[title card: Shriners Children's Chicago logo]
[title card: "Our Hospital"]
Speaker:
Our hospital on the outskirts of Chicago has been changing lives for 100 years. In the Roaring '20s, Chicago, the Windy City, was known for Al Capone, prohibition and jazz music. But a group of men decided to tell a different story, partnering together to change children's lives by offering healthcare like nowhere else. Through the vision and efforts of the Medinah Shriners of Chicago, they broke ground in April 1925, and the cornerstone for Shriners Children's Chicago was placed on June 20th, 1925.
Our hospital's century of care officially began in March of 1926. The Shriners opened a 50,000 square foot red brick hospital, located in what is now our parking lot. At that time, the polio epidemic raged. Tuberculosis of the bone also caused many deformities, leaving thousands of children in need of medical care that wasn't available to them. In the hospital's beginnings, only families who could not afford to pay for orthopedic care were accepted. Hospital stays could last for a year or longer. In a culture where people with disabilities were usually hidden away, patients found themselves accepted and valued, with school, scouting and sports available to many of them for the first time.
Our hospital quickly established itself as a leader in pediatric care. We led the nation in establishing orthopedic medical residency programs to train future doctors. Remarkable breakthroughs in care also followed over the years, including the first surgically successful treatment for osteogenesis imperfecta. Early testing of the halo skeletal fixator in the 1960s followed. We later started the first craniofacial cleft lip and palate program for Shriners Children's.
After years of changing childrens' lives, the Shriners were not done giving back. When patient volumes grew dramatically in the 1970s, the Shriners fraternity again stepped up to build a new facility on the same grounds. Led by Vice Chairman Earl Brown, construction of our current hospital took place over two years. The cornerstone was laid in June of 1980, and the new building was dedicated June 14th, 1981. A major renovation in the early 2000s added an outpatient clinic area, as well as a new inpatient area on the lower level. In 2010, our process but not our mission changed, to include the billing of private insurance and government programs, such as Medicaid.
Today, our work endures to advance our threefold mission, outstanding clinical care, medical education and research. Supported by 15 shrine temples, donors and friends, our hospital continues to improve the lives of more kids with the best care in the right places, all regardless of a family's ability to pay or insurance status. Our Chicago hospital's legacy is a century of care worth celebrating.
[title card: Shriners Children's Chicago logo]
