May 18, 2020

You can use Cigna Virtual Care by Amwell to talk with a doctor or nurse any time, day or night, via secure video on your computer, tablet or smartphone.

This service is available at no cost through Sunday, May 31, to Texas Children’s employees and their dependents enrolled in a Texas Children’s medical plan.

Visit the COVID-19 Resources site and follow the “Employee Health” link for the different ways to get connected and more information on telehealth options.

May 14, 2020

In this edition of the Voice of Nursing, we share a special video montage of heartfelt letters our patients created to show just how much they appreciate their nurses at Texas Children’s. Read more

May 13, 2020

So far, children have been relatively spared from the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, however, the World Health Organization launched an investigation into a potential link between the disease and a severe inflammatory response that’s being seen in a small number of children across the world.

The symptoms have many of the characteristics of Kawasaki disease, an inflammatory condition experts at Texas Children’s have treated for decades. Our cardiologists, hospitalists and experts in inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatologists and immunologists, see about 100 children with Kawasaki disease each year.

“We believe our expertise in cardiology and rheumatology combined with our vast experience in critical care, patient isolation and infectious diseases will serve us well if we’re required to run toward this new COVID-associated problem,” said Chief of Pediatric Cardiology Dr. Daniel Penny. “We are ready for this.”

Penny, Chief of Critical Care Dr. Lara Shekerdemian, Chief of Rheumatology Dr. Eyal Muscal, and Special Isolation Unit Medical Director Dr. Amy Arrington answer some top-of-mind questions about this new condition, how it’s affecting children and how Texas Children’s can help.

What is Kawasaki disease?
Dr. Penny
Kawasaki disease is a condition that was first described in Japan by Tomisaku Kawasaki in 1967. The first cases outside of Japan were reported in the mid-1970s. About three-quarters of cases occur in children under the age of 5 years and it is more common in boys than girls. Although it may be more frequently found in Asian-American children, it does occur in children of all ethnicities.

What are the signs of Kawasaki disease?
Dr. Penny
The common features of Kawasaki disease are high fever, rash on the chest, back and abdomen, red eyes or conjunctivitis, swelling and inflammation of the mouth, lips and throat, enlarged lymph glands in the neck, and redness and swelling of the hands and feet. Abdominal pain can also occur and appears to be common in recent reports of this condition associated with COVID-19. One particularly important complication of Kawasaki disease is that it can result in damage to arteries, including the coronary arteries, which supply the heart muscle itself. This results in the weakening of the arterial wall causing it to balloon out in a so-called aneurysm. Sometimes clots can form in these aneurysms which can block the artery. While in most children the aneurysms resolve over time, in some, scarring and narrowing can remain. If the artery blocks, it can lead to a heart attack. Another important complication of Kawasaki disease is that it can result in inflammation in the heart muscle directly, which can also impair its function.

What is the relationship between COVID-19 and Kawasaki disease?
Dr. Penny
What is becoming apparent is that the onset of this Kawasaki-like syndrome in a community appears to lag behind the appearance of COVID-19, which supports the idea that it is not the infection itself, but rather the body’s response to it that’s important. This condition was recognized earlier in Europe than in the U.S., where the onset of the community infection was later. What is also intriguing is that the incidence of Kawasaki disease in Japan, where the incidence is usually highest, does not appear to have increased during the coronavirus pandemic. This could potentially mean the precise genetic mechanisms which predispose to usual Kawasaki disease may differ from those for COVID-associated Kawasaki disease. In some children, it appears that the abnormal immune response results in severe multiple organ failure with circulatory collapse, or shock, so what we are really seeing is a spectrum of related conditions, which are all likely to result from an abnormal immune response to a primary infection with COVID-19.

How big of an issue is this?
Dr. Shekerdemian
Right now we don’t have an accurate picture of quite how big a problem this is or how big it’s actually going to be. But obviously as we gain more information from overseas and now from the United States, we’re becoming hyper vigilant so that we don’t miss potential cases that are coming in our direction. Last week, the UK reported around a dozen cases, and every day we’re hearing of more reports from the European epicenters, typically the United Kingdom and Spain. And now over the past few days from the east coast of the US as well.

What types of symptoms do these children have?
Dr. Shekerdemian
Children with this new inflammatory syndrome can present with fever, inflammation, abdominal pain, diarrhea, but sometimes they’re very sick and they have what we call shock. And this means that the heart and circulation can be affected as well. It’s important to know that not all children are critically ill, but we do know that in the extreme, some have required intensive care and very intensive therapies, and even life support.

