Being a Shriner

Tonight was the annual installation of officers and board members of the Lee County Shrine Club. We were pleased to have the new Hamasa Potentate-Elect drive up along with five of the seven 2010 Hamasa Divan members. I like the new Potentate-Elect and I think he understands more about what being a Shriner is all about than many preceding him. Leadership in the Shriners is a “service” rather than an “authority” and those that understand make the difference. I have a positive outlook for Hamasa Shriners in 2010.

As people we often are so bombarded with words and terms associated with a group or a topic, we allow the definition of these words to be taken for granted. Shriners are human and like all things human we also take some things for granted. The words, “Hospital” and “Children” get mentioned a lot in a Shrine event or meeting. Unfortunately many of our Shriners have never visited a Shriners Hospital or participated in transporting a child to a hospital. I understand that some men are unable to take two days out of their lives and drive a child to a hospital. They can be just as beneficial Shriners if they contribute the time and energy that can give and cause no unrest or disharmony. Shiners were born out of “fun” and “philanthropy” and trying to make it something else doesn’t work.

You can’t be a real Shriner unless you actually like children and have a desire to lend aid to someone that needs what we can do to help them. Since 1922, Shriners of North America, now known as Shriners International have helped hundreds of thousands of children with a vast range of orthopedic problems and burn injuries. No matter how small or how large. One of the things I particularly like out the Shriners Hospitals for Children is the acceptance requirements. A child must be between the ages of birth and eighteen and have a medical condition we can treat. Just that simple without complications; we actually seek children to help. I have seen more than once a child treated after their eighteenth birthday simply because our hospitals truly care about these children. One of our problems is that Shriners Hospital appears to be too good to be true.

I was reminded at the installation of an event that happened in January 2003. It was the day of Milton Collier being installed at Potentate of Hamasa Shriners. Milton loved being a Shriner and loved children more than anyone I have ever known. We definitely lost Milton way too early and could sure use him back among us. In spite of all the work that was needed to be done that day, Milton insisted we all load up and head out to an airstrip in Meridian to meet a special ambulance plane that came to transport a young man to our spinal cord unit in Chicago. I remember Milton being asked about the cost of this special plane and Milton saying he didn’t care about the cost. Helping that child was more important than anything else. This young man had a diving accident resulting in a broken neck. When I first saw him he was a total quadriplegic. I quickly remembered being confined to bed flat of my back for several months and to see this person, especially this young, paralyzed was extremely heart breaking. No local doctor or hospital could help him and he was on a stretcher with a metal “halo” screwed into his skull. One of the things I was reminded of tonight was that a local doctor had said that with God’s help and the Shriners he may be able to walk again. We watched that young man be loaded onto that plane, it departed and we continued on with our evening event. Three months later we hear that not only has the Chicago Spinal Cord unit has helped him, but he actually walked out of the hospital. The following November he got up out of a wheelchair and walked across the Temple Theater stage. We played a photo array on the screen that included photographs I had taken that day in January. We, as Shriners, witnessed an actual miracle. Without the Shriners, this young man could have been experiencing his seventh year as a quadriplegic. Now he returns to Chicago as a volunteer to help others that have suffered a spinal cord injury. God and the Shriners didn’t let us down.

I have also witnessed more than one parent in tears because finally their child was getting the help that was needed. It’s not about the money, even though Shriners Hospitals for Children don’t charge, it about getting the help a child with an orthopedic or burn injury needs. The misconception that care at a Shriners Hospital is free is not true. This medical treatment is not free; it costs plenty, over two million dollars a day. The reality is that since 1922, Shriners have amassed a sum of money that allows our hospitals the privilege of not having to charge. Of course with the most recent economic times our financial status has required new concepts like third-party pay, taking Medicaid/Medicare, collaborations with teaching universities and budget realignments. But all twenty-two of the Shriners Hospitals for Children are still in business helping children, at no charge to the patient. Shriners Hospitals provide top quality care.

Prospective is key to be a Shriner. You have to keep those images of these children in your head always as a reminder of why you do what you do and why you tolerate what you tolerate. It is still a fraternity with all the trappings of a Masonic order and affiliation. Except being a Shriner is different, it is not really about “You.” You have to have a true empathy for these Shrine children. I can tell if a Noble has any experience with our hospitals or not. You see a child with no legs or no arm or confined to a wheelchair it makes you realize how lucky you are and how much people take for granted on a daily basis. I have had more than one orthopedic surgery, my first at age eighteen, so I know firsthand the level of pain involved. To think a five year old having that same awful experience is horrible. I am not taking about a few minutes or even a few hours of pain, orthopedic pain in months and years of pain; deep crippling serious pain. I have known daily pain since January 19th, 1975. As an adult I can deal with it, but think about the children that also have to deal with a lifetime of pain. Some people, even Shriners don’t think about it.

Another aspect of orthopedics is the lack of abilities that most people take for granted. Long time ago before political correctness it was Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children. “Crippled” is a term that is still prevalent in the minds and hearts of someone with a physical disability. People can make you feel “crippled” by simply walking faster than you can. They don’t realize it, because they don’t have a disability and it doesn’t occur to them. It requires a certain attitude you have to maintain. I usually like to classify it as two types of disabled people, ones with a positive outlook not allowing a disability to control their lives. Then there are the ones that become total assholes because they feel like they have to prove something to everyone; that they are as normal as the next guy and even better in their own eyes. You can see it in their eyes they envy they feel of the ones that have no infirmity. This desire for self-worth damages them as a person.

Somehow, someone recognized this factor and the attitude of the hospital staff at a Shriners Hospital is that of we don’t tell a child he or she can’t do something. The child life programs and the way staff members act and react with our children infuses a positive attitude in these children. This positive reinforcement works. I have a lot of respect for Shriners Hospital staff because of the attitude they have towards our children. You have to love children to make it work. Peer pressure is just as prevalent among disabled children as among non-disabled children. Nobles working with these children have to do what they can to make a simple trip to a hospital a fun uplifting experience. Narcissism does not work, but Shriners are human and humans are fallible.

Now that I have made a trip to a burn center, my Shriner experience has grown. Horrific, extremely painful disfiguring burn injuries are very much heart breaking. If you can visit a Shrine burn center and sit in the clinic waiting room without tears forming, you have a serious problem my friend.

We can’t forget or assume what being a Shriner is all about. Being a Shriner is about being of service to others. I have high hopes for 2010, being that our new potentate elect is the grandfather of a Shriners Hospital patient.

www.shrinershospitals.org

If you know of a child we might be able to help, please call our toll-free patient referral line:
In the U.S.: 800.237.5055
In Canada: 800.361.7256

Shriners Hospitals for Children is an international health care system dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing specialty pediatric care, innovative research and outstanding teaching Programs. Children up to the age of 18 with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries and cleft lip and palate are eligible for admission and receive all care in a family-centered environment with no financial obligation to patients or families.