Forty years after opening its first Shriners Hospital, the Shrine of North America became aware of another enemy of children – the severe burn. Each year, thousands of children are disfigured or killed by what has been called one of the greatest hazards of childhood.

Recognizing the lack of medical expertise in the burn care field, in the mid-1960’s the Shrine opened three Shriners Hospitals specifically to treat burns, each with the three-fold purpose of helping children, conducting burn research and training medical personnel in the treatment of burn injuries. Today, four Shriners Hospitals provide acute and rehabilitative care for children who have been burned.

The burn Shriners Hospitals are located in Boston; Cincinnati; Galveston, Texas; and Sacramento, California.  Since the mid-1960’s, when the Shrine first made a commitment to advancing burn treatment by opening these specialized hospitals, a burned child’s chance of survival has more than doubled.

Today, Shriners Hospitals remain pioneers in burn treatment.  They are actively involved in developing many major advances that will continue to revolutionize the way burn patients will be treated.  The Shrine reinforces its commitment to research and improvements in burn treatment through affiliations with the outstanding medical schools at Harvard University, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and UC-Davis in Sacramento.

The burn Shriners Hospitals are staffed and equipped to treat the following:

• Patients with acute, fresh burns.
• Patients needing reconstructive or restorative surgery as a result of healed burns.
• Patients with severe scarring, resulting in contractures or interference with mobility of the limbs.
• Patients with facial scarring and deformity.

The sooner a burned child reaches a Shriners Hospital, the better his/her chances of recovery.  In an emergency, the referring physician for a burned child needing immediate care should telephone the chief of staff at the nearest Shriners Hospital specializing in burns and indicate the patient needs emergency care.

Non-emergency admission for burn care is dependent on the medical needs of the patient and on the availability of beds.  Shriners Hospitals are open to children up to their 18th birthday, regardless of race, religion or relationship to a Shriner.