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It was a privilege to visit the St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee this week. It is a truly amazing hospital and a trip I will not forget. St. Jude’s Children Hospital was founded by Danny Thomas in 1962 and today it is a sprawling campus on 60+ acres that includes the hospital, research facilities, drug manufacturing, ALSAC office building and accommodations for parents and siblings of the patients (Grizzly House on campus for shorter stays and Target House off campus for longer stays) and a staff of 3,500.

The most impressive part of the entire visit is that patients are admitted without consideration for their family’s ability to pay. The entire operation runs on donations from St. Jude supporters. Some corporate supporters include:

  • Target, which donated the Target House 1 and 2. The target house is where families will stay for extended visits, sometimes up to 3 years. Full apartment like amenities are provided.
  • Chili’s restaurants which donated the Chili’s Care Center,
  • Kay Jewelers which donated Kay’s Kafe, especially impressive because there is only one dining facility. It was Danny Thomas’ vision for doctors, patients, families and staff to all eat in one facility. June 2008 was the grand opening of Kay’s Kafe; it is impressive.

Individual donations include donations from:

  • Tiger Woods who donated the teenager room
  • Amy Grant who donated the music room
  • Scott Hamilton who donated the workout room for adults and children
  • The wives of the PGA tour who donated the outside playground with numerous wheeled toys.

The landscape and landscape maintenance is donated so none of the dollars donated to the hospital are spent on landscaping! The environment is cleaner than Disneyland with an emphasis on education. Some of the artwork drawn by the children is posted throughout the facilities for all to view.

Discrimination on ethnic background or religious orientation is not tolerated. Some rare diseases are isolated to certain parts of the world and because the physicians are allowed to collaborate their research efforts and their findings, they can build on the synergies of such discoveries and open door policies. Unlike grant money allocated for a specific task, researchers can pool resources when a common theme is discovered. Amazing discoveries are made on a daily basis. Another big point I wanted to share, physicians are not required to write their own grant requests- there are professional fundraisers for that effort, ALSAC.

This allows the hospital staff and researchers to focus on what they do best- finding cures for rare childhood diseases. Cancer will never be cured overnight- it is a step by step process with successes measured in inches rather than miles. Disturbingly, I learned that the pharmaceutical companies don’t focus on medications for childhood cancerous diseases because the number of childhood cancer cases is sparse and profits would be non-existent. Thus the St. Jude campus has its own facility to manufacture medications in dosages that will treat children.

Not only are the patients from all over the world, so are the physicians! Many who came to learn and participate in the St. Jude experience planned to stay for just one year. Some are celebrating their 10th, 15th and even 25th anniversaries at St. Judes.

Many thanks to Denean Richards, Director of Sales for JCP NHD reports, for introducing me to St. Jude’s. Thank you also to Jody Fredrickson for providing the tour of St. Jude’s Childrens Hospital.

Your feedback and comments are always appreciated. Please contact me at Pete@ConsultPete.com or 925-719-3569. Many thanks to my listeners and readers for providing feedback. To learn more about my background, visit Consult Pete. To learn more about my company strategy, visit Commercial MasterMinds.