From staff reports
A 45-year-old man severely burned while working at the Hormel Foods Corp. plant in Austin a week ago still is recovering in a St. Paul hospital.
Joseph Beasley, 45, is in fair condition in the burn center at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Beasley, a management employee, received severe steam burns to 60 percent to 70 percent of his body about 4:30 p.m. Dec. 19 while working in the plant's rendering department, which processes hog remains.
He was taken by ambulance to Austin Medical Center and then flown to Saint Marys Hospital in Rochester. He later was taken to Regions Hospital.
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"He's doing fine now," his wife, Ledwina Beasley, said Wednesday.
Doctors, however, haven't given a timeline yet as to when he'll likely be released from the hospital, she said.
Ledwina Beasley said she spent Christmas with her husband at the hospital along with their children Annette, 17, and Joseph Jr., 6.
