The elimination of burn care services at St. Mary’s Hospital is the fallout from a low patient census that has resulted in difficulty recruiting a full-time medical director.

Carondelet Health Network officials said the 40-year-old burn care program probably would have continued had the hospital been able to hire a full-time medical director for the program but candidates were lukewarm about taking it because of the low patient census - averaging fewer than two patients at a time over the past two years.

The eight beds in the Burn and Wound Care unit will now be used solely for wound care, which the hospital says is attracting many patients.

Letty Ramirez, chief marketing director for Carondelet, said the network will transfer burn patients to the Arizona Burn Center at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix when necessary.

Hospital officials attributed at least part of the reason for the low burn care census to the job of the Tucson Fire Department in educating the public about avoiding situations that frequently result in burns.

Tucson Fire Capt. Norm Carlton said the department has run a program for the past past 10 to 15 years educating third grade students in local schools on fire safety. The department has hired four full-time educators to carry out the department’s fire safety education program.