What types of treatments are there for these patients?
Dr. Muscal
We treat severe inflammation and Kawasaki disease with a few approaches. One is getting the right experts involved to ensure that we make the right diagnosis. And then there’s a variety of interventions and medications we use to dampen the immune response. One of them is called intravenous immunoglobulins from pooled donors. And then there’s a variety of other medications like steroids, like we use for asthma, or other medications we use in rheumatic diseases to turn off the inflammation and sustain the normal immune response.

How prepared is Texas Children’s to care for one of these patients?
Dr. Shekerdemian
At Texas Children’s, we have all of the right specialists ready to care for these patients. If a child like this came to our Intensive Care Unit, we would bring together intensive care specialists, cardiologists, surgeons, and specialists in rheumatology, infectious diseases and immunology. That really gives us a wonderful team to investigate and treat the children as aggressively as needed to ensure they have the best possible outcome.

How would Texas Children’s Special Isolation Unit be used?
Dr. Arrington
Five years ago during the unprecedented Ebola outbreak in the US, Texas Children had the foresight to create a very special, one-of-a-kind pediatric bio containment unit to care for any child with any highly infectious pathogens, such as SARS, Ebola or, now COVID-19. The unit has HEPA filtration, special visualization with large windows, cleanable surfaces and pass through boxes, its own laboratory and its own autoclaves for biohazardous trash. The unit is run by a team of nurses from all over the organization, as well as physicians and advanced practitioner providers. We also have laboratory personnel, respiratory therapists, and even security staff trained to take care of these patients and their families. Between the unit itself, the team that runs it and other expert resources throughout our system, Texas Children’s is incredibly prepared to give children with this condition or others caused by highly infectious pathogens the highest quality of care.

May 12, 2020

It’s hard to contain the celebration of nursing to just one week at Texas Children’s. Every day there are inspirational stories that demonstrate how our nurses go above and beyond for our patients and their families to ensure they have the best experience and the best possible outcomes while in our care.

To celebrate National Nurses Week from May 6 to 12, Texas Children’s Nursing Retention Council planned a series of celebrations at the unit level and partnered with our chaplains and our Employee Well-Being Team to offer virtual activities – blessing of the hands and self-care sessions – to honor our more than 3,700 nurses across the system and to show how deeply valued they are and how much we appreciate them for their hard work, dedication and sacrifice especially during these challenging times.

While Nurses Week activities were planned differently this year to maintain social distancing, nurses organized their own celebrations on their units. Some of these activities included a sombrero ball toss, scavenger hunts, bingo, and several units celebrated “show your pride” day where nurses wore their favorite T-shirt representing a different theme for each day – College Pride Day, Disney Magic Day, Sports Team Day, Super Hero Day and Texas Children’s/Unit Pride Day.

Throughout the week, nurses received a generous outpouring of support from the community. Three local grocery store chains – H-E-B, Randall’s and Kroger – delivered hundreds of colorful, Texas grown-flowers and snacks for our nurses at Texas Children’s Hospital Medical Center Campus, Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands to show their appreciation and support for all that they do for our patients and their families.

“As nurses we strive to make everyone who walks onto our campus feel listened to, loved and taken care of,” said Sarah Pierce, an acute care staff nurse at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands. “This is exactly what our community has shown us through the outpouring of gifts, food, and heart filled thank you notes. The appreciation and compassion our community has shown not only to nurses but our support staff (because it takes a village) is incredible and humbling.”

Coinciding with Nurses Week, the U.S. Navy Blue Angels conducted a spectacular 30-minute flyover across the greater Houston area including the Texas Medical Center on May 6 to salute our health care workers, first responders and other essential employees on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. To celebrate our nurses and our One Amazing Team heroes at Texas Children’s, President and CEO Mark Wallace shared this special tribute video which is inspiring and uplifting.

Additionally, as a tribute to our doctors, nurses and health care workers on the frontlines, Purple Songs Can Fly, in collaboration with patients from Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers’ Long Term Survivor Program and staff from The Periwinkle Foundation, shared this inspirational music tribute video.

Nurses Week: Awards and Recognitions

During Nurses Week, Texas Children’s recognized our Nursing Excellence Award recipients and our 15 Houston Chronicle Salute to Nurses honorees, two of whom were honored as Greater Houston’s Top 15 Nurses of the Year. Click here to read the Connect article and a list of our 2020 award recipients.

