It's one, getting nonprofits together because, you know, we align sometimes.

Mm-hmm. And then finding donors to, to learn about our programs. That outlet, certainly in this region has been amazingly helpful. Like you say, with the kids working with different organizations in South Sacramento, Oak Park, some lower economic areas that. Their lane is to, you know, take care of families or, you know, foster them and what.

We've found is that by communicating to them that if in your world you are gonna find some of your population are gonna have a burn injury. 

Jeff Holden: Yep. 

Joe Pick: When we find that out, you know, or you find that out, let let us know so that we can help 'em, because that's our lane. You know, as nonprofit, we gotta stay true to our mission statement, but we are able to also do that in reverse.

Will have a [00:18:00] burn survivor and see that they're struggling with food insecurity or housing. And so working with Red Cross and working with these different organizations and connecting with them and saying, Hey, here's what we're doing on our lane, but they need help in your lane and connecting it. It, it's been, it's been amazing the partnerships with these nonprofits because we all have our, our lane, our mission.

Those lanes intersect, they 

Jeff Holden: cross over so, so often. Right. Yeah, that's that's great to hear. And that's what I was looking for. 'cause I, I knew there was, there was more interconnectivity just by virtue of the fact that in many cases you're dealing with children, you know, so that's, that's a big deal. If somebody was really passionate about this situation, maybe a former firefighter who's done well in the stock market, comes and says, Hey Joe, I really like this.

I want to give you a blank check to do something. What would you do with it? 

Joe Pick: It's a great question because that I try to live, I've been in this job now [00:19:00] six and a half years, and I have a picture of our founder on my office wall that I look at every day because he had a vision of what is the next, in the time I've been there, we've been able to add different programs, young adult retreats, try to capture our teenage and young adults, and try to keep 'em on the right path, you know, and, and direct them the, the biggest.

Thing that I see right now is better access to mental health care. Mm-hmm. And that is such a tough lane to do just for any of us working through insurance companies. And so we've started budgeting money. To be able to get them the resources and vetting out mental health care clinicians that have a specialty in trauma, and some of them specifically burn trauma or maybe they were a burn survivor that went into that field to help others and.

To have those resources. My, my vision is to be able to have a minimum of a thousand dollars [00:20:00] per person just starting out for a thousand dollars. I could get May, you know, with the right partnership, a hundred dollars a, a visit that we could get 10 visits out there. Mm-hmm. 'cause they have to be enough visits that they, you don't just rip the bandaid yourself and then leave them hanging.

Mm-hmm. But I know that there's gonna be people that's really gonna start their mental health, uh, journey. But they need that continued and don't have the resources for it. That is probably the biggest program and like I said, we've started it. We have made referrals and been able to start that. What we ask is that they come to our group meetings.

We have online programs where burn survivors get together and we have other gatherings we want, wanna see that they're trying to get. Get out and be a part of that community. But when they reach out to us and go, I'm really struggling. Mm-hmm. To be able to have that here, you don't have to worry about insurance.

We've got you covered and do these 10 and then, then come [00:21:00] back. Let us know how it's going. Is the counselor a right fit for you? Is it working, is it helping? And then you'd be able to extend that. And right now, finance wise, that's, that's a. Big chunk. Tough to do. 

Jeff Holden: And your budget is a little over a million dollars, right?

Joe Pick: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. A fairly good sized organization. Mm-hmm. And you could, you have a diverse spectrum of services you provide. So it could be helping somebody with a prosthetic. 

Joe Pick: Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: It could be mental health side, it could be travel to service. 

Joe Pick: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: I mean, variety of different things. How many people a year can you service?

Or how many people a year do you think you, you touch? 

Joe Pick: I would, that's a hard one. 'cause you gotta add up, you figure 50 kids at kids camp, 10 families, you know, which is usually 50 or 60. So I'd say easily 500 people that, that we touch in a year, two nights ago, uh, I just went, had an opportunity, my sister runs the Sacramento History Museum [00:22:00] and they were doing the West End Blues and she said, I have some open seats.

And so I got 10 burn survivors to come out. Wonderful. For an outing sometimes, uh, the City of Sacramento is that they have a suite at Golden One, and if it's not being utilized, we're kind of at the top of their list. I can get 24 people there and we've gone to a King's game, a concert. Just those little gatherings, getting that community is so.

Rewarding for me to see, but watching these burn survivors interconnect and getting out of their house, some of our burn burn survivors tend to isolate themselves a lot. Sure. So being able to have the resources to have more of those type events where I can, you know, pay for 50 people to, you know, go to a concert.

