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Shriners Hospitals for Children is considering closing a quarter of their facilities as donations stagnate, costs increase and the charity’s endowment shrivels.
“Unless we do something, the clock is ticking and within five to seven years we'll probably be out of the hospital business and not have any hospitals,” Ralph Semb, chief executive officer of Shriners Hospitals for Children, told The Associated Press.
The Shriners Hospitals opened in 1922 with a facility in Shreveport, La. that specialized in treating polio. By the 1960s, the group had hospitals nationwide and expanded its care to include spinal cord injury rehabilitation, cleft lip and palate care and medical research.
More than 1 million children have been treated for free at the hospitals.
Last month, however, the Shiners’ board of trustees decided to close four of the group’s eight research centers and lay off about 40 people at its administrative office.
The current economic crisis has led to a fall in endowment from $8 billion to $5 billion.
“The outlook is not good, but we know that we can right it. And we can within a five-year period of time get our expenses down far enough to equal the income we have coming in and hopefully start building on that endowment fund,” Semb said.
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