100 Years in Salt Lake City

I think there's a lot of healthcare organizations that when they turn 100 years, they feel like, okay, we've, we've made it, we've done enough, we're gonna rest on our laurels and, um, or maybe coast. And, uh, Shriners Children's is not taking that approach. Our vision is, is looking well, well into the future.

We have a long history in Salt Lake City of caring for the children of this region with complex pediatric needs. We do take care of the simple diagnoses, fractures, things that you'll think of every day and talk to your primary care physician about. But then you come in with a really complex condition or a condition that feels overwhelming to you, and you walk in the doors here and you immediately feel the hope and the care that people have for your child. And for you

Being at Shriners, it just, you just feel like you're, you belong and it's your family that's here to take care of you and most importantly, take care of your daughter.

I've had 142 fractures and 30 surgeries in my life. Well, I have an amazing doctor named Dr. Kel. She's never given up on me. A lot of doctors told me that I would never be able to walk, and she didn't give up on me, and she put rods in my legs and now I can walk.

There's so many limits in Cole's life. It's so refreshing to have someone working with you to help you help them have the best life they can live.

Without Shriners, I wouldn't be, I wouldn't be able to get all the stuff that I have already. My braces, my smart drive. I wouldn't be experienced how to walk in that, the local mat. So I'm like, thank you.

Rick Reigle, Physical Therapist & Manager of Therapy Services:

What keeps me going and, and what fill my bucket as a physical therapist is seeing the potential in the kids and giving them the opportunity to reach those, um, potentials. It keeps me motivated to want to work harder to keep these kids progressing.

Everybody feels this way. The doctors and the providers and the medical professionals that I work with feel the same way that I feel when we look at these patients. We want, all of us want to be able to provide that care, and we want to be able to provide that care just based solely on the fact that that patient exists. It has nothing to do with where they come from, who they are, how much money they have. We all wanna provide care because that's what healthcare is.

Recently we had a kid who, he had a very unusual condition where his leg essentially turned to bone and he was in a very non-functional position. And I worked with, um, Dr. Hennessy in coming up with a super unique solution involved attaching a knee joint to his knee and a carbon fiber socket that was very, very, very custom. And the kid, you know, he, he liked it. And at the end of the interview he's like, you know, in my dreams, I can walk like the other kids and now I can. And then just kind of got went away and I was like, oh, <laugh>, I'm not crying, you're crying.

Um, some of the most meaningful things to me that Shriners has given is most importantly a second chance in my life. Because with the way I was born, I would've probably have been in a wheelchair. I probably wouldn't be able to walk or run. It's just a miracle of what they've done for me. And without them, I feel like I'd just be half myself and something would be missing.

Because of Shriners, we have hope for the future of our daughter and what she can accomplish, and there aren't limits to her movement or what she can accomplish. We know that we have options and that we'll be part of those options.

It is so refreshing knowing that regardless of a family's insurance status or ability to pay for care, they're going to get the treatment that is required and recommended in consultation with the patient and the patient family. And we don't have to worry about, is insurance gonna cover this chair or cover this procedure? That the care plan is what is coming first. And let Shriners Children's and our great philanthropic foundation worry about the rest.

Shriners Children's has been able to provide medical care to every child and family that walks through our doors because we have such generous donations that come in on a daily basis, a weekly basis, a yearly basis. Without the beautiful donations from our community members, we would not be able to continue to provide our children with the care that they truly deserve.

The ability for us to have that many different prosthetics for him to do so many different activities is something that Shriners is amazing at. And the prosthetists tell us, go out and be a kid and do all the things and come back and we will fix it for you.

Without Shriners, I wouldn't be able to run or ski.

Unlimited camps are my absolute favorite thing. Um, they're a special camp for kids who have an amputation and they do a winter camp, which is my favorite 'cause I'm a big skier. And we take them to Park City for the week. They all get to ski together with a National Ability Center, and it's fully covered by Shriners and they get to use the equipment, they get ski lessons and they get to bond with each other. And they all get to meet and learn what it's like, um, to live with an amputation and bond and just have fun together.

We can see Travis doing different things, whether it's with the unlimited camp that Shriners Children's does, and he has that community as well. And, uh, to see him go to that and thrive and blossom and come back and be like, yeah, I've got this. Okay. I don't have one leg, but I have, you know, this, this amazing group of friends, these amazing people to help me there. And if there's any problems along the way, they've, they've got me.

So my goal is to just be able to like, stay active and like play sports and do what I would normally do with two legs. Just doing it with one,

Being able to see these kids overcome a challenge, overcome a difficulty with enthusiasm, with intensity. I love every bit of it. I love seeing those kids come in here every day. It has changed my life incredibly. You can't see one of these kids and not smile.

I like super proud of my daughter. Like I, I can't even explain like how, how important my daughter is to me and her accomplishments braley through this whole thing. She's never once told me I can't do this because of my leg. She's never referred to herself as having a disability. It's always Dad, I want to climb that. I need a strategy. What do you think the strategy is? And I think she learned that terminology here. It's just a strategy and she just needs a strategy to do things. And she's always figured it out and it's never stopped her. Uh, uh, my daughter is truly unlimited.

It's definitely a unique system. I mean, where else can you go to get all this comprehensive evaluation without your ability to pay? I mean, it's life changing. For some of these families. They would otherwise not be able to get these services.

We really rely on fundraising and donations and people deciding to give to Shriners Children's so we can continue to provide this amazing care, the amazing hope and healing for our patients.

[title card: Shriners Children's Salt Lake City logo, Shriners Children's Salt Lake City Celebrating 100 Years logo, a century of amazing care in Salt Lake City]