Shriners help sixth grader after fireworks accident

February 17, 2007
By RYAN PAGELOW rpagelow@scn1.com
Rosalia Carmona, a sixth-grader at Miguel Juarez Middle School in Waukegan, was playing with fireworks with a neighbor girl on the Fourth of July five years ago when one exploded next to her, burning 10 percent of her body. She still has some scars, but doesn't have insurance to pay for skin treatments and doctor's visits.

Thanks to the Shriners and volunteer pilots with the Medinah Aviators based in Addison, she is able to see doctors at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Cincinnati at no cost to her.

» Click to enlarge image

Joe Zoller of Beach Park hands Medinah Junior Pilot wings to Rosalia Carmona. Rosalia's father, Antonio, looks on.
(Thomas Delany Jr./News-Sun)

» Click to enlarge image

Rosalia Carmona looks over to her father while waiting for a plane to take them to Cincinnati. Rosalia was badly burned by fireworks on the Fourth of July at the age of 7. Rosalia is in the sixth grade at Miguel Juarez Middle School in Waukegan.


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The aviators flew 12-year-old Rosalia and her dad, Antonio, to Cincinnati on Friday to meet with doctors for a check up. She's been visiting the center for the last two years.

"We're thankful that they are helping us," said Rosalia's mother, Maria. She's a stay-at-home mom and her husband works in a restaurant in Round Lake that doesn't provide insurance. The family is originally from Ciudad Hidalgo in the Mexican state of Michoacan and has lived in Waukegan for more than 10 years.

The aviators average about 50 to 60 trips a year, mostly in single-engine airplanes, said Joe Zoller, a real estate brooker and general contractor from Beach Park. He's participated in about four trips this year.

"I tell ya, it's miraculous when you see a kid that has been brought in horribly scarred and maybe four or five years later you can't tell anything happened to the kid," Zoller said. "It's really dramatic."

He's been a member of the Shriners for 26 years, and has been with the aviators for 20 years. The 27 active members in the Medinah Avaitors take turns transporting kids to the hospital burn center in Cincinnati. They lend their planes and chip in for the fuel costs which are about $2,600 to Cincinnati.

The group uses private planes to transport children because it is more comfortable for patients recovering from visible burns that might attract unwanted attention from fellow passengers on commercial planes.

"It's a traumatic thing to put them on a commercial flight," Zoller said. "That's principally why we started."

For those patients with no visible burns, commercial flights or ground transportation may be used. The number of trips the aviators could make was affected last year by high fuel costs, although they still found a way to get kids to the burns center by grouping some of the children together.

They also participate in the annual Waukegan Air Show and pass out junior aviator wings. The two pilots accompanying Rosalia included Howard Levinson of Glenview and Joe Holtorf of Huntley.

"A lot of people think that all Shriners do is go around with little hats and ride around in funny motorcycles but we actually have 22 hospitals," Zoller said. "It's amazing how many people don't know that we have free hospital care for children."



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