Shriners Parade 06/21/03

You were probably expecting a happy ending, brought about by a Shriners Hospital, but I don’t know if anyone ever asked the Shriners to help. The Shriners had just begun their work in the treatment of spinal cord injuries in children not long before, so they were probably not even considered. I told this story, however, because this is precisely the sorts of injuries that the Shriners have brought happy endings to for many children from throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Thousands of children are paralyzed from spinal cord injuries each year. The Shrine of North America has established three special rehabilitation units where young people with spinal cord injuries can find hope, strength, inspiration, and the specialized medical care needed for rehabilitation.

In 1980, the Shrine opened their first spinal cord rehabilitation unit for children at the Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia. The Shriners Hospital in Chicago established a similar unit two years later. The third spinal cord rehabilitation unit first opened at the Shriners Hospital in San Francisco in 1984, relocating to the Shriners Hospital in Sacramento in 1997.