Right. Go to a, go to a game, go to an outing, it would be extremely beneficial. 

Jeff Holden: I'm gonna give a shout out to your sister Delta pic. Meow. Yeah. And she is the Sacramento Historical Society as well. Mm-hmm. Which we did an episode that [00:23:00] was unbelievably educational tutorial. 

Joe Pick: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: And really, really enjoyed it and continues to do well to this day.

Uh, so interesting. You both are in service in our community, so, so thank you for that. 

Joe Pick: Thank 

James Beckwith: you. 

Jeff Holden: We'll be back with more from Joe Pick of the Firefighters Burn Institute. Right after we hear from those who make this program possible. 

James Beckwith: I'm James Beckwith, president and CEO of five Star Bank. We're dedicated to supporting nonprofit organizations who advocate for the strength, resilience, and vitality of those they serve.

When nonprofit organizations thrive, our community does too. By supporting the nonprofit podcast network, five Star Bank is amplifying the voices and meaningful impact of our nonprofit community. We're Five Star Bank, a trusted nonprofit partner. How can we help you? 

Darrell Teat: We are really excited to be part of the family and contribute to the [00:24:00] work that you all are doing.

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Jeff Holden: If you're interested in learning more about how CORE may help your organization, visit CXO r.com. 

Scott Thomas: Hello, this is Scott Thomas with CAPTRUST in our Sacramento office. I [00:25:00] specialize in working with local nonprofits and associations annually. We survey private and public nonprofit organizations across the country to better understand challenges they see in today's environment.

In our more recent survey, we hear concerns about proper board governance, mission aligned investment, and how to implement alternative investments. If you would like a copy of the survey or do discuss your organization, look me up, scottThomas@captrust.com. 

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Jeff Holden: Greatest need single. Greatest need today. As you look at the organization, what is it? 

Joe Pick: It's really connecting with our burn survivors, I think, and that it's more. You need money to run a nonprofit. You need word of mouth to get donors. We have a great deal of programs, but every time I hear about a burn survivor that was burned 10 years ago and had no idea that we even existed, it breaks my heart.

Really getting that word out to that community. 'cause you can all have all the programs in the world and then if you're not servicing that community or you hear about somebody, I think I, I mentioned earlier to you, a prime example of my wife meeting an individual and was telling her about the fact that this is what I do.

I volunteer, uh, my wife teaches nursing at a RC and, and finding out [00:28:00] that person was a, uh, burn survivor at an early age. This person was in their mid twenties and knew nothing about our programs and to know that they didn't know about programs as kids and adults that could helped with their journey. I think that's the biggest thing.

Mm-hmm. And that's, that's what I try to do. We just had our boot drive and. People are very, and 

Jeff Holden: for the benefit of those who don't know what a boot drive is, okay, many people will listen to and go, what the heck is a boot drive? Walk 

Joe Pick: through it. We sunrise and greenback. We've been doing it for 32 years and it is our biggest fundraiser that we do.

And we're out on the streets with firefighters that are off duty with our boots. Uh, it's fill the boots for burns. It is our mission and it has become one of our biggest fundraisers that we do. And we were out there for four days and two of our firefighters start. Third generation of firefighters stay in the tower all four days and only come down at the end, but what I hear all the time.

From even events like that, his [00:29:00] people are like, uh, you know what? We love our firefighters. We wanna support our firefighters. And yes, our programs, we have programs specifically for firefighters 'cause we do get burned. Mm-hmm. You know, more often than not. And but to communicate to the community that yeah, that's a lane, that's a really narrow lane that we have, we do so much more and that we're actually here for burn survivors throughout the community.

That to me is our biggest goal, obviously, in getting the funds that we need. 

Jeff Holden: Sure. It's just that awareness. How do today, how do people come to you? How do they know? You exist Referrals? 

Joe Pick: Yeah. Through uc, Davis. And I wanna do a little clarification because the, the, so uc Davis, the burn unit at uc Davis is the Firefighters Burn Institute Regional Burn Center at uc Davis.

It has that name. Because of the donations we have done for that over 10 years ago, we gave them over a million dollars for their last expansion. They're looking at expanding within. Three to five years, they should have their expansion and we will continue to [00:30:00] support that. Probably more in actual equipment that they need, but that we are two different entities.

That burn unit is uc Davis, but it has our name on it. Mm-hmm. Because we support them, the advocates. We have a member, an outreach coordinator, specifically for patients getting discharged that's on our board. 

Jeff Holden: Great. 

Joe Pick: So they advocate Shriners. We have an individual that works at Shriners as well. That's on our board.

