The Shriners Hospitals for Children is a
network of pediatric specialty hospitals, founded by the Shrine,
where children under the age of 18 receive excellent medical
care absolutely free of charge. There are 18
orthopedic Shriners Hospitals,
three Shriners Hospitals dedicated to treating children with
severe
burns, and one Shriners Hospital that
provides orthopedic, burn and
spinal cord injury care. Shriners
Hospitals are located
throughout North America — 20 in the
United States and one each in Mexico and Canada. These "Centers
of Excellence" serve as major referral centers for children with
complex orthopedic and burn problems.
There is never a charge to the
patient, parent or any third party for any service or medical
treatment received at Shriners Hospitals. Shriners Hospitals
accept and treat children without regard to race, religion or
relationship to a Shriner. Any child may be eligible for
treatment at a Shriners Hospital if the child is under 18 and
if, in the opinion of the hospital's chief of staff, the child
has an orthopaedic or burn condition that Shriners Hospitals can
help.
All of the
orthopaedic hospitals are equipped and staffed to treat children
with congenital orthopaedic deformities, problems resulting from
orthopaedic injuries, and diseases of the musculoskeletal
system. Three of the orthopaedic hospitals (in
North Carolina,
Chicago,
Philadelphia and
Sacramento) also have special programs
dedicated to caring for children with spinal cord injuries.
Many of our
orthopaedic hospitals have in-house orthotics and prosthetics
departments where custom-designed artificial arms, legs hands
and feet are created. Thirteen of our hospitals have
motion analysis labs equipped to carefully study how a child
with mobility problems walks. These high-tech labs use a system
of reflective markers, high-speed cameras and computers to
develop a model of a child's walk that physicians use to
recommend treatment.
Shriners Burn Centers
Shriners burns
hospitals are located in
Galveston, Texas;
Boston and
Cincinnati. A fourth hospital in
Sacramento, Ca., treats pediatric cases in orthopedics,
spinal cord injury & rehabilitation and burn care.
Since these
hospitals opened, the survival rate for children with burns over
50 percent of their body surface has doubled. Today, patients
with burns over 90 percent of the body routinely survive and
thrive.
