Shriners offer free screening

The clinic will be held at the Mid Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The event is sponsored by the Mid Columbia Shrine Club.

If accepted, children will be eligible for ongoing care at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Portland, which offers comprehensive diagnosis, surgery, rehabilitation, prosthetics and orthotics.

"The hospital accepts children who have any type of bone, muscle or joint problems, or who need plastic surgery for burn scars or cleft lip/palate," said Bill Probstfield, a Shriner from The Dalles, who is volunteer chairman for the screening clinic this year. "and the care is always completely free to children and their families. The hospital does not accept government or insurance payments of any kind."

There are only two requirements for treatment at the Shriners Hospital. First, the patients must be a child between the ages of birth and 18, and second the child must have a condition treatable at the Shriners Hospital. There are no longer any financial stipulations for a child to receive treatment.