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Shriners Hospitals for Children
Shriners Hospitals for Children recently announced it would be closing its Houston hospital at the Texas Medical Center and merging its services with its Shriners-Galveston Hospital as part of its “vision” of the future.
In a statement received Jan. 13 from Shriners Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Mel Bower, he described the reasons for the change and asserted that the organization would continue in its mission to provide quality care to improve children’s lives.
“At the January 2019 Leadership Conference of Shriners Hospitals for Children, a high-level vision for the hospital system in 2035 began to emerge,” the statement reads. “It was decided that quality would govern all care decisions, delivery of care models would be evaluated in all facilities, and new methods of reaching more kids in more places would be fully investigated. As healthcare has undergone incredible changes, so too must Shriners Hospitals for Children.
“With quality as the primary driver for all future decisions, criteria were established for evaluating potential Centers of Excellence throughout the United States. Many steps, including short term and intermediate transitions will be necessary to arrive at that goal of establishing these premier pediatric care facilities. Since our Imperial Session in July, Houston and Galveston, utilizing a newly established governance model, along with the Joint Boards voted to merge their facilities into one by 2021.
“All of these decisions reflect system wide opportunities, and regardless of geography, should be viewed as system initiatives that benefit the continuation of our incredible mission at Shriners Hospitals for Children. As we journey toward our next 100 years, working together we can take our system beyond where it has ever been before as we re-reshape and transform pediatric specialty care for future generations.”
Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston specializes in burns and soft tissue damage, while the Houston hospital offered orthopedic, cleft palate and lip treatment and other services. The two will be combining those services at the Galveston facility, which Shriners International indicates could benefit children receiving burn treatments who need orthopedic care, as well. Current patients of the Shriners Houston hospital can continue their treatment in Galveston when the move occurs, reports the network.
Shriners Hospitals for Children is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Visit the group’s website, www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org, to learn more about the organization, how to donate and how to volunteer.