Colorado's Scottish Rite Foundation Expands Services
And Establishes Endowed Chair At The Children's Hospital, Denver

Dwight A. Hamilton, 33° S.G.I.G. in Colorado
A&A Scottish Rite, 1370 Grant Street, Denver, Colorado 80203–2347

The Scottish Rite Foundation of Colorado's strategies, infrastructure, and skilled professional speech-language staff, in combination with the support of our Scottish Rite members, position the Foundation to meet present challenges and succeed well into the 21st century.

Photo: Twenty-month-old Wesley Shade learns as he plays with therapist Elyse Graves in the Scottish Rite Foundation Room at the Children's Hospital in Denver.
Colorado's Scottish Rite Foundation (SRF) Board of Trustees is pro-actively positioning the SRF to address the challenges of the 21st century. Our Childhood Language Disorders Program in Colorado began its work 47 years ago and was the Southern Jurisdiction's inaugural effort in what has now become our Order's nationwide philanthropic outreach to America's children. Between 1953 and 1999, the Colorado program has treated more than 8,000 children.

Our strategy is to provide services to children and families in partnership with a single community-based program such as a local hospital, clinic, or rehabilitation agency. The strategy enables us to develop programs based on community need, utilize the expertise of local providers, and integrate SRF services into the range of community options. We now have six such programs in key areas of the state led by our flagship operation at The Children's Hospital in Denver (photo below). Satellite clinics serve children in certain outlying areas and the greater metropolitan area of Denver.

Of special note are two programs being initiated in 2000. The first is a Mobile Speech Therapy Clinic operated by the University of Northern Colorado's Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. This unique approach to expanded care employs a trailer housing clinical equipment that can be taken to various rural and outlying communities. The second initiative in 2000 is a preschool literacy program in the southwest corner of the state. We are delighted to be partners with this area's community agencies in providing an early literacy program for preschool-age children.

In Colorado, we are challenged with a rapidly expanding and diverse population. Our population has grown at about 2.5 percent in each of the past 10 years and at a rate that has been greater than the national average for more than 50 years. In recent years, the number of children being treated with SRF assistance has been increasing at about 7 percent per year. In 1999, 810 children were treated at an average cost of $1,350 per child. Population growth projections indicate continued needs based on population trends.

To help address these needs and enhance our strategies for meeting them, I appointed a Long-range SRF Planning Committee. The committee issued its first report in December 1999. Entitled "Into the Next Millennium," it recommended creation of an Executive Director position to integrate functions currently performed through The Children's Hospital as well as to seek additional development opportunities for the SRF. The committee then proposed a creative implementation strategy through establishment of a permanently Endowed Chair at The Children's Hospital, a University of Colorado School of Medicine-affiliated program. We are raising $2 million to establish the Chair, which will be known as the "Kelley Family/Schlessman Family Scottish Rite Masons Chair in Childhood Language Disorders." This name honors two families who are principal donors.

The person selected for the Endowed Chair will be an active member of the medical staff of The Children's Hospital and a full-time academic faculty member of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Principal duties to be assigned the Endowed Chair for the hospital and university include educational support to medical school and post-graduate students, patient care, and administrative activities.

Also, the Endowed Chair will provide clinical leadership and oversight for SRF programs at The Children's Hospital and throughout the state. Of particular significance to maintaining the relevancy and importance of the SRF to the growing communities in Colorado, the Endowed Chair will work with the SRF in evaluating current and future programs and analyzing opportunities for future work.

On February 15, 2000, Mr. Steve Winesett, President and CEO of The Children's Hospital Foundation, and I signed a contract which commits Colorado's SRF to endow the "Scottish Rite Foundation Chair in Childhood Language Disorders" over a three-year period. In signing the contract, Mr. Winesett stated, "Children's is thrilled to receive this gift from the Scottish Rite Foundation of Colorado. With the completion of this pledged gift, the Scottish Rite Foundation will have contributed more than $10 million for children's speech and language services to The Children's Hospital making Scottish Rite our single largest donor. We are honored to recognize permanently the Scottish Rite Foundation with this named chair."

Our strategies, infrastructure, and skilled professional speech-language staff, in combination with the support of our Scottish Rite members, position the SRF to meet successfully the challenges now and well into the 21st century. The Scottish Rite Foundation's story in Colorado and the Rite's support for treatment of children with language disorders throughout the Southern Jurisdiction are never ending. Its worth is best expressed by seeing children achieve their potential for communication, speech, language, and learning development. What greater gift can we bestow?

Dwight A. Hamilton
is a native of Denver and a practicing attorney holding membership in the Bar Associations of Denver, Colorado, and America. He is a Past President of the Uniform Law Conference and a member of the Sixth Church of Christ, Scientist. A Past Master of Union Lodge No. 7 and Past Grand Master of Colorado (1989), Ill. Hamilton petitioned Denver Consistory in 1960, has ably filled many posts within the Rite, was appointed a Deputy in Colorado in November 1994, and elected the S.G.I.G. in Colorado in October 1995.