And it really starts at that ground level. The, the pt, the OT person, the wound care person that as they're in the hospital, Hey, have you heard about this organization? They got some great resources and there's all, depending on your age, you, your needs. They, they can fit that. But again, those partnerships that, that we have throughout the country, Oregon, Oregon Burn Unit is a another prime example.

They came down, they heard about our little heroes. They actually paid for a nurse to, to come to the weekend retreat and. They send families down to us. They pay for their [00:31:00] transportation, we take care of 'em. Wonderful that they're there. And again, because we do not geographically bind ourselves, American Burn Association, that happens every year.

I go out to that every year, wear our brand. Mm-hmm. And communicate to people that, you know, we have these events and that if they can get out to it, we cover all the costs for it. So I think that's really, it's it's word of mouth and really with any medical or. Or trauma situation. It's that one-on-one person that goes, you know what I heard about this.

Or another burn survivor. We have burn survivors that will go into the hospital that can connect with those people on a level that I can't, I'm not a burn survivor. 

Jeff Holden: Experiential. Right, 

Joe Pick: right. And say, Hey, this really helped me. And one of the, the programs we have, it's called Burn net and Pre COVID, we did it once a month, live in, in location.

With COVID, we had to go virtual. 

Jeff Holden: Sure. 

Joe Pick: As you well know how that was [00:32:00] game changer because now we have them every week. 

Jeff Holden: Yep. 

Joe Pick: And so what you'll see is that person at home log onto the computer, maybe not turn the mic on, maybe not turn the camera on, but they're listening. Then the next time maybe they're asking a question, then the next time maybe they're putting a camera on and it opens up that door that they realize that they're part of that community.

Mm-hmm. We also do one, we try to do it about once a month, where it is the care providers because the spouse, the parent that's handling or, or dealing with the, the patients, they're going through their own struggle as well and giving them a platform you made reference to it of they. They're not able to communicate their, their issues.

The analogy I give is a wife that it's a platform that she can say, my husband's just a pain in my butt right now. Mm-hmm. And because of the struggles she's going, that he's going through, it gives her that platform and other. Spouses, other parents go, I know exactly what you're going [00:33:00] through. Mm-hmm. And you are doing the hard work as well, right?

Alongside that burn survivor. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. It's said, been there, done that we can help. 

Joe Pick: Exactly. 

Jeff Holden: Which is is so important in so many of these. Trauma situations because most people don't experience it. You know? Fortunately, most people don't. But when you get in an, it's a situation where you can be amongst peers, it's game changing.

It's life changing. Yeah. Because all of a sudden you realize back to the earlier part of the conversation, you're not alone. 

Joe Pick: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: There, there are other people who have been there who can help. And the great news is you exist. The challenge is to get you the awareness that you exist out there for all these other people who don't know and could really benefit from it.

Let me ask you a question, because you're a, uh. Former firefighter. 

Joe Pick: Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: How long were you? 

Joe Pick: 30 years. 30 years. The fire service retired from Metro Fire as a captain almost 10 years ago. Thank you for 

Jeff Holden: your service 

Joe Pick: so 

Jeff Holden: much 

Joe Pick: appreciate that was, it was an honor, one of the top three decisions I ever [00:34:00] made, marrying my wife, the fire service, and now leading this organization.

And so yeah, retired for that and kind of figured out what I wanted to do. And then the opportunity came to run the Burn Institute about, well, six and a half years ago, and I jumped in and. So glad, glad, 

Jeff Holden: we're so glad you are here in this role. The tough part is you're seeing your brothers who are coming out of situations in some cases and some really catastrophic, sometimes you see children, you see families.

It's, it can be heavy, you know, over time. What do you do to relax? What does Joe do? What's his escape? 

Joe Pick: You know, I was asked that by one of the gals at, at uc Davis, and to this day it sticks in my head because I wasn't able to answer it directly. It took, took me a while. I, I'll say this about the fire service.

In this particular job, it is one in the fire service we see a lot and we are getting so much better with the peer support and recognizing that the old days of. Suck it up [00:35:00] kid. Mm-hmm. You know, bad things happen. It's just not working. And so we've gotten much better about that. I'm an active peer supporter with our local, we have one of the largest regional peer supports, not only in Sacramento, Sacramento County, Placer County, Yolo County, where firefighters get togethers with, with clinicians.

So we're doing much better. But what I recognized in that job as our safety. Barrier is that we transport 'em to, to the hospital and then we leave. We don't usually get a lot, a lot of follow up with HIPAA regulations. We can't get a lot of information anyway, so we just go, alright, we've done what we can and I've done the best for them and now I've passed them off to a higher level of care.

