Opinion: I treat burn survivors in Connecticut every day. What makes the difference

Hartford Courant – Saturday, May 16, 2026
By Dr. Jaclyn M. Piselli

Dr. Jaclyn M. Piselli, OTD, OTR/L, BT-C, FWEC is with Bridgeport Hospital.

It’s safe to say that if you’ve endured a burn injury in Connecticut, and even some parts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and beyond, you’ve met me. I am the 35th certified burn therapist in the world, practicing at the Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital, where we deliver life-saving care to approximately 260 burn survivors each year.

The American Burn Association’s Burn Therapist Certification credential recognizes occupational and physical therapists with deep experience in burn rehabilitation; it is a challenging credential to earn, and one that marks the highest commitment to both high-quality burn care and professional development. For me, certification has provided the opportunity to challenge my evidence-based practice, emphasize my patient centered care, and reinforce my clinical judgement. In doing so, I have been able to integrate new research in my daily practice to ensure the highest level of care is being given to our survivors.

Our approach to burn survivorship care at the Connecticut Burn Center is complex and requires a specialized, multi-faceted approach. One component of my role as a burn therapist is the focus on the range of motion of the skin and its ability to glide over joints to allow functional movement. Placing our extremities in alternative positions to optimize the range of the skin, rather than just the joint, is one example of the specialized care to our survivors receive that directly impacts their functional recovery.

One of the most remarkable things about this work, outside of the quality, compassionate care and support we provide to survivors and their loved ones, is our commitment to advancing the field of burn care and recovery. We are living, real time, in new research that we apply to the care we deliver every day at the Connecticut Burn Center. Right now, research is being done to attempt to quantify cutaneous functional units—the unit of skin that must mobilize to allow it to move and glide over our joints and structures, allowing for normal range of motion—so we can explicitly quantify how many of these units are impacted with a burn injury. For now, we know cutaneous functional units exist as well as their purpose and function. And with every survivor we practice this skill on, we are one step closer to further defining them so we can more objectively track the functional progress of our survivors.

Being a certified burn therapist gives me the perspective to view each survivor through this approach—a person living within the current research—and the desire to learn as much as I can about their injury. It provides an opportunity to teach our survivors and their loved ones a little bit more about their present condition to allow them to have greater understanding, trust, and carryover.

This is the value of having a verified burn center, with an expert team of clinicians including a certified burn therapist, right here in Bridgeport. Bridgeport Hospital needs our leaders in Hartford to invest in the compassionate care and innovative research offered by the Connecticut Burn Center. After all, our team is a statewide resource that looks beyond just treating burns: we restore function, redefine recovery, and advance the standard of care for every survivor we serve.

This is more than just rehabilitation, it is a shared commitment to ensuring every burn survivor has the knowledge, care, and opportunity to truly recover and return to their meaningful daily lives.

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