Consider the Shriners hospitals ...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I think this is neither mundane nor pointless, but I suppose it’s the most appropriate place.

An incident in another thread refreshed some painful but important memories.

The Shriners operate several hospitals for children, including a burns hospital in Boston. When my son was twelve, he needed their services. He has a seizure disorder. He had a seizure on Christmas Eve and wound up lying with his leg touching an active electric baseboard heater for ten minutes. He spent two months in the hospital. He needed skin grafts and is scarred for life.

Near-toxic doses of morphine, enough to knock a horse cold, and still he screamed while I held him with all my strength so the nurses could change the dressings …

I was in Vietnam. I’ve seen many horrible things. Until you’ve seen a burned child, you haven’t seen horror. And if that child is yours …

My son was the least serious case in the 30 beds.

The Shriners hospitals do not accept insurance money; they justifiably feel that they are the most qualified people in the world to make treatment decisions, and insurance company adjusters are not qualified. They accept at most a very nominal fee from the patients. Their knowledge of and experience with burns is unparalleled. Their staffing levels are incredible; minimum one nurse per two patients, and sometimes two nurses per patient. Their expenses are astronomic; burn victims generate at least two large garbage bags per day of discarded supplies. Their expensive research saves lives and does things for their patients that no other hospital can approach.

When you give money to charity, please consider the Shriners’ hospitals.

Thank you for your attention.

2

Although I am not a shriner (don’t like the funny hat), I was honored to assist them in the recent shrine circus here in town. I helped promote the show, and sell tickets, in order to raise money. I helped move boxes that novelties came in, since most of those guys are pretty old.

It was a great experience. These guys not only have a fantastic fraternal community, they are genuinely concerned with the funding of the Shriner’s hospitals. A class act.

3

What a coincidence.

My niece is being admitted in 3 hours to have the hardware removed from her last hip surgery (she has had 9 so far). She has been treated by Shriners numerous times since her birth and I have never been anything but extremely impressed with their care.

4

I generally look upon fraternal organizations as egregious examples of the paired human tendencies for cronyism and exclusionism. The Shriners have always been a great counter-example.

They do good work. I applaud them.