Our People
Reflections on our Purpose by Drew Griffin - Burn Awareness Week
It feels like I’ve always been running. I’ll never forget my pursuit of my childhood dream to be an Olympic Track and Field gold medalist. My dream almost came true in the 2004 Olympic Trials in Sacramento, California. While I finished in 10th place in the 1500-meter final and didn’t go on to compete in Athens, Greece, it was an honor to make it as far as I did. My upbringing and training in Atlanta, Georgia from an early age all the way through to attending University of Georgia on a Track and Field scholarship taught me a lot about discipline, passion and living life to its fullest.
Fast forward to how I came to Integra and how my passion evolved to helping others in the community where I was raised. Similar to track or any sport, career or life pursuit for that matter, you need to put the time in, set goals and have a purpose. Joining Integra in 2014 and becoming an account manager for the Wound Reconstruction and Care sales channel in Tissue Technologies has truly been a gift. I chose to pursue a career in Medical Device sales since as you can tell based on what I just shared, I am competitive by nature, enjoy building relationships and like taking on challenges.
This week is Burn Awareness Week, and I was asked to reflect on what this week means to me. First, you can’t even imagine how traumatic and emotional the experience can be for someone who suffers an acute burn injury. Burn patients endure unfathomable physical, psychological, and mental hardships on their road to recovery.
If you have ever personally met a burn survivor like I have, you are immediately inspired. That alone, gives me purpose. During my nine year career journey, I have learned a lot about myself and the significant role I have in training and educating surgeons and their staff ranging from -- the Operating Room (OR), Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Wound Care Clinic and Physical Therapy teams and more, on our regenerative portfolio and legacy product, Integra® Dermal Regeneration Template (IDRT). It’s a privilege to represent our dermal matrices product line, which has, for over the last 30 years, been studied in more than 300 clinical trials and studies and helped nearly one million patients recover and restore functionality so they can live their lives.
I truly enjoy working alongside the amazing Burn team at the Walter L. Ingram Burn Center at Grady Memorial Hospital and being part of a collaborative learning environment where the shared goal is to provide the most optimal patient outcomes. Juvonda Hodge, M.D., Laura Johnson M.D., and the entire Grady Burn team are incredibly dedicated to the patients they treat and care for. Jalen Richardson is a burn survivor who was treated by Dr. Hodge and whose story we previously shared with Integra colleagues. I met Jalen early on when he first suffered his burn injuries and am in awe of him and his recovery every day.
This week and beyond, remember your purpose, your impact and the role that we all play in burn prevention and being there when our surgeons and patients need us the most.