Impact
Patients at Ranken Jordan represent the sickest 1% of all pediatric patients, whose needs consume 40% of all pediatric health care dollars. Common admitting diagnoses among Ranken Jordan patients are spinal cord injuries resulting in full or partial paralysis, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), premature birth and/or complications of birth, cardiac arrest or stroke, cancer, trauma, burns, and diseases and disorders of the heart, respiratory, musculoskeletal or metabolic systems. Many Ranken Jordan patients have multiple medical conditions upon admittance, and may also have developmental and psychological needs. Often such extreme needs result in financial devastation for families. For this reason, among others, 85% of Ranken Jordan Patients are Medicaid-eligible, and many live at or below the poverty line.
Ranken Jordan exists to serve all of the needs of medically complex children, from medical care to rehabilitation that helps each child build or restore as much function as possible under their respective circumstances. While undergoing such care, patients at Ranken Jordan reach many milestones of childhood, fostered by a Child Life team, which ensures multiple play opportunities that let kids be kids.
Stays at Ranken Jordan average 42 days, although some children remain for months or years. During their unique Ranken Jordan experience, kids are up and out of their rooms for up to 70% of every day, engaged in adaptive sports, games, indoor and outdoor play activities, expressive therapies, such as art, music and horticulture, cognitive challenges and more. Kids are also engaged in speech and communication therapies, physical therapy, recreational therapy (including Challenger Baseball and golf), warm water aquatic therapy and occupational therapy. The hospital also provides an educational liaison, to help kids maintain grade level while hospitalized.
Dana Brown Grant support has impacted thousands of medically complex children, from birth to age 21, improving their health and wellness, abilities and function, as well as their present and future independence. Tens of thousands more will be impacted in the coming years because of the Dana Brown Charitable Trust’s recent gifts toward construction of a new wing of the hospital and renovation of the existing structure.