In 1995, Rabbi Mark Shook was the senior rabbi at Temple Israel, a neighbor to Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital’s original location on Ladue Road. The organizations had a warm, reciprocal relationship. The Temple allowed Ranken Jordan to use its parking lot, playground and pool, and Ranken Jordan provided hearing and speech screenings for the Temple Israel Nursery School.
As the neighborly relationship grew, Tom Minogue, Ranken Jordan’s board president at the time, asked Rabbi Shook to join the board.
Little did anyone realize how one neighbor would make such a significant impact on Ranken Jordan. Rabbi Shook went on to become board president and led Ranken Jordan through tremendous transformation and the birth of a new facility.
Nearly 30 years later, Rabbi Shook remains on the Ranken Jordan board and continues to guide the organization as it evolves today.
This long-term commitment is why Rabbi Shook and his wife, Carol, are being honored with the Mary Ranken Jordan Service to Children Award this year.
This award honors those who selflessly serve Ranken Jordan and the St. Louis community, and by their example, encourages others to do the same. The award also recognizes individuals demonstrating commitment to the ideals and vision established in 1941 by our founder, Mary Ranken Jordan.
Opening the Door to the Future
In the 1990s, Ranken Jordan patient numbers dramatically dwindled as patient needs changed. The frontiers of medicine made it possible for more children to survive, but those children needed more complex rehabilitation and more specialized care.
In 2000, Rabbi Shook became the board chair as Ranken Jordan was on the cusp of monumental change. He led Ranken Jordan as it shifted its focus to care for patients with more complex needs, which set it on the path to where it is today.
One of Rabbi Shook’s biggest accomplishments was hiring Dr. Nick Holekamp as the full-time medical director in 2000. “That was pivotal,” Rabbi Shook says. “He had the vision of what the hospital could be.”
Rabbi Shook was also at the helm when Ranken Jordan made the critical decision to shift from a nursing home to a hospital, which changed the reimbursement structure and improved the hospital’s viability.
By 2002, Ranken Jordan officially became a pediatric specialty hospital and became the only subacute hospital in Missouri with this classification.
“Sometimes you have to take a risk,” Rabbi Shook says. “The idea was right, the time was right, and if we hadn’t done that then, we would have closed and would have been forgotten.”
Changing the designation to a specialty pediatric hospital was a turning point. “That expanded what we could do for kids, and we quickly realized we needed a bigger facility,” Rabbi Shook says.
The need for more technology to care for medically complex children further highlighted the limitations of Ranken Jordan’s aging facility on Ladue Road.
Rabbi Shook and other Ranken Jordan leaders found the ideal property for a new facility in Maryland Heights, and the city welcomed them with open arms. “We bought enough land so we could build the way we wanted and could expand later,” Rabbi Shook says.
In 2004, the new 62,000-square-foot, 34-bed facility opened its doors. The Shook Circle in front of the facility is named in Rabbi Shook’s honor. Through his leadership and community involvement, Rabbi Shook secured a gift from the Tilles Foundation to build and maintain the therapy pool in the facility that continues to benefit children at Ranken Jordan.
“This is the place you could build if money was no object, although we were budget conscious,” he says. “But we didn’t build based on cost, we built based on what the kids needed.”
Exceeding Expectations
Rabbi Shook brings a rich tapestry of experience to his role at Ranken Jordan. In addition to serving as Senior Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Israel, he trains chaplains for the St. Louis County Police and is a chaplain with the FBI. He also is a published author. Yet his heart will always be with Ranken Jordan, a place he helped save from the brink and is now thriving to care for children from around the country.
“It’s extraordinary what has happened in 30 years,” he says. “Every time we made a decision to take a chance, it worked out beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. We went from having almost no patients in 1995 to having a waiting list. Hospitals tell us we fulfill a need that they can’t fulfill. That’s pretty extraordinary.”
More importantly, Ranken Jordan is giving kids a life, he says.
“We’re making a difference—this hospital has purpose. For example, who thinks about putting a climbing wall in a hospital? Why not? And golf for kids? Let’s try it! ‘Why not’ is the whole attitude at Ranken Jordan. Ranken Jordan is about getting kids to reach their highest potential.”
He continues: “I think Mary Ranken Jordan would be astonished by what Ranken Jordan has grown into. I wonder if she had any inkling it would be staffed by over 500 of the best and brightest in health care and would be defining what rehabilitation medicine looks like in our country. Ranken Jordan shows what health care could be.”
Imagination Sparks Solutions
“Move it along,” complete with hand motions, is Rabbi Shook’s signature catch phrase in meetings. He wants his legacy to be “move it along to keep Ranken Jordan moving forward,” and firmly believes the status quo isn’t good enough.
His wife, Carol, says that’s his motto in life, as well. “He never sits around and is always busy. He has enjoyed all his time given to Ranken Jordan and seeing all the ideas carried through.”
Now he is ready to help Ranken Jordan grow again. “We can’t sit still,” he says.
Looking forward, he is excited about Ranken Jordan’s strategic plan focused on the urgent need of caring for kids with complex medical needs who have nowhere else to go after Ranken Jordan.
“It’s not an easy problem to solve,” he says. “But Ranken Jordan shows what a different model of medicine can accomplish if everyone pulls in the same direction with a common vision. Ranken Jordan is changing the face of health care for children. The common thread is ‘no boundaries.’ You have to solve problems without confining yourself with what others have done. Use your imagination. Without imagination, this place wouldn’t exist.”
