June 12, 2018

The famous quote “creativity takes courage” exemplifies the all-around essence of 20-year-old Jailyne España, a bone marrow transplant patient at Texas Children’s. She has used her artistic ability to soothe her physical pain during the treatment process, as well as uplift other patients.

“It was very therapeutic, I felt rotten during treatment,” said España. “To do something beautiful and see it come to life on paper, made this so much better.”

On June 1, España was approached by the unit’s child life specialist about allowing her work to be presented in the bone marrow transplant unit. Upon her agreement, over a dozen meticulous original pieces of her art were placed on the walls with a small description, to inspire other outpatients, their families and employees.

On a table just as you walk through the doors of the hall were color pencils and paper, available for patients to show their drawing skills; but most importantly, take their minds off any negativity or pain that they have or will encounter.

“I did this because I wanted them know that they are not alone, and so they can feel validated,” she said. “I want them to focus on positive energy. It doesn’t necessarily have to be art, they just should choose something they can focus on.”

España was diagnosed with stage four non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma on April 20, 2016, and had a bone marrow transplant in July of the following year.

“I’ve relapsed twice,” said España. “But today I am very happy to say that I’m 100 percent cancer free.”

She started drawing at a young age, stopped when she became a teen, and then regained her love for art around the time she was diagnosed.

“Throughout my treatment I use art as an outlet for all the emotions that I can’t put into words,” she said. “I use art to turn something painful into something beautiful.”

Last year, she submitted one of her pieces to Making A Mark, and eventually her dreams came true when she was announced as the recipient of the purple ribbon recognition.

Making A Mark is an exhibition of art and creative writing by children touched by cancer and blood disorders at Texas Children’s Hospital Cancer and Hematology Centers. This widely cherished project is presented by The Periwinkle Foundation, an organization that develops and provides programs that positively change the lives of children, who are challenged by cancer and other life threatening illnesses.

The purple ribbon pieces are selected by a panel of judges from the art and business community. The judges are asked to select pieces that they feel carry a message of positive awareness of childhood cancer and blood disorders.

Diana Sanchez is a visiting artist who works with Texas Children’s patients to help them express their feelings in a creative method that is, at times, highly therapeutic. She met España a year ago and has been incredibly impressed with her talent.

“Quickly I realized that her creative intelligence was evident in her imagery and painting techniques,” said Sanchez. “She has been able to access from her soul to transform her feelings and words into forms, figures, and colors. Her honesty and humility shines through in her and in her art. She is a true artist.”

In the Fall España will be embarking on another pivotal journey as she starts her college matriculation at The University of Houston, as a music major and visual arts minor.

At Texas Children’s, taking care of our patients and their families begins with taking care of ourselves. In 2017, slips, trips and falls were the No. 1 cause of employee injuries across the organization, and Employee Health and Well-Being and Environmental Health and Safety are teaming up to raise awareness about these safety concerns and how they can be avoided.

There were a total of 184 slip, trip, and fall incidents among our employees last year, resulting in 892 days of restricted duty and 353 lost days of work. To address this important matter, Employee Health and Well-Being and Environmental Health want to help employees practice safe and simple behaviors to prevent slips, trips and falls.

WET FLOORS: Slippery floors are the No. 1 cause of slips and falls.

If you spill something or see a spill, please take responsibility by cleaning up the spill and/or reporting it to Facilities Services by calling ext. 4-5000.

Use caution around wet floor signs and encourage others to do the same.

Be especially cautious on rainy days, as water can be tracked into common areas.

STAIRS: While taking the stairs is great for your health and fitness and provides patients and their families’ priority access to the elevators, stairwells can be hazardous if you are not mindful. To prevent stairwell accidents:

  • Take your time when climbing or descending the stairs and never skip a step.
  • Firmly grasp the handrail at all times.
  • Stay focused and put down distractions such as your phone, food or beverages. As a reminder, food and drinks should not be consumed in common areas.

TRIPPING: To avoid tripping, please be mindful of your surroundings. Often the smallest misstep can cause the greatest injury.

Be alert; always watch where you walk. Keep your cell phones down and make eye contact with our patients and families as well as your colleagues.

Wear shoes with good traction.

If you notice a potential hazard, such as an electrical cord or box, please take the initiative to remove it.

Texas Children’s is proud to serve as a member of the Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety Initiative, with over 130 Children’s Hospitals working together to reduce patient and employee harm. Thank you for practicing these safe behaviors and taking responsibility to ensure we create a safe environment for your co-workers, patients and their families.

If you have any questions, please contact the Well-Being team at wellbeing@texaschildrens.org.

Chief of Plastic Surgery Dr. Edward Buchanan recently read “The Tale of Fenny Fox: The Mental Ninja Emerges” to patients in the library at Texas Children’s Hospital in the Medical Center. Buchanan and his brother Matthew Buchanan published the children’s book as the third installment in a series called the Mental Ninja Series.

The first two books of the series, “The Adventures of the Prickly Pear and the Happy Hoglet: Beginning the Journey of the Mental Ninja” and “Pit Bully: The Mental Ninja Awakens,” introduce readers to a world of characters focused on understanding themselves, their feeling and the control they have over their emotions.

In “The Tale of Fenny Fox: The Mental Ninja Emerges,” the journey continues, with the introduction to more characters and a message about the beauty of differences and the importance those differences play in people’s lives.

For more information about Buchanan’s book series, click here.

