TN hospitals treat patients from Smoky Mountain fire

Tennessee hospitals are treating dozens of patients from a wildfire that began this week near the Smoky Mountain resort towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Closest to the fire, Covenant Health’s LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville has received 49 patients with fire-related injuries, 10 of whom were transferred to other Covenant hospitals, the University of Tennessee Medical Center and East Tennessee Children's Hospital in Knoxville, said Amanda Brabson Paletz, marketing and communications manager for the hospital. “The Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge communities are dealing with incredible loss, yet LeConte Medical Center’s staff are there caring for patients, all while many of the Center’s own staff are dealing with personal loss and concerns,” the hospital’s leadership team said in a statement yesterday. UT Medical Center, the region’s only Level One trauma center, has received 15 patients as a result of the fires and numerous other patients from the region with breathing or respiratory problems, said Jim Ragonese, a hospital spokesman. Their conditions range from stable to critical. Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville is caring for three adult burn victims from the fires, who are in critical but stable condition, said John Howser, chief communications officer for the hospital.