Fire Service Women of Vision and Leadership

Patricia Mieszala

Patricia Mieszala took a path to the fi re service that actually became a second career – and I am going to pro fi le her unique contributions today in celebration of this 2021 Women’s History Month. For ten years (1971-1981), Pat was a Psychiatric Burn Nurse Clinician at the Cook County Hospital’s Sumner L. Koch Burn Center in Chicago, Illinois. It was during that time when Pat and I fi rst met and developed a friendship that has lasted to this day. She served on the American Burn Association (ABA) Board of Directors beginning in the late 1970’s and was instrumental in moving the organization’s leadership to include "prevention" as part of their mission. Pat Mieszala is internationally recognized for her work to reduce burn injuries and juvenile-related fi res through public awareness, education, and intervention programs – and she continues to o ff er her expertise in those areas and others. Throughout her more than forty-year fi re service career, she has remained passionate about improving methods to identify and treat youth who set fi res. As President and Founder of “Burn Concerns National Consulting and Educational Patricia Mieszala took a path to the fire service that actually became a second career – and I am going to profile her unique contributions today in celebration of this 2021 Women’s History Month. For ten years (1971-1981), Pat was a Psychiatric Burn Nurse Clinician at the Cook County Hospital’s Sumner L. Koch Burn Center in Chicago, Illinois. It was during that time when Pat and I first met and developed a friendship that has lasted to this day. She served on the American Burn Association (ABA) Board of Directors beginning in the late 1970s and was instrumental in moving the organization’s leadership to include prevention as part of their mission. Pat Mieszala is internationally recognized for her work to reduce burn injuries and juvenile-related fires through public awareness, education, and intervention programs – and she continues to offer her expertise in those areas and others. Throughout her more than forty-year career, she has remained passionate about improving methods to identify and treat youth who set fires. As president and founder of Burn Concerns National Consulting and Educational Services, she provides training to fire and life-safety educators to develop, improve, and evaluate their outreach and community education programs. 6

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