Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital

The Ilsong Memorial Society of Hallym University held the 15th Ilsong Award Ceremony at the International Conference Room on March 10 and awarded the medical award to the Burn Center of Hallym University Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital.

The Ilsong Award was instituted in 2006 to commemorate the philosophy of the late Dr. Duck-Sun Yoon, who devoted his life to university education, medical education, and medical service as a founder of Hallym University. The award has been given every year to experts or groups who made significant achievements in medical science, education, and social service.

Burn Center of Hangang Hospital, the winner of the Ilsong Award in the medical field, was established in March 1986 as the first specialized burn treatment institution in Korea and has played an important role whenever large and small fires and casualties occur. In particular, it served as the last medical bastion for burn victims in major disasters such as the crash of a Korean Airline in Guam in 1997, the fire at the Hwaseong Sealand Youth Training Center in 1999, the crash of a Chinese civilian plane at Gimhae Airport in 2002, and the Gunsan karaoke incident in 2018.

With these efforts and passion, the Center has grown into a world-class burn treatment institution. In about 35 years since its establishment, it has successfully performed tens of thousands of burn surgeries and developed new treatments. In 2006, the Burn Center was designated as the nation’s only ‘emergency medical center specializing in burn treatment’ by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the hospital was also designated as a Burn Specialty Hospital in 2015.

Taking the lead in caring for burn patients and their families, it operated various support programs such as ‘Stepping Stone,’ a burn patient rehabilitation group and ‘Pediatric Burn Patient Camp’, and opened the Burn Hospital School for the first time in Korea which is designed to help student patients return to school.

In addition, by promoting the aid project called 'Free medical treatment and surgery for burn patients in low-income Asian countries’ with the Hallym Burn Foundation, free treatment was provided to 1,105 burn patients in 8 countries, 97 patients were operated on site, and 54 patients were invited to Korea for surgery by 2018.

“Following the will of the late Dr. Duck-Sun Yoon of Ilsong Educational Foundation, Burn Center at Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital deserves to receive this award for its contribution to bridging the social gap by providing the best medical service for the underprivileged burn patients in society,” said President Yanghee Choi of Hallym University.

Director Wook Chun of Hangang Hospital said, “Burn is the field that hospitals used to avoid because of its aftereffects on physical and mental health, higher prevalence in low-income families, and the low return. There would be no glory without the sacrificial support and leadership of the Ilsong Education Foundation. With this honor, we will keep making efforts to develop more medical technologies in the future.”

By Hyun Ho Choi, Int’l Cooperation Team, HUMC (dullie1989@hallym.or.kr)