But I learned on this job real quickly is you get into the weeds. I learn their stories. 

Jeff Holden: Oh, very different from. Yes. Firefighting service where you're passed off here, you're engaged and involved. [00:36:00] Yes. 

Joe Pick: A very, an individual that I took to IFF, I'll never forget it. He told me his story. 'cause we don't ask, that's one of the things that's one of our ground rules.

We do not ask a person how they got burned. Mm-hmm. Because if they share it with us, that's a gift that they have given us. This one's a little rough on me because it was really the first time he told me what happened. He told me what happened to his brother, his sister, his other brother, what actually happened, and I never knew that story.

So those are hard days. But what I will tell you is what feeds my soul, and, and I'll touch into the outside, but the, the reason why I love my job is I get to see better outcomes. I get to see adult burn survivors that were isolated, that are now counselors at at our camp, and not only helping younger kids, but helping themselves.

Friend of mine, James, he was an adult burn survivor. He got involved with one of our camps and now he's all [00:37:00] in, and I see how it helps with his healing that I try to focus on. I know bad things happen. I, you know, I have a, I learned three things in the fire service. One bad things happen, two good things can happen if somebody says we're gonna change it.

And three, it takes a community, it takes a family. And so I think that's what inspires me. I. I think the other thing that I do and the flexibility I have with this job is after 30 years in the fire service and missing birthdays or Christmas or being out on the strike team for weeks missing so much with my own kids, I ev vowed I have five grandkids that I'm not missing a baseball game.

I am not. We are going, they're going camping. I'm going camping with them. My phone is twenty four seven. I can handle a lot from there, but. Being with my family, with my kids, our extended family, we actually. I have a 16-year-old, uh, in the house now, and he's a burn survivor. I've known him since he was a little [00:38:00] kid.

His circumstances were such that he needed some guardianship. Mm-hmm. He needed a place and he is now my son. And so family is doing things with my family is probably my what fills my cup up. 

Jeff Holden: Fantastic. That and that's a great way to relax. I would suggest the same. And too many times we do get wrapped up in our jobs and our roles and we forget that.

That's also part of it. Providing is one thing, but being a part of it is, is the other. Mm-hmm. Thing. 

Joe Pick: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: And you can do one without the other. And unfortunately, I think too many times we do. Yeah. And somebody. You know, suffers the consequence of that. So I love what you just said. That was very cool. Thank you.

And, and sadly, I can relate to some of it. And I'm not a firefighter, you know, just, uh, 

Joe Pick: I think we all can do that. We get tunneled into our jobs and, you know, our careers or, and life goes by quick. Right? And the fire service, you see too many people that. Left us too soon. Mm-hmm. And so I think my wife is a, [00:39:00] a former ER nurse.

We get that. Yeah. And, and we understand that life is short and we're not, not gonna less miss those little moments that matter. 

Jeff Holden: Well, coincidentally, we had somebody in here just before you today talking about the American River Parkway Foundation. Mm-hmm. What a beautiful piece we have to relax, to enjoy, to experience, and how few people know about it.

And it's just, it's just that reality of life. 

Joe Pick: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: We get going too fast sometimes. How do people find out about the organization? What's the best way to learn and. Get the information if they wanna participate or if they know of a situation where somebody's experienced a burn 

Joe Pick: right, 

Jeff Holden: and they want to get them involved, what's the, 

Joe Pick: alright.

Starting with our website, ff burn.org, it's easy to remember. Yeah. And it really has, we just revamped our website to really be able to show visually what we're doing, what we're doing for all age groups. Again, we do not geographically bind ourselves. We have for everything from newborns to the elderly that are a part of our community [00:40:00] and.

Getting connected with us. Valerie at our office does all of our programs and I'm constantly saying, give us your email address and if you get a letter from valerie@ffburn.org, open it up because you never know what it is. And some of our things that we have, you know, we had. Rodeo that was down there, that the sponsor of the rodeo, we were gonna be the beneficiary.

So, you know, we got a bunch of tickets for that and you know, when they're gone, they're gone. Yeah. So that's, that's a good starting point. Our social media platforms right now, the, the gal that's doing our marketing, I'm really understands social media way better than an old guy like me does and. It tries to get the, get that out.

They just did a video from our boot drive and we had 40,000 hits off of it. Amazing. I'm like, wow. So paying attention to where, you know, uh, again, on social media, but the web, especially if you're a burn survivor or know somebody that's a burn survivor, [00:41:00] go to that site because there's the avenues for donation, there's avenues for volunteerism, and there's avenues for the services we provide.

