...'out of the hospital business' within 5 years.


This is something that is very very important to me, if it was not for Shriners Hospital in St. Louis I would not be walking today, let me say that again for the cheap seats. Shriners Hospital is the reason can walk today, my condition was very bad mobility wise before they worked miracles on both my feet. Now they may have to close up shop at the hospitals all over the US. All my surgeries were done at no cost to my parents, if they had to pay for the work I had done, I never would have been able to get those needed surgeries.


Story:


<sub>By Katrina A. Goggins, Associated Press

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Shriners hospitals, which have provided free care since before the Great Depression, are considering closing a quarter of their facilities as donations stagnate, costs increase and the charity's endowment shrivels.

The group's director says it's the only viable option.

Officials at the Florida-based organization say it is siphoning $1 million a day from its endowment to balance the budget for 22 hospitals in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Meanwhile, they say, that fund has fallen to $5 billion from $8 billion in less than a year because of the sputtering stock market and a charitable giving slump that has hurt philanthropies nationwide. The fund has been declining since 2001. The group will vote this summer on the closures.

"Unless we do something, the clock is ticking and within five to seven years we'll probably be out of the hospital business and not have any hospitals," Ralph Semb, chief executive officer of Shriners Hospitals for Children, told The Associated Press.</sub>

Full story here: [link]


This makes me very sad, assholes that helped run our country into the ground are getting million dollar bonuses, paid for with tax payers money and a place as wonderful, life changing and very much needed is watching their future fade away. Along with the hopes and dreams of thousands of children that need such a place.

I walked on the balls of my feet so bad that my heels never touched the ground when I walked, never. From the ages of 12 to 13 I went through two separate surgeries over a two week period. After everything healed and my casts were removed for the last time, I put my feet on the floor and felt the cold tiles on my heels and the balls of my feet at the same time. I believe I was the third person to ever have that procedure done, it was something being done ONLY at Shriners.

...this whole thing is very upsetting to me...I will try to finish this at another time.

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