Du Quoin teacher Denver Tolbert is part of something very special
In Denver Tolbert and wife Johanna's world, children shouldn't be crippled. They should run and dance. As an eighth grade science teacher in Du Quoin Community Unit District 300 he has been around children his whole life.
And, four years from now as potentate of the Ainad Shrine Temple in Southern Illinois he will be at the center of something extraordinary--the world's greatest philanthropy. He signs on shortly after the new Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children goes up on the campus of Washington University's School of Medicine.
Currently a member of the temple's divan, he will lead the more than 2,400 Southern Illinois shriners whose sole mission is to be the strong legs that run so weak legs can walk--or walk again--through the work of the hospital.
They do this by raising money through the annual circus, golf tournaments, charity galas and community fundraisers.
Tolbert is thinking about retiring at the end of the next school year and will devote even more time to Ainad and the hospital.
U.S. News and World Report calls the St. Louis Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children one of the world's 10 best medical centers for crippled children.
We are very careful about blending the work of Ainad and the hospital. The members of Ainad serve the hospital, but they are not one in the same.
On Wednesday, Tolbert invited this reporter to a meeting of the hospital board of directors in St. Louis. The Du Quoin Evening Call has a longstanding relationship with Ainad Temple and with the hospital. When the Du Quoin State Fair was home to the Hambletonian, the newspaper's special edition sold by shriners in the grandstand raised tens of thousands of dollars for Ainad which, in turn, went to the hospital. Being in the St. Louis hospital's Gold Book of contributors has always been a source of pride for the newspaper.
Wednesday's invitation to attend the board meeting galvanized my belief that there is no greater good and it was a privilege to attend.
During the day they talked about flying an 8-month-old child from a tropical island to St. Louis to repair a shoulder damaged during delivery. They talked about never destroying decades of x-rays for the sake of silver recovery because of the opportunities for research to solve child medical problems like brittle bone disease. They talked about how many days a week should the hospital be open with some thought that kids need to be at home with their families on weekends when possible.
They talked about the dozens of Ainad shrine members who use vans and personal vehicles to get children to and from their medical appoints. At every turn they talk about making children smile again.
The hospital in February announced plans for a new $47 million replacement hospital on the campus of Washington University School of Medicine.
Officials broke ground March 20 on the facility, which will replace the current 50-year-old hospital located in Frontenac. This will be the third facility for Shriners Hospitals for Children in St. Louis, having originally opened in 1924. (The original building is still in use today by Washington University and is located at the corner of Euclid and Clayton.) The new facility will be located on 3.75 acres the hospital purchased from Washington University on the BJC Healthcare campus. The Joint Board of Directors and Trustees for Shriners Hospitals for Children approved building a 90,000 square foot replacement facility in November 2012.
"This is truly a win-win opportunity for Shriners Hospitals for Children, Washington University School of Medicine and, more importantly, the children we treat," said Douglas E. Maxwell, chairman of the Board of Trustees for the hospital network.
The move is expected to further enhance clinical care and research collaborations with Washington University School of Medicine, with which Shriners has had a long-standing partnership since the early 1920s. Most of the hospital's medical staff - 57 physicians, including Chief of Staff Perry L. Schoenecker, M.D. - are Washington University faculty physicians.
"The closer Shriners Hospital is to the resources of not only Washington University School of Medicine but also St. Louis Children's Hospital as well other BJC facilities and services, the more effective we can be in providing care to our children and more fully collaborate in the research and education that is the hallmark of the medical center," said Ted Dearing, chairman of the hospital's Board of Governors.
The new hospital includes 12 inpatient beds, three surgical suites, and 18 clinic examination rooms. It also features enhanced space for its clinical research center for metabolic bone diseases and more room for same-day surgery patients. Other additions to benefit patients are nine rooms for outpatient family housing, a state of the art interactive and educational activity area and dedicated space for collaborative research with Washington University scientists.
"Each Shriner's goal is to bring childhood back to kids with severe and complicated orthopaedic conditions," Gloss said. "We are thrilled that a new facility will be part of their noble mission."
The hospital retained two local firms in the planning and construction of this new facility: architectural firm Christner designed the facility, and S. M. Wilson and Co. was retained as the construction management firm.
Officials at S. M. Wilson and Co., report that the facility has a 20-month construction schedule and is expected to employ 100 tradesmen with 350,000 man hours.
Shriners Hospitals for Children is a health care network of 22 hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing pediatric specialty care, innovative research, and outstanding teaching programs for medical professionals. Children up to age 18 with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, regardless of the patients' ability to pay.
To a reporter, the day doesn't get any better than this.