Within 30 hours of one another, two young men suffered critical burns to at least half their bodies because of explosions.
One man, Trent Workman, burned himself after the furnace he was re-igniting exploded, leaving his hands and face burned. Less than two days later when an explosion occurred at Bango Oil, Daniel Snodgrass suffered extensive burns, primarily to his upper body; he successfully had skin graft surgery last week.
Both Workman and Snodgrass are patients at the Firefighters Burn Institute Regional Burn Center — more commonly known as the University of California, Davis burn center in Sacramento — and receiving the best care the medical facility and its staff can provide.
For every issue of the LVN, we will update our residents who have asked and wondered how both patients are progressing at the burn unit or when they may be able to return home to a community’s open arms.
During the past week, the local call went out for clothes and household goods for Workman and his girlfriend, and the community responded. Both His Inspirations and the LVN received bags of clothing and blankets. The families have more than enough clothing and bedding and they thank residents for their concern and prayers.
Another man who occupied the third apartment in the complex also needs assistance, and we have put out the call for him. We have turned our attention to this young man whose trouser size is 34x32, shirt size XL and shoe size 11 ½ to 12. He also lost his loveseat and sofa, bedding and television. We are also accepting cash donations and gift cards to help him.
Both His Inspirations and LVN are now asking the community to help this young man with his needs.
The Trent Workman and Daniel Snodgrass families have established bank accounts at Wells Fargo under the names of the two individuals.
The compassion in Churchill County doesn’t stop there, however. When the call went out that the Toys for Tots and Wishing Tree programs were either short of trees or families to adopt, people in this great community stepped up, reached into their pockets and hearts, and helped. Instead of doing a gift exchange, the LVN, for example, donated stuffed toys as stocking stuffers for Wishing Tree.
Volunteer bell ringers from the community are braving the cold by standing in front of Walmart to solicit donations for local programs since all money remains in Fallon. A week left before Christmas is plenty of time to help the Salvation Army assist our residents with various needs.
And just two days ago, a family who moved to Fallon from Idaho dropped off bags of clothing and bedding for people they didn’t know.
The generosity and caring of our residents truly makes Churchill County a wonderful place to live.
Editorials written by the LVN Editorial Board appear on Wednesdays.