Every year, this program honors outstanding individuals whose personal leadership and contributions have positively impacted a team, a patient, a family, a process, an outcome or any element of our Texas Children’s mission. Nominations for the 2017 award are being accepted until Thursday, June 30.
Visit the Mark A. Wallace Catalyst Leadership Award website for complete details about the nomination process and this exciting recognition.
Texas Children’s Hospital is proud to be a part of the Houston Chronicle’s 115th year celebration, which kicked off this week. To mark this occasion, the Houston Chronicle launched a six-month commemorative series that will tell the dramatic stories of Houston as “A City That Could.”
As part of this historic event, each daily publication of the Chronicle will feature an editorial section highlighting Houston’s iconic people, events, business, culture, medical and sciences, sports and major events.
Texas Children’s is the honored sponsor for every Tuesday’s “Houston Legends” series. For more than 20 weeks, we will showcase the legendary care Texas Children’s has provided since 1954, and focus on milestone moments in our unique history. Also, a complementary website offers a more detailed look at our past, our story and our breakthroughs.
On the right is the Texas Children’s ad that was featured in the Chronicle. Click the ad to visit our companion website at texaschildrens.org/legendarycare. The website will change weekly to complement the newspaper ad, which will be published in section A of the Chronicle on Tuesdays for the next 22 weeks. We also will spotlight this special feature weekly on Connect, so stay tuned to learn and share our rich history.
Audrey Orda Pickett of Financial Services is the latest Texas Children’s Super Star employee. “The organization has an incredibly large network of intelligent, hard-working individuals, all who work together to build each other up and bring out the best in each other,” Orda said. Read more of Orda’s interview and find out how you can nominate a Super Star.
Your name, title and department. How long have you worked here?
Audrey Orda Pickett, Senior Project Manager, Financial Services (FS). I’ve been at Texas Children’s for almost three years.
What month are you Super Star for?
May 2016
Tell us how you found out you won a super star award.
We have a quarterly FS meeting at which our leaders recognize people who are celebrating their milestone anniversaries. At the April meeting, there was an extra recognition after the anniversaries, and my leader (Jennifer Wilson, Controller and Director of Financial Services) made the announcement. It was definitely a surprise!
What does it mean to be recognized for the hard work you do? How has the organization helped you achieve your personal and professional goals?
It is an honor and very much appreciated. The organization has an incredibly large network of intelligent, hard-working individuals, all who work together to build each other up and bring out the best in each other.
What do you think makes someone at Texas Children’s a super star?
I think anyone who demonstrates being a team player, having a great attitude, and willing to go outside one’s comfort zone to help others makes someone a Super Star. I know there are numerous stars here at Texas Children’s.
What is your motivation for going above and beyond every day at work?
As part of the Accounting team, my motivation stems from ensuring we understand the financial impact of operational activities, as well as collaborating with our operational teams to ensure they understand, and are comfortable with, their financials as many of their decisions are based on these results.
What is the best thing about working at Texas Children’s?
It is a combination of both the mission and the people. I love that Texas Children’s strives every day to help children in all situations and that everyone is working towards accomplishing this mission. It creates a cohesiveness not found at other places.
What does it mean to you that everyone at Texas Children’s is considered a leader? What is your leadership definition?
It shows Texas Children’s values every person at every level. Leadership is respecting the uniqueness of each individual and cultivating an environment of trust in which others are inspired to work hard, lend a hand when needed, and stay positive in times of adversity.
Anything else you want to share?
I would like to thank everyone who has helped me grow as a person and as a professional, not only my team but others across the organization. I also would like to thank whoever nominated me for this award. I am truly grateful and very humbled.
Recent Houston floods devastated many local neighborhoods, and left Greenspoint families in dire need of emergency assistance. The Centers for Children and Women care about the communities they serve and wanted to help. On May 4, The Center for Children and Women in Greenspoint held a Houston Storm Recovery Distribution Event for local flood victims. Items such as clothing, diapers, toiletries and cleaning supplies were distributed to more than 450 families.
“Many of our patients and our community still have a lot of needs after the recent floods, so our staff members decided something needed to be done to help our community, said Dr. Heidi Schwarzwald, chief medical officer pediatrics of Texas Children’s Health Plan. “We are pleased that we were able to help so many families through the thousands of supplies donated by our employees and by generous local companies.”
Houston Food Bank provided emergency kits that included canned goods and water. Attendees also could receive application assistance for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). All donations were provided by Texas Children’s Health Plan and Center employees, Nestle and Kroger.
More than 120 people recently attended Texas Children’s Hospital’s annual Craniosynostosis Reunion, which honors families whose children have undergone craniosynostosis surgery at the hospital.
Donned in superhero T-shirts and capes, patients and their families enjoyed a day filled with games, socializing and laughter as they celebrated healed scars, which were barely visible in the patients’ hair. Families shared stories and remembered the hope and strength they received when their child had surgery.
At Texas Children’s, the comprehensive Craniosynostosis Surgery Program brings together a multidisciplinary team of pediatric neurosurgeons and plastic surgeons as well as geneticists, ophthalmologists, social workers, otolaryngologists and anesthesiologists to meet the needs of each patient.
“It is a privilege to take care of children,” said Dr. Sandi Lam, pediatric neurosurgeon and co-director of the Craniosynostosis Surgery Program at Texas Children’s. “We are lucky to be able to support and connect patients and families in a meaningful way, beyond surgery. Seeing these children and families reminds us why we do what we do every day.”
Led by Lam and Dr. Laura Monson, pediatric plastic surgeon and the program’s co-director, Texas Children’s Craniosynostosis Surgery Program is among the largest in the country, offering a spectrum of treatment strategies including minimally invasive surgery and complex reconstructions. For more information about the program, visit the website.
Billie Casteel, Mary Kana, Lorraine Cogan, Show Bower and Sarah Colton organized the annual Craniosynostosis Reunion event, mobilizing other dedicated Texas Children’s staff and volunteers. A special treat was “SteveO,” a Houston area professional photographer who graciously volunteered his services for this special Texas Children’s Hospital event.
More than 250 adolescent girls and their parents attended the third annual Girls Elevated event on Saturday, April 30, at the United Way Community Resource Center in Houston.
Hosted by experts from Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the purpose of this empowering, interactive one-day event is to educate teens about their bodies and help them cope with peer pressure and self-esteem issues that often occur during puberty.
Girls between the ages of 10 and 18, and their mothers or caregivers, attended separate, age-appropriate sessions to hear from physicians, law enforcement and other experts on topics girls want and need to know about from physical development to personal safety to healthy relationships.
Topics for the girls included: puberty and menses, hygiene, skin care and physical wellness, social skills, self-esteem and personal safety.
Topics for the adult caregivers included: What’s “normal,” HPV, promoting positive self-esteem, how to communicate with your teen and stress management.
Keynote speaker Stacy Mosely delivered an inspirational talk about how she overcame shyness and bullying at school and how she has excelled in her rewarding career as senior associate director of Athletics at Rice University.
Since Girls Elevated launched in 2014, more than 400 participants have participated in this empowering event. Planning is underway for next year’s event.
More than 1,000 children participated in the Typhoon Texas Kids Tri, making it the second largest kid’s triathlon in the world.
Texas Children’s Hospital sponsored the event, which was held on May 22 at the new Typhoon Texas waterpark in Katy.
Participants ages 6 to 17 swam the lazy river in the waterpark then biked and ran around the Katy Mills Mall before sprinting back to an amazing finish and post race inside Typhoon Texas.
Congratulations to all!
