Bridgeport Firefighters Top $116,000 in Fundraising for Burn Center Bridgeport Firefighters Local 834 recently presented the proceeds of its latest United for Recovery fundraiser to the Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital. This year’s donation of nearly $50,000 brings the total amount raised in the annual event’s three years to more than $116,000. A number of Bridgeport firefighters joined in presenting the latest proceeds of the annual “United for Recovery” fundraiser to the Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital. Holding the check (l-r) are fundraiser chairs Melissa Emanuel, a burn center nurse, and her husband, Fire Capt. Sal Emanuel; and pumper engineer Sheila Vega, who was a burn center patient in 2012. At far left are Bridgeport Hospital Foundation President Steve Jakab, Chief Operating Officer Norm Roth, burn center surgeon Roselle Crombie, MD; and pumper engineer Zoltan Szabo, fundraiser co-chair.

The proceeds supported the construction and ongoing maintenance of the new family hospitality suite added to the burn center as part of an extensive modernization that was completed in 2012. The idea for the suite was inspired by firefighters. The United for Recovery fundraiser has been held all three years at Vazzano’s Four Seasons in Stratford, with an average attendance of nearly 500 people per year, including many local, state and federal government officials.

“Ongoing support of the burn center from the firefighting community, especially in Bridgeport, has been exceptional,” said Steve Jakab, president of the Bridgeport Hospital Foundation. “These are men and women who know first-hand about the high level of expertise and resources needed to treat burn patients.”

Established in the early 1970s, the Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital is the state’s only American College of Surgeons-verified burn care facility, serving nearly 200 inpatients and more than 800 outpatients each year.