This past week, the spring 2018 Ambulatory Services internship class completed their 16-week program. Every semester Ambulatory Services hosts graduate level interns who help contribute to major system wide initiatives and spend time shadowing clinical staff and administrative employees across the organization.

The interns have a mix of different academic backgrounds including Public Health, Health care Administration, and others. The internship program began with selecting students from local schools, but over the past two years has started accepting applications from all over the country.

“The interns work on a wide range of projects pertaining to major system initiatives such as access, care coordination, transition medicine and other strategic projects for various specialties in Ambulatory Services,” said Grace Karon, senior project manager with Ambulatory Services. “They also enjoyed volunteering for special activities such as Patient Experience week.”

The interns developed and presented business justifications for a variety of programs including a Community Asthma Alliance, the Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus Sleep Medicine Program Expansion, staff expansion for the Department of Developmental Pediatrics, and the West Campus Strategic Expansion Plan. They also had the opportunity to accompany leadership with Quality and Outcomes management to daily operational briefing meetings where they observed daily quality reports system wide.

Aside from corporate strategies and health business focused training, the interns were given the opportunity to directly make an impact on patients.

“We enjoyed spending Valentine’s Day assembling and delivering Valentines directly to patients,” said Will Duhe, Ambulatory Services intern. “We would like to thank all of the Texas Children’s staff members, whose guidance and leadership allowed us to develop our professional skills and contribute to meaningful projects this semester.”

The 2018 Spring Interns:

Sana Sarfaraz
Janie Ochoa
Lindsay Phend
Will Duhe
Grace Karon
Ravina Patel
Ashlee Speaks
Priya Bedi
Jinu Stephen

June 5, 2018

In an effort to better serve patients seeking care at one of 10 Texas Children’s Urgent Care sites, wait times for each location have been posted on the Urgent Care website.

“Our goal is to be completely transparent to our families as to how long it takes for them to be seen,” said Melissa Fischer, director of community and business development for Urgent Care and Texas Children’s Pediatrics. “For families that live in between two locations, we believe that posting wait times will help our families choose which site to visit.”

The information also will help manage expectations around wait times, which average about 17 minutes from check-in to being taken to a patient room. Patients spend about 60 minutes from check-in to check-out.

The wait time feature on the Urgent Care website is automatically updated every five minutes based on the number of providers who are seeing patients and the number of patients who have checked in.

The feature was piloted at Texas Children’s Urgent Care Pearland and was then implemented in Austin. As of May, online wait times are available for all Urgent Care locations.

Save My Spot is also available to patients and families visiting one of our Urgent Care locations, allowing them to reserve a time slot from the comfort of their own home. All the patient family member has to do is pre-register online and the check-in process is expedited. Their personal information is also pre-populated which makes the process easier for existing patients.

“Patients and their families now look for ease and convenience in every aspect of their lives,” said Roula Smith, director of Urgent Care business operations. “You are able to save a spot at places like the DMV and restaurants, why not at Urgent Care?”

Smith added that, Save My Spot allows Urgent Cares to stay competitive as well as evenly distribute patients throughout the day to be more efficient overall.

Save My Spot also was piloted at the Pearland location, and is now available at all Urgent Care locations. More than 600 patients have used the feature to date.

Welcome, an electronic check-in process, is another feature that has been created to expedite the registration process. Check-in is done on an electronic tablet, making the experience paperless. This feature is expected to be rolled out to all Urgent Care locations soon.

Texas Children’s Urgent Care was launched in 2014 and currently has 10 locations, all of which are staffed by board certified pediatricians who diagnose and treat a wide variety of ailments, illnesses and conditions, including: asthma, strep throat, fever, minor burns, influenza, ear infections, allergic reactions and more. Procedures provided include: antibiotic injections, breathing treatments, fracture care and splinting, IV (intravenous) fluids, lab services, laceration repair and X-rays onsite.

For more information about Texas Children’s Urgent Care and its locations, click here.

The Clinical Research Center/Research Resources Office presented the Clinical Research Award for Second Quarter 2018 to Debbie Barrera, nurse manager, Research Resources Office (RRO).

This award was established by the Clinical Research Center in collaboration with the Research Resources Office to recognize and honor individual contributions to protecting the best interest of the research subjects and compliance with applicable rules and regulations.

Debbie does not have just one research focus. She works on many studies and is the nurse manager for the RRO research coordinators.

“I had the great fortune of joining the Research Resources Office (RRO) in 2015 as nurse manager,” said Barrera. “I feel very honored to be part of such a great team. In the time since I joined the RRO, the department has tripled in size and continues to expand. The RRO team provides support to pediatric departments at Texas Children’s Hospital requiring assistance with research management. It has been very rewarding to work with and watch the RRO team grow and gain expert research knowledge in multiple settings. My job has provided a wonderful opportunity to work with a group of dedicated researchers who provide safe and effective research. And most importantly, it is always a pleasure to see positive outcomes for so many of our patients.”

On May 18, B.I.G. Love Cancer Care teamed up with Kendra Scott to bring the Kendra Cares Program to Texas Children’s Hospital.

The program allows patients to experience the customizable Color Bar by Kendra Scott, a popular jewelry boutique, to pediatric hospitals across the country. The 2-hour event was held at the West campus location, where they provided refreshments and offered patients and their family members an opportunity to make a customized jewelry piece at no cost to them.

B.I.G Love Cancer Care Services is a non-profit, volunteer based organization committed to providing basic necessities and personalized care to cancer kids and their families.

To date, the program has donated over six thousand pieces of jewelry and has rapid national growth plans.