HONOLULU (KHON2) — The five survivors from the Aliamanu New Year’s blast, who were transported to Arizona, have been discharged from acute care at Diane & Bruce Halle Arizona Burn Center Valleywise Health.
Six people were killed in the blast and dozens were hospitalized.
“Our last two Hawaiian patients were discharged from acute care here at the burn center earlier this week on Monday,” said Dr. Kevin Foster, director at Diane & Bruce Halle Arizona Burn Center Valleywise Health.
He said the other three were discharged earlier this month.
“Two of them are still inpatient rehab here in Phoenix, and the other three are in outpatient therapy here at the burn center,” Dr. Foster added.
He said some of the survivors required up to 12 surgeries and all remain in Phoenix learning how to do daily tasks like walking.
The patients plan on returning to Hawaii over the next few weeks and months.
“Lots of work ahead of them, they all have substantial scars and some physical limitations and disabilities that will be overcome with therapy,” he added.
Dr. Foster said physical and occupational therapy could take months or years, and most of the patients, if not all of them, will have to undergo reconstructive surgeries within the next few years.
“It’s a long road for patients who have large burns like all five of these patients, from a physical standpoint and from a psychological standpoint it is equally as hard,” he continued.
He said the psychological impacts will come once they re-enter the world again.
He said his facility is used to seeing firework-related injuries in Arizona, but not on this level with each patient having projectiles and particulate matter embedded into their skin.
“We often don’t see commercial heavy-duty firework injuries like we saw with these patients,” Dr. Foster said. “And that made some unique wounds and predisposed them to infections we did not anticipate. That was a bit of a surprise, once we figured it out we could care for them easily, but that was something we had not seen before.”
Dr. Foster said most of the patients remembered being at the party on New Year’s Eve, but not much else after the blast.
Straub Benioff Medical Center on Oahu said two patients are still being treated at their burn care unit, and six have been discharged to date.
Honolulu Police have arrested 12 people with alleged connections to the party, none have been charged.
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HPD said it continues to investigate the incident including whether the survivors could be arrested for any involvement as well.