Texas Children’s also recognized the 2020 recipients of the Molly Mae LeBlanc Nursing Scholarship, named in memory of Molly Mae, a beloved and former patient at Texas Children’s. The program provides tuition assistance to patient care assistants (PCAs) and RNs who are pursuing BSN or MSN nursing degrees. The first scholarship was awarded in 2018. Since then, several 2018 and 2019 scholarship recipients have graduated from their degree programs and are now working as nurse practitioners.

  • Lisa Goodlander is a staff nurse on 7WT. She has worked at Texas Children’s since 2019. She is enrolled in the University of South Alabama MSN program for Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. She anticipates graduation in 2022.
  • Stephanie Hritcko is a PCA on 7N Abercrombie. She started at Texas Children’s in 2015. She is enrolled in the University of Texas BSN program and plans to graduate in May 2021.
  • Sarah Pesek is a staff nurse in the Emergency Center. She has been with Texas Children’s since 2018. She is enrolled in the University of South Alabama’s MSN program for Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioners and anticipates graduation in December 2020.

Texas Children’s also honored our 2020 recipients of the David and Polly Roth Nursing Education Scholarship that provides tuition assistance to Texas Children’s employees in certain roles (like PCA, MA) that are pursuing professional nursing/BSN degrees. Established by Dr. David Roth and his wife, Polly, the first scholarship was awarded in 2017. The 2017, 2018 and 2019 scholarship recipients are now working as RNs at Texas Children’s today.

  • Judith Barraza is a certified medical assistant at Texas Children’s Pediatrics, and has been with Texas Children’s since 2016. She is enrolled in the Chamberlain BSN program and plans to graduate in 2023.
  • Lura Lumsden is a patient care assistant in the Float Pool. She joined Texas Children’s in 2015. She is enrolled in the Chamberlain BSN program and anticipates graduation in 2021.
  • Alexandria McLean is a unit clerical assistant at West Campus. She joined Texas Children’s in 2014. She is enrolled in the University of Texas – Medical Branch BSN program and is expected to graduate in 2021.
Nursing scholarship winners
Nurses Week activities

Chief of Critical Care Dr. Lara Shekerdemian is the lead author on multicenter research that came out this week in JAMA Pediatrics. The research describes characteristics and outcomes of children with COVID-19 admitted to U.S. and Canadian Pediatric Intensive Care Units.

The study looked at 48 cases from 14 hospitals, infants up to age 21, during late March and early April. Two of the children died. Eighteen were placed on ventilators and two of them remain on the breathing machines more than a month later. None of the children in the study were stricken by the new mysterious inflammatory syndrome linked to the coronavirus that can cause life-threatening cardiac issues in children. They suffered from the virus’s primary line of attack: the severe respiratory problems that have afflicted tens of thousands of American adults.

Over all, the research both reinforces the evidence that only a small percentage of children will be severely affected by the virus and confirms that some can become devastatingly ill. Shekerdemian has conducted several interviews with national media about her findings. To learn more, click here to read the story published in JAMA and click here to read a story about the study in the New York Times.

Known for its philanthropic spirit, the Houston community rallies around those in need when times are tough. And in the wake of COVID-19, the circumstances have been no different.

As soon as news spread of the pandemic’s possible impact on our region, local businesses jumped at an opportunity to support our employees. Mostly recently — and overwhelmingly — Texas Children’s Hospital was gifted more than 2,000 cases of Coca-Cola products.

Coca-Cola’s monumental gift is at the top of a long and notable list of companies that includes HEB, Papa John’s Pizza, Salata, Southern Ice Cream and Frito Lay, just to name a few. More than a 1,000 employees at all three hospitals have benefited from the charitable donations.

Facilities Operations in partnership with the Office of Philanthropy are responsible for receiving corporate donations and distributing them to the intended department.

“Texas Children’s makes a strong impact on our community,” said Bert Gumeringer, senior vice president for Facilities Operations. “In times like these people want to help us. Large corporations reach out, but also small businesses and grateful parents who may be struggling themselves. I wonder how they do it. It’s incredible.”

Gumeringer added that many corporate sponsors also target their gifts. Some companies may want to feed employees who work at the loading dock or in housekeeping or on the nursing units. “It’s completely their choice and we are so appreciative.”

If you are contacted by a local business that would like to give a gift, please see the guidelines spelled out on the COVID-19 Connect page under Food/Meal donations guidelines. All food items are inspected for the safety of our employees. All food items are inspected for the safety of our employees.

As National Nurses Week comes to a close, Mark Wallace recognizes our nurses for their strength and resilience on the front lines and shares how each of us can encourage and lift each other up as we face new challenges ahead. Read more