Shriners Childrens Texas is a 30-bed non-profit pediatric burn hospital, research, and teaching center located on the campus of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, US. Shriners Children’s Texas is part of a 22-hospital system and one of the three Shriner’s Hospitals that specializes exclusively in burn care.
The hospital consists of an intensive care unit with 15 acute beds and a reconstruction and plastic surgery unit with 15 reconstruction beds along with three operating rooms and beds for orthopedic and spine care. The hospital is verified as a burn center by the American Burn Association and accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Originations. In 2012, Shriners Childrens Texas joined the Texas Medical Center. Shriners Childrens Texas was Texas Medical Center’s 50th member institution.
HISTORY OF SHRINERS CHILDRENS TEXAS
In 1962 the Shriners of North America allocated $10 million to establish three hospitals that specialized in the treatment and rehabilitation of burned children. Shriners after visiting 21 university-based-medical facilities decided to build the first pediatric burn unit on the campus of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. In 1963 the “Shriners Burns Institute” began operation in a seven-bed ward in John Sealy Hospital, the teaching hospital for UTMB. In the interim, a specialized Shriner’s Burns Hospital was being constructed on land adjacent to UTMB. Land for the new hospital was donated by Sealy and Smith Foundation. Work on the hospital was completed on the hospital in 1966 and the institute moved in.
By the late 1980’s, the Shriners began to study the aging World Class Shriners Childrens Texas hospital. Since their orthopedic children’s hospital in nearby Houston was also slated to be replaced, the Shriners organization studied combining the two institutions and basing them in the Texas Medical Center. But the Sealy & Smith Foundation and the Moody Foundation both offered substantial financial and logistical support to the organization if it would choose to stay in Galveston. With two Galveston foundations willing to cover much of the cost of a new hospital, the Shriners agreed to remain on the island and they renewed their agreement with UTMB.
In 1989 construction commenced on a new eight-story hospital tower. The tower would be equipped with 30 beds, three operating rooms, a 163-seat auditorium, research & rehabilitation facilities and a skywalk directly linking the hospital with UTMB’s John Sealy and Children’s hospitals. The new world class Shriners Childrens Texas hospital was completed and occupied in 1992. Sealy Smith Foundation purchased the old 1966 hospital building and donated it to UTMB as a research facility.
STORM DAMAGE TO WORLD CLASS SHRINERS CHILDRENS TEXAS
In 2008 Hurricane Ike severely damaged the hospital. In light of the cost of repairs and the economic downturn, the Shriner’s National Hospital Board planned to close the facility in the aftermath of the storm, however the Shriners National Convention overturned the decision and voted to repair and reopen the Galveston facility.
Before the storm, the hospital serviced both burn patients and patients with cleft lip and palate disorders. However, when the Galveston hospital reopened in 2009, the decision was made to relocate the cleft lip program to the hospital’s sister institution in Houston, the Shriners Orthopaedic Hospital for Children.
MERGER AND EXPANSION TO WORLD CLASS SHRINERS CHILDRENS TEXAS
in January 2020 it was announced that Shriners Hospital for Children in Houston would be closing their facility. In the fourth quarter of 2020, staff and programs were transferred to their sister hospital, Shriners Hospital for Burned Children, in Galveston. The Houston facility closed early 2021. After the merger, the Shriners Hospital for Burned Children — Galveston was renamed Shriners Children’s Texas reflecting their expanded programs and services.
Other Places of Interest
Please visit my other blog, John Sealy, Jennie Sealy, & Children’s Hospitals Galveston (mygalvestonrealtor.com) to learn more about Galveston hospitals. John Sealy, Jennie Sealy, & Children’s Hospitals Galveston are State-of-the-Art Facilities. They are all a part of the University of Texas Medical (UTMB) complex.
UTMB is nationally recognized and has growing research programs focusing on biodefense and infectious diseases, vaccine development, aging and longevity, neuroscience, molecular medicine, environmental health, asthma, gastrointestinal health, cancer, and diabetes.
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