Burn Rx

By Blimie Basch While emergencies are never expected, they manage to strike at the most hectic times. I experienced this firsthand on the night before Ta’anis Esther. I sent my 10-year-old daughter to bring dinner over to a neighbor who had just had a baby. I made sure to double wrap the container of steaming meat-based mushroom barley soup and placed some of the other foil pans in a bag. A few moments after she left the house, I heard the most horrifying, primordial screams. I thought she had met an animal of sorts, as our backyard is host to many. But as she burst through the door, I heard her screaming something about the soup spilling and saw mushrooms and barley on her shirt. I grabbed her and dumped her directly into the sink and began to run cold water over her chest, as I assessed where else the soup had spilled and how badly she was burned. It looked frightening. A large swath of her chest was raw, peeling and blistering. Her forearm looked the same. Hatzolah arrived within minutes and took us to the Burn Center in Livingston, New Jersey, the partially-assembled mishloach manos lined up on the table all but forgotten. It wasn’t long before the burn was treated, bandaged and we were discharged with lengthy instructions for care and follow-up. One of our neighbors had a child who experienced a severe burn on the chest that had required lengthy hospitalization and a year of treatment at the same burn unit, so we called them for support and advice. They strongly encouraged us to call Rabbi Yehoshua Weinstock, a Hatzolah EMT in Williamsburg, English principal in Krasna a nd special-education rebbi at a yeshivah in Lakewood. He treated their child with an oil, cream, and a powder that he formulated and they saw remarkable improvements. In contrast to the painful procedures and removal of skin that the hospital performed weekly, the treatment Rabbi Weinstock administered weekly was much gentler, and they saw the healing progress much more rapidly after beginning his regimen. Rabbi Weinstock referred us to Mrs. Rebecca Zuckerman, a wound care specialist whom he trained, and Ta’anis Esther found us traveling to Flatbush where Mrs. Zuckerman graciously gave up over an hour of her time on a hectic day to treat my daughter with Rabbi Weinstock’s Herbal Power3-step regimen of oil, cream, and powder, instruct me in its use, and ensure that we were calm and confi dent. Within four weeks, the burn was nearly all healed with barely any visible scarring. Rabbi Weinstock explains, “Due to my interest in Chinese herbal medicine and my medical background, I spent two years researching and experimenting until I formulated the oil, cream, and powder combination,” he explains. Though Silvadene isn’t intended to heal burns (its purpose is actually to prevent infection), the protocol in nearly all hospitals is to treat burns with it. Herbal Power is not only anti-microbial and anti-bacterial, but it heals as well. It’s used in treatment for a range of wounds in addition to burns, including post-surgery wounds, post-sutures, amputations, ulcers, bed sores, and the pussy, open wounds caused by MRSA. Rabbi Weinstock is adamant about working in conjunction with medical and healthcare professionals and ensuring that everything is sterile. “We don’t do anything without medical oversight; we complement the physician. Baruch Hashem, I never had a patient under my care develop an infection,” he says. The doctors in major hospitals, trauma and burn centers allow their patients to be treated with the Herbal Power regimen if they opt for it, and an increasing number of physicians are impressed by the results after seeing patient’s progress and healing. In case of a burn, Rabbi Weinstock advises, “Peel and grate a clean potato to prevent infection. Until it’s ready, run cold water over the burn. Cover the burn with grated potato, go see a physician and then call us. Obviously, don’t hesitate to call Hatzolah if the burn is severe or if the patient is experiencing any lifethreatening symptoms.” 