UCI Health — Orange trauma and Regional Burn Center teams praised for lifesaving actions after plane crash
2025 First Responders Dinner honors team for quickly coordinating care, treating injuries after incident in Fullerton
Orange, Calif. — The UCI Health – Orange trauma center and Regional Burn Center teams were honored at the Orange County Business Council First Responders Dinner for their heroic efforts to coordinate care and treat those injured after a small plane crashed in Fullerton on Jan. 2, 2025.
The annual event on Sept. 18 celebrates the courageous first responders and frontline heroes who protect and serve the businesses, residents and visitors of Orange County.
Dr. Syed Saquib, a trauma surgeon and medical director of the UCI Health Regional Burn Center who helped care for those injured in the crash, accepted the award on behalf of the teams.
Additional team members who cared for the patients included:
- Dr. James Jeng, burn attending
- Dr. Lourdes Swentek, trauma attending
- Dr. Monique Gandawidjaja, resident
- Dr. Rommell Noche, resident
- Seda Gevorgyan, physician assistant
- Kurt Richards, physician assistant
- Kimberly Burton, physician assistant
“Within minutes of the crash, the burn and burn intensive care unit teams were mobilized to prepare for burn patients and a possible mass casualty incident. They, along with the trauma and emergency department teams, stood ready to act,” Saquib said.
The first patient arrived less than 40 minutes after the incident.
Jeng, Swentek and their teams assessed each patient’s injuries within minutes of their arrival. The most critically ill individual, who was on the ground and sustained burns over 75% of their body, was admitted for trauma and burn care while the others were treated and discharged.
“Each member of clinical team contributed to the excellent care each patient received and undoubtedly prevented more lives being lost in the tragedy,” said Saquib.
The seamless response to this incident underscores the critical importance of highly specialized centers and the systems that support them. UCI Health — Orange is the only American College of Surgeons (ACS) verified Level 1 trauma center and the only American Burn Association (ABA)-verified Regional Burn Center affiliated with an academic medical center in Orange County.
UCI Health — Orange emergency department team provides rapid triage, stabilization and coordination of care from the moment a patient arrives. It meets the highest national standards for trauma care, with the staffing, resources and protocols necessary to manage the most complex and time-sensitive injuries.
As an ABA-verified burn center, UCI Health — Orange ensures that burn patients receive expert evaluation and advanced interventions from a multidisciplinary team trained in the latest evidence-based practices for burn management.
About UCI Health
UCI Health, one of California’s largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The 1,317-bed system comprises its main campus UCI Medical Center, its flagship hospital in Orange, Calif., the UCI Health — Irvine medical campus, four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and a network of ambulatory care centers across the region. UCI Medical Center provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to the only Orange County-based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).