And I think those are the really, the three main lanes as a nonprofit. You know, you gotta gotta raise the money to serve the people. You need donors to do that, and then that community, making sure that they're aware of it. What I've seen with burn survivors. That, and I'm actually doing presentation at a BA with a collaboration with a couple of Phoenix Society, Arizona.

Jeff Holden: A BA is what? 

Joe Pick: American Burn Association. Thank you. It's an annual conference specifically for burn care. So burn doctors. Here's the latest and greatest. I will tell you. Burn care is changing literally by the day. What they're doing now is phenomenal, but the presentation we're doing is about how to connect.

With those burn survivors, every foundation, every burn unit in the country and beyond. Finds that as a hurdle for them because there's a sweet spot with burn survivors [00:42:00] figure A burn survivor comes in uc, Davis or Shriners try to give them the information. Then they're overwhelmed. Their kids in their hospital, their spouse, their dad's in the the hospital.

They're overwhelmed. They're just trying to figure out where their journey is. Then when they get discharged, then here's all your discharge information and. Then reality hits with trying to take care of 'em at home. Mm-hmm. Wound dressing changes and things like that. And so finding that everybody's different, finding that spot where they want to reach out and connect.

And that's why I referenced our, our burn net. It's just an easy way to go. I wanna see who that community is. Alright, I'll log in and, and all of that information is on our website 

Jeff Holden: and we'll put that in the show notes too. So it's easy for somebody who's listening and doesn't want to have to remember.

It'll, it'll be done that they can just click right on it and Perfect. Make it really simple. Perfect. Of fact. I'll see if I can get some of the links to that video too. 

Joe Pick: Okay. 

Jeff Holden: To, to repurpose it because it's fun. If you haven't seen or experienced a boot drive, we happen to be two blocks away from where that takes place.

Yeah. [00:43:00] Having nothing to do with our conversation because it came through organically in a different route. I've been seeing this thing for years. 

Joe Pick: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. And it's, it is amazing. If you've not seen what it looks like, it is absolutely amazing. And to think you raise hundreds of thousands of dollars. Each year.

Joe Pick: Yeah, 

Jeff Holden: through a boot drive, people just dropping a couple bucks in a boot. 

Joe Pick: Yeah, 

Jeff Holden: and 

Joe Pick: it's truly, it used to be about a quarter of our budget still about in that range. Then another quarter of that comes from all these fire departments up and down the state in Nevada. That do what we call satellite boot drives.

So they do a one or two day event. Mm-hmm. Nothing on the scale. If you see it, we got a whole base camp, we got RVs, you know, it's like asphalt camping. Yeah. Hook and 

Jeff Holden: ladder ladders 

extend. 

Joe Pick: Oh. It's a lot of fun with a boot hanging from it. But these departments, little departments coming up and doing a one or two day boot drive and raising $20,000 for us.

And again, getting that. The word out to their community that we're doing [00:44:00] this for programs that will serve people in their community, and that's collectively, they come to about half of our, our budget that we have. 

Jeff Holden: And that's, I think, testament to what you do. It's great. It's a great place to wrap here because.

You are so community. You are community. We rely on you. The good news is we don't have to use you every day, and the majority of people will never have to lean on the fire department or have a situation where they're experiencing fire in the home and even less yet. Trauma from Burns. So that's the beauty of it.

The reality of it is, is it still does happen and you are here for us. You know you're here when that need occurs. You and your team with the Firefighters Burn Institute are there and the platform extends. Throughout the country. Basically, if the need is there, you're, you're able to support to the degree that you can.

So hopefully through this, this conversation, it's just, just one of those pieces that helps get [00:45:00] that word out again to another organization or another person that you are there so that when something does happen, they go, wait, I heard something. I know there's something out there, we can find it. And if we do nothing else, we've succeeded by doing that.

To you and your team from 1972 forward. I mean, my goodness, that's a mature organization to have grown to this. Extent. That's a lot of work too. Thank you. Thank you for what you do. Thank you for your service as a firefighter as well, and we appreciate y'all. 

Joe Pick: Well, and thank you for the, the opportunity when we first met, you know, and we met through a mutual friend, it, it is.

It's my lane. It's my job to do these type of things. And so it, it's always an honor to me to, to do them. But having an opportunity on the platform like this has been great and I appreciate it. I appreciate what you do. Getting the words word out, specifically what you do is promoting nonprofits and getting that word out.

[00:46:00] To all the amazing things that human beings in this region and beyond are, are doing for others is phenomenal. So thank you for what you do. 

Jeff Holden: I appreciate that, Joe. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. We hope today's episode inspired you and gave you a deeper look into the work of our local nonprofits.

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