5 Aliamanu fireworks patients discharged from Straub Benioff
JAMM AQUINO /JAN. 2
A child’s skateboard is seen near a bucket filled with flowers in the driveway at the house on Keaka Drive a day after a deadly New Year’s fireworks explosion.
The Straub Benioff Medical Center announced today that five patients from the New Year’s fireworks explosion in Aliamanu have been discharged.
“Four patients from the Aliamanu fireworks explosion remain in our care,” Travis Clegg, Straub Benioff’s chief operating officer, said in a statement. “Our Burn Care Unit continues to treat the most critically injured patients from this tragedy who require very complex wound care. There is a long and challenging road to recovery ahead. We thank the community for its ongoing support of these patients and our burn care team.”
Five Aliamanu fireworks patients remain under the care of the Diane & Bruce Halle Arizona Burn Center – Valleywise Health in Phoenix.
On Jan. 4, six severely injured patients from Hawaii were transferred to the Arizona Burn Center by military jet. One of the patients, 29-year-old Kevin Vallesteros, died Tuesday morning.
He was the fifth fatality tied to the explosion in Aliamanu. The other fatalities include Carmelita Benigno, 61; Nelie Ibarra, 58; Jennifer Van, 23; and 3-year-old Cassius Ramos-Benigno.
