The Hospital Division is not a unit, but rather, a division of Naja Center. It has officers and maintains an office in the Rapid City Shrine Club building. The Hospital Division depends on all members of Naja Center to support its operations.

The Naja Center Hospital Division is responsible for transportation and costs of sending doctors and nurses to the Galveston Burns Institute for training in the care of burned victims. A liaison with the hospitals in the West River area is a must in order to know how to handle the patient for transport to a Burn Center.

In 1984, a twelve passenger van (Hospital Express) was purchased for the purpose of assisting patients and their families in going to and from the Shrine Hospitals, primarily the Twin Cities unit, and now has been retired with over 170,000 miles logged. Since that first van, new vans were purchased in 1989, 1993 and 1996. The Hospital Dads (all volunteer) drive the vans on its many trips. Two vans are currently in operation and on many occasions they are both on the road with patients.

In addition to the van trips, there are numerous trips by private auto, bus and air that are financed by the Travel Fund. Because of the tragedy of the burn patients and the distance to the Burn Centers, air travel is a must. The initial trip is made by air ambulance and all subsequent trips are by commercial airlines.

The Burns Hospital hold an outpatient clinic once or twice a year in Sioux Falls or Kansas City, and some of our patients are transported to these clinics. Screening clinics, in cooperation with the Twin Cities unit in Minneapolis, are held annually in Naja Center. These clinics are to examine physically handicapped children up to the age of 18 to determine if they could be treated by one of the Shriners Hospitals. A volunteer group of local doctors and nurses as well as staff from the Twin Cities Unit, work together to evaluate and assess the children's problems and to determine their eligibility for care at the hospitals. These clinics also require many hours on the part of Naja Shriners and their wives. We currently have approximately 300 active patients.

In the past, four Shrine Clubs of the Naja Center have funded the Nurses and Doctors Education Program. There have been over 25 nurses and 4 doctors from the Black Hills area sent to the Shriners' Burn Institute in Galveston, Texas. These dedicated professional people have acquired the latest technique and skills in the treatment of burned patients, and this knowledge has been made available to the medical personnel in the entire Black Hills area.

The Hospital Division is funded in several ways. The primary funding started in 1967 by a local West River rancher who bequeathed his entire fortune for the transportation of South Dakota children to Shrine Hospitals. This is known as the Shoblom Fund and is shared with the other two Centers in South Dakota on a percentage basis. Since that time, we have had several other benefactors who have set up trusts specifically for Naja Center. To supplement these trusts, a Hospital Trust Fund was established through wills, bequeaths, donations, and money-making projects. In spite of all this, the Hospital Division at time, finds it is short of travel funds. Therefore, we have other projects to bring in additional funds and to educate the public about the Shrine Philanthropy.