Donations are harder to come by for Shriners

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

It was 81 years ago that those festive, parade-chasing Shriners devised their grand scheme of establishing free orthopedic hospitals for children. The first of the group's hospitals opened in Shreveport, La., in the fall of 1922.

Three months later, on Jan. 2, 1923, the second Shriners hospital opened in Honolulu. Since then, 20 other Shriners hospitals have opened in the United States, Canada and Mexico. But the 40-bed Shriners Honolulu Hospital on Punahou Street has established itself as unique among care facilities.

Because of its position in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the hospital serves one of the largest geographic areas in the world. The more than 20,000 kids who have received surgical and rehabilitative orthopedic care at the facility have come from as far away as Afghanistan, India and Siberia.

"Ninety percent of the inpatients being treated at any given time are from Pacific islands and Asian areas," said hospital spokesman Duke Gonzales. "They come from great distances and represent a great variety of cultures and backgrounds."

No other Shriners hospital spends as much on patient air fare as does the one in Hawai'i. While the hospital is financed through the Shriners hospital system, the air tab is picked up by the Aloha Shriners Temple. Don Orton, recorder for the temple, said last year's bill of just under $200,000 was typical.

And in keeping with the long-standing policy, no patient or family member has ever paid a penny for treatment — or airfare — at the Shriners Honolulu Hospital.

But those pennies, which at one time came exclusively from the Shriners, are getting harder to come by.

"That's because the temples and the Shriners as a whole are dwindling" said Gonzales. "What we've tried to do is shore up other areas of support: the general community, foundations and corporations. We have found that it's quite competitive, that many nonprofits are doing the same thing."

Despite the challenge, Gonzales says, the money to keep the free children's hospitals running will always be found. The need, he says, is too great.

"There is nothing quite like the scale of the Shriners Hospitals," he said. "We have 22 hospitals covering three countries, taking patients from all over the world. I don't believe there is anything that compares."