Admission procedures for the
orthopedic hospitals
Application forms for admission to
a Shriners Hospital can be obtained from any Shrine Center or by writing to Shriners Hospitals, P.O. Box 31356, Tampa, FL
33631; or by calling the Shriners Hospitals for Children toll-free
referral line at 1-800-237-5055. (In Canada, call 1-800-361-7256.)
Completed application forms should be returned to the nearest Shriners
Hospital.
Admission procedures for the burn hospitals
Emergency admissions
The sooner a burned child reaches a
Shriners Hospital that specializes in burn treatment, the better his/her
chances of recovery.
IN AN EMERGENCY, the referring physician treating a burned child should telephone the
chief of staff at the Shriners Hospital in Boston, Cincinnati,
Galveston or Sacramento and indicate that he has a patient needing
emergency medical care. ( Telephone numbers are at the
bottom of this page)
Transportation of the patient is the
responsibility of the patient's family, but many Shrine Centers offer
transportation assistance. The Shriners Hospital to
which the child is being referred can assist in contacting a Shrine
Center for transportation assistance.
Non-emergency admissions
Non-emergency admission for burn
care is dependent on the medical needs of the patient and on the
availability of beds. Shriners Hospitals are open to children, up to
their 18th birthday, regardless of race, religion or relationship to a
Shriner.
Application forms for non-emergency
admissions to Shriners Hospitals can be obtained from any Shrine Center
or
by writing to Shriners Hospitals, P.O. Box 31356, Tampa, FL 33631; or
by calling the Shriners Hospitals for Children toll-free referral line
at
1-800-237-5055. (In Canada, call 1-800-361-7256.)
BURN CARE AT SHRINERS HOSPITALS
Boston * Cincinnati * Galveston *
Sacramento
Each year, thousands of children
suffer burn-related accidents from one of the greatest hazards of
childhood.
In the 1960s, recognizing the lack
of medical expertise in the burn care field, the Shrine of North
America opened three Shriners Hospitals with the three-fold purpose of
treating severely burned children; conducting research and improving
methods of burn treatment; and training and educating medical personnel
in the care and treatment of burn injuries. In 1997, a new Shriners
Hospital opened in Sacramento, Calif., providing burn treatment in
addition to orthopedic and spinal cord injury care.
Today, Shriners Hospitals remain
pioneers in burn treatment and provide excellent medical care to
severely burned children. These institutes are actively involved in
research, and many of the advances in burn care have been the result of
Shrine investigations. Since the Shriners Hospitals specializing in
burn care first opened, the survival rate for children with burns over
50 percent of their total body surface area has doubled. Today, these
specialized hospitals are saving the lives of children with burns over
more than 90 percent of body surface area.
This impressive survival rate has
been achieved through today's improved surgical procedures, medical
technology and the coordinated efforts of many hospital staff members.
The Shriners Hospitals in Boston,
Cincinnati, Galveston and Sacramento are staffed and equipped to treat
children with acute, fresh burns; children needing plastic
reconstructive or restorative surgery as a result of healed burns;
children with severe scarring, resulting in contractures or
interference with proper movement of the limbs; and patients with
scarring and deformity of the face.
In addition to offering a wide
range of specialized medical and rehabilitation services, Shriners
Hospitals use a family-centered treatment approach that provides
multiple benefits for the patients. This philosophy stresses that while
medicine might heal the child's body, tending to the child's sense of
well-being is equally important to his recovery.
The treatment of burn injuries has
advanced so dramatically in the past three decades that the Shriners
Hospitals are now routinely saving the lives of patients who, in the
past, almost certainly would have died. However, now that their medical
needs can be met, these burn injury survivors face another challenge:
that of returning to normal life in a society that places tremendous
emphasis on physical appearance.
The burn care professionals at
Shriners Hospitals have turned their attention to helping these
patients function more normally in society. Some of the special
programs that have been developed to address this need are the Reentry
Program, Make-up Clinics, and Camp Ability.
