One day before the nation celebrates its beginnings with big fireworks, fanfare of a different sort will mark a new beginning in patient care for children with orthopaedic needs within a nine-state area as officials from Shriners Hospital breaks ground on a new hospital in St. Louis.
A ceremonial groundbreaking takes place at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, July 3 at the corner of Taylor and Newstead, at a time when thousands of Shriners will convene in St. Louis for their annual convention.
The Shrine fraternity’s annual Imperial Session and convention will take place in downtown St. Louis. More than 30,000 Shriners and their families will be in the Gateway City for business meetings, parades and competitions. In addition, local Shriner Doug Maxwell will be installed as the new Imperial Potentate – the national leader of the organization.
Shriners recently purchased 3.75 acres of property from Washington University on the BJC Healthcare campus at 4400 Clayton Avenue to build the replacement hospital, which is being designed by the architectural firm Gresham Smith & Partners. The current hospital located in Frontenac at 2001 S. Lindbergh will be sold after the new hospital is completed. Construction on the new hospital is scheduled to begin next year with completion expected in two to three years.
The move is expected to further enhance clinical care and research collaborations with Washington University School of Medicine, with which Shriners is affiliated. Many of their attending physicians are faculty at Washington University.
“The closer Shriners Hospital is to the resources of not only Washington University School of Medicine but also St. Louis Children’s Hospital as well other BJC facilities and services, the more effective we can be in providing care to our children and more fully collaborate in the research and education that is the hallmark of the medical center,” said John O’Shaughnessy, FACHE, administrator of Shriners Hospital – St. Louis.
The new facility will encompass 247,000 square feet, 50,000 more than the existing hospital. It will include 30-inpatient beds, including 15 private rooms, 30 clinical exam rooms, four surgical suites and 12 private beds for same-day surgery.
Specialty areas will include 10 beds in the Center for Metabolic Bone Disease and Molecular Research, a Gait Lab, a DNA lab and an entire floor dedicated to scientific research. Six rooms will be designated for parent housing.
The St. Louis hospital specializes in orthopaedic care and is internationally renowned for its work with spinal deformities, such as scoliosis, club foot, leg-length discrepancies, hip conditions, orthotics and prosthetics and rare metabolic bone diseases.
Officials report the St. Louis Shriners Hospital is the second busiest among sister hospitals, second only to the facility in Mexico City. It serves children from Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Services at Shriners Hospitals are for children from birth to age 18 and are at no cost to patients and their families, insurance companies and third parties. It funded through donations by the Shrine Fraternity and public donations. Eligibility is not based on a relationship to a Shriner, finances, insurability or other socioeconomic factors.
Shriners have 22 hospitals located in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Overall, Shriners Hospitals for Children estimates it spends $2 million each day to provide orthopaedic and burn care.
For more information Shriners Hospital services for children, visit online at http://www.shriners.com.