Major Financial Contributions

With funding from Paul Allen Family Foundation we have begun to build a new generation of immersive VR experiences for burn patients, using the sophisticated MultiGen Paradigm software. The Paul Allen Medical Foundation donated generously to Harborview Burn Center to accelerate our research and development of VR pain control for burn victims with severe burns. This funding will dramatically increase the number of burn patients we can treat (e.g., via the water-friendly VR helmet). Since Paul Allen is a giant in the computer industry, it is fitting that our project involves a medical application of computers.

The National Institutes of Health is an important source of funding for this project and we are grateful for their growing support.

In 2004, the William Randolph Hearst Burn Center in New York is funding the upgrade of SnowWorld to SuperSnowWorld. SuperSnowWorld is a new high tech virtual reality world designed to maximize VR pain reduction during severe burn wound care and physical therapy. Dr. Yurt, the Director of the Hearst Burn Center and Paul Allen are jointly funding of benevolent proliferation of VR analgesia software to other medical centers, free of charge.

Multigen-Paradigm Inc. has helped build an earlier version of SnowWorld, and helped the U.W. make it available to other burn centers.

SimWright Inc. has also helped build an earlier version of SnowWorld, and helped the U.W. make it available to other burn centers.

Firefighters know all too well how unforgiving fires can be, and have shown great compassion toward burn victims at Harborview. The International Association of Firefighters recently donated money to buy two light-transmitting fiber optic image guides. Although only 8 mm x 10 mm in size, each image guide consists of 800,000 tiny optic fibers! Each fiber is approximately 1/10th of a hair in thickness. These image guides form the heart of the water-friendly VR helmet designed and being built by Hunter Hoffman. The glass fibers transmit only light....no electricity, so patients who get their bandages changed in water (e.g., in the scrubtank), can receive VR during woundcare. Over 80% of patients with severe burns get their wound care in the scrubtank, so this water-friendly image delivery system will be in great demand by the patients.

Years ago, Ross Chambers, a local Seattle real estate developer, was airlifted to Harborview Hospital after a snow skiing accident. Ross recently raised money from local businesses for Harborview Burn Centerís VR pain control fund. This money has been especially valuable because it came when the VR pain project was completely without funding and needed additional VR equipment to continue treating severely burn injured patients. (This is Ross's second successful fund raising effort to benefit Harborview patients, and we are very grateful to him and all the local businesses who contributed).

To Contribute to expanding the use of VR for pain control

Please write "for VR Pain project" on the memo line of your check payable to: Harborview Medical Center and send it to:

Harborview Office of Development,
Box 359950,
University of Washington,
Seattle, 98104.

If you need a tax receipt (since these gifts are tax deductable), please mention this important fact in a short letter.

If you have questions, please feel free to call Harborview Office of Development at:
(206) 521-1666
Thanks alot!

Contacts:

Hunter Hoffman, PhD., hunthoff9@gmail.com, (206) 616-1496