June 14, 2011 Shriners Children’s Hospital, Sacramento, CA

Jun 14, 2011 Sacramento, CA

“A promise worth keeping.”  THE SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN

This morning I packed up my tent and rode over to the Shriners Hospitals for Children, Northern California, located in Sacramento, CA.  Catherine and Alan took John, a local Shriner who had come over on his triked Honda Goldwing, and me on an extensive tour of the facilities and in the process shared many facts. As I look back over the day, I’m over-whelmed and humbled by what I’ve seen.  If I leave out or misstate important facts, I hope you will still get a sense of the vital work done there.

The Shriners Hospitals in Sacramento is the only one in their 22-hospital system to house facilities for the treatment and research specialties for children with orthopaedic problems, spinal cord injuries, burns, and cleft lip and palate.  The hospital is located across the street from the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, and all Shriners Hospital physicians have faculty appointment at the UC.  But that is only the tip of the iceberg, for the Shriners have made a fine art of collaborating and partnering, to bring best practices to their young patients.

Our first stop was the Motion Analysis Lab where an incredible array of professionals work together, using cutting edge research and electronics to analyze the movement patterns of children – defining how specific muscles and nerves are functioning and sharing that information with surgeons, PTs, etc.   My favorite part of their work was the light electrodes they put on the kids; the kids move around lighting up the place and providing important data.  I wish I could have watched a kid dance to that light show!  Anita, our tour guide (who has a PhD in biomedical engineering) said she was often asked if it wasn’t depressing working with disabled children; she laughed and shook her head, “They are KIDS.  They laugh, they cut up.  They’re so full of life.  How could you be depressed?”

The next stop was Orthotics and Prosthetics where Dan explained that part of what they do is build new limbs for kids who are in need because of birth defects or trauma.  The kids get to pick the outer design (skulls with cross bones and camouflage are favorites of young boys).  On one of the several workbenches was the soon-to-be-delivered right hand for a 13-year-old girl who lost her fingers in an accident; the prosthesis matches her skin tone and has nice fingernails she can paint.  What an important touch for a young teenager who just wants to be like her friends.  There was a left arm outfitted with a special device to hold a ball bat; the clamp at the end of the arm releases and the owner can then attach his ball glove. Important stuff to a kid who wants to play Little League with his buddies.  When I asked about a tiny hand maybe an inch long, Dan explained it was a matching prosthesis for the owner’s doll, that having your doll go through the same surgery and then receive a matching hand can be a good thing.  He laughed and said he does amputations, but only on dolls.  There were literally rows of legs and feet, in route to helping to normalize the life of a specific child.  There was a wall of facemasks, molded to facilitate healing and minimize scarring after a sever burn. There is nothing academic or theoretical here.  Each mask, each arm, each hand, and leg is the imprint of a unique child in need of medical help, a child who simply wants to be a normal kid.  This “shop” also sews custom-fit burn clothing – yet another necessary device to help minimize scarring.  Dan showed me a just-completed outfit for a toddler, skin toned but trimmed in pink; I would guess an 8 – 10 month old.

We stopped at the school (another facet I hadn’t considered).  The Shriners provide certified teachers to their patients (K thru 12^th grade) and insure that when the children return to their home schools, they are on track.  Several volunteers worked with the teachers so the kids were getting a lot of interaction and instruction. The head of the school explained they also do outreach to the home school so that the receiving teacher will know what to expect and how to best incorporate the child back into the class.  A black and white cat made her rounds among kids eager to run small hands through gentle, purring fur.  A large dinosaur, compliments of a volunteer & made to scale of course, reared its snarley face by the window.  At one table sat several young children with severely scarred faces, playing and working with shapes.  They only spoke Spanish; I only speak a little but I was able to make a girl smile, perhaps because I blotched my Spanish but every smile counts.  Back in the hall, Catherine explained that at the table were three of the children burned so badly in a nursery in Mexico two years ago, that they come up to Sacramento for scheduled treatments, and the Shriners’ doctors also see them in their hometown.  She also explained that the pouches on their throats were made by injecting saline under the skin; after the skin stretches over the saline bulge, the Dr. will cut it and fold it up over the facial scars.  Some of the tiny faces were too scared to move into a smile, but the little eyes glistened with joy.

On the surgery floor, a therapy dog moved between the waiting families.

On the 6^th floor is the Institute of Pediatric Regenerative Medicine – a place where a wide array of scientist work in search of new ways to make the dreams of disabled children come true.  Professionals are intensely engaged in clinical studies I cannot pronounce much less understand; their goal is to give children an opportunity to live life to its fullest.

The Shriners work is to meet the needs of the children and their families.   There are many examples of those efforts throughout the facility; a play ground with varying textures (spongy, cobbled, cement, grass) to teach muscles and nerves how to function again, a basketball goal, and a large rec. area with a pool table, etc.  On the weekends multiple programs are available, giving patients the opportunity to choose what they want to do, at the end of a week in which they had few options. There is also a section where the families of the children stay (a few apartments and several others that are motel-like); when space is not available on-site, the Shriners have contracted with the near-by Ronald McDonald House.

When it was time for me to leave, a transport van pulled up with several young patients for therapy.  A mother pulled a wagon with her 8 – 10 month old daughter whose hips were cast to correct a skeletal issue.  A 4-year-old little girl (the age of my grand daughter) and her older brother (I’d guess around 8 or 9 yrs old) came straight for our bikes.  Their faces had been severely burned and each wore saline pouches in anticipation of future skin grafts.  They spoke only Spanish; grateful for their patience I somewhat communicated with them.  The little girl’s face couldn’t smile, but she gave me a high five with sparkling eyes.  Both kids sat on my bike and John’s trike.  The girl liked my bike best; her brother preferred the trike 😉 The kids went in for their treatment, and I rode away.

And Anita is so very right.  The hope, the laughter, the smiles are not depressing.  The work is real and absolutely vital.  There is much in our world that is draining, detrimental, and simply unimportant.  What the Shriners do is life sustaining, enriching, and real.  Their hospitals are a testimony to what a dream, dedication and partnerships can do.

There are enormous costs involved in delivering such top-rate medical services, but the Shriners provide free medical care to children.  Their ability to continue this amazing and important work depends on our financial help.