St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a leading pediatric treatment and research facility focused on children's catastrophic diseases. It is located in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1996, Peter Doherty of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work related to how the immune system kills virus-infected cells.

History

St. Jude was founded in 1962 by entertainer Danny Thomas on the promise that no child should die in the dawn of life, although the idea for the hospital was brought into light in the late 1950s. Thomas named the hospital for Saint Jude, the Catholic patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes. In 1957, Thomas gained financial support from the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC), which helped him realize his dream. ALSAC is the fund-raising branch of St. Jude. Since St. Jude opened its doors in 1962, ALSAC has had the responsibility of raising the necessary funds to keep the hospital open. Because St. Jude is run solely on donations, and it doesn't ask the parents of patients to pay for the services they receive, they have become the third largest health-care hospital.

The Hospital

Discoveries at St. Jude have completely changed how doctors treat children with cancer and other catastrophic illnesses. Since St. Jude was established, cure rates for some types of pediatric cancers (most notably acute lymphocytic leukemia) have increased from 4% (in 1960) to 90%. St. Jude has treated children from across the United States and from more than eighty other countries. Doctors across the world consult with St. Jude on their toughest cases. Also, St. Jude has an International Outreach Program to improve the survival rates of children with catastrophic illnesses worldwide through the transfer of knowledge, technology, and organizational skills.

Funding

All medically eligible patients who are accepted for treatment at St. Jude are treated without regard for the family's ability to pay. No patient or family pays for treatment beyond what is covered by insurance, and those without insurance are never asked to pay. This policy, along with research expenses and other costs, causes the hospital to incur more than one million dollars in operating costs each day.

To cover these costs, ALSAC, St. Jude's fundraising arm, conducts many fundraising events and activities. The FedEx St. Jude Classic, a PGA Tour event, is one of the most visible fundraising events for the hospital. Other fundraising events include the St. Jude Math-A-Thon®, Up 'til Dawn®, direct mailings, and television marketing. Radiothons, however, are the fundraising events that currently raise the most total money for the hospital.

St. Jude also has a catalog, the Hope Catalog. The catalog contains everything from shirts to office items, and from patient art to "Give Thanks" wrist bands. 100% of the money collected from the sale of these items goes directly to the hospital or research center.

One of the hospital's most recent and successful fundraising efforts has been the Dream Home Giveaway®. The giveaway allows contest entrants to reserve tickets for $100 each to qualify to win homes valued around $300,000. The Dream Home Giveaway is being conducted in cities across the United States. Dream Home is one of the largest national fund-raising programs ALSAC conducts to raise funds for St. Jude.

In November of 2004, the inaugural Thanks & Giving campaign encouraged consumers to shop where the St. Jude Thanks & Giving logo was displayed in stores, malls and online shopping sites throughout the holiday season; proceeds from designated purchases benefited St. Jude. The campaign was supported by network television spots, advertisements in major publications, interactive marketing on Yahoo! and AOL, a movie trailer that ran in 20,000 theaters nationwide. Corporations such as Target, 7-Eleven, CVS/pharmacy, Kay Jewelers, The Athlete's Foot, T.J. Maxx, Hecht's, Nine West, Parisian, Toys ‘R’ Us, The Bombay Company, Bluefly.com and Sears Portrait Studio, as well as The Walt Disney Company, American Express, American Airlines, Yahoo!, AOL, Ticketmaster, Harrah's Entertainment, Domino's Pizza and FedEx gave customers a host of opportunities to support St. Jude in 2004.

St. Jude has been named one of two International Philanthropic Projects of Epsilon Sigma Alpha International, a women's service sorority. As of July 2004, ESA has raised over 75 million dollars for the Children's Hospital.

In 2004, 84.1% of every dollar donated went directly to the hospital or research centers. The remaining money went to administrative fees or to fund-raising costs.

External links

Hospitals in Tennessee | Memphis, Tennessee | Medical research institutes | St. Jude Children's Research Hospital | 1962 establishments

Gourt Home::Gourt :: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

History

The Hospital

Funding

See also

External links