The pediatric hospital provides all levels of pediatric burn treatment and other specialty care for children up to age 18, regardless of a family’s ability to pay.
The proposal for the move was announced in 2019 and the deal was finalized in 2020.
Leading up to the decision to move to a smaller facility, there had been a steady decline in the severity and number of pediatric burns in the U.S., especially those requiring a long hospital stay.
As medicine advances, hospital stays for burns have also become shorter, and more patients can skip the overnight stay altogether and be treated as outpatients.
“Because of the wonderful education that we’ve done in burns, our numbers of children had gone down, and the facility was really oversized for what we needed. It wasn’t as efficient and effective as what we thought it should be,” said Jim Smith, Imperial Potentate of Shriners International.
Shriners will still be a separately operated hospital. Demand for burn care has been declining and this lets Shriners operate in a small footprint and partner with Dayton Children’s. Shriners is operating where Dayton Children’s pediatric intensive care unit used to be before that unit moved to a new expanded space.
Shriner’s provides services for burns and pediatric plastic surgery, including cleft lip and palate, abnormal breast development in boys and girls, hemangioma, congenital hairy nevus, hand malformations, ear deformities, complex wound and skin disorders, and trauma and reconstructive conditions.
Bill Rasner, Shriners chairman of the board of governors, said he wanted to thank their patients and also the staff for their commitment.
“Finally, I’d like to acknowledge our former patients. You are a sole reason that we as Shriners do exist. We are excited that over half a century of tradition exists of Shriners pioneering the field of pediatric burn care and that will continue for many more years here our new home in Dayton,” Rasner said.
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