January 22, 2024

Lunchdrop is an innovative program featuring a new selection of local restaurants each day for free delivery. Simply place your order before 10:30 a.m. and Lunchdrop will text you between Noon to 12:30 p.m. when your lunch arrives. Lunchdrop allows easy menu selection to meet all your dietary restrictions.

To sign up for Lunchdrop, visit https://lunchdrop.com. Once signed up, you have the option to receive daily text messages with food options. Your lunch will be dropped off at your designated Lunchdrop shelf, and a Lunchdrop team member will message you once your food is delivered.

See below for locations and designations of the shelves available at Texas Children’s:

  • Feigin Shelf: First floor, near the café
    • Shelf ID: 7N
  • Legacy Shelf: First floor, near the escalators
    • Shelf ID: 9K
  • Pavilion for Women Shelf: First floor, outside of Room F0180.05
    • Shelf ID: 6T
  • Woodlands Shelf: First floor, near Guest Services
    • Shelf ID: 3B
  • West Campus Shelf: First floor, Main Entrance
    • Shelf ID: S9
  • West Loop South Shelf: Eighth floor, in the lobby
    • Shelf ID: 9T
  • Meyer Shelf: First floor, in Meyer Market
    • Shelf IDL Z3
  • Austin MoPac: First floor, next to the Mailroom
    • Shelf ID: S2

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

January 16, 2024

One of the many ways our Austin team is preparing for the opening of North Austin Campus in less than a month is making sure they know how to handle emergencies. Recently, the Organizational Resilience team put several staff members to the test with intense, multi-day decontamination and evacuation training.

“This is the first time since before the pandemic we were able to hold an in-person training, and the response was amazing,” said Chelsia Elmore, manager, Organizational Resilience. “So many people across different departments showed up to learn, and we appreciated their time and focus on emergency preparedness.”

The two-day training included both classroom and hands-on learning focused on different aspects of decontamination and evacuation, specifically:

  • Identifying hazardous substances and knowing the risks associated with them
  • Understanding roles and responsibilities in the Emergency Plan
  • Learning about the potential outcomes of a HAZMAT event
  • How to identify the need for additional resources
  • When and how to notify key individuals
  • Selection and use of PPE
  • Ambulatory/Non-ambulatory Decontamination

The classroom training also included learning about antidotes in a terrorist attack, which chemicals we are able to treat and our mass casualty capabilities. The hands-on training included putting employees in Level C Hazmat suits in the EC, setting up the decontamination tent and even using the evacuation sled to learn how to move someone safely down the stairs.

The response to the training was positive from participants:

  • “Doing this training made it very real.”
  • “I learned a lot and felt like I was a part of something important…that I could make a difference.”
  • “It was out of my comfort zone but made me feel empowered.”

The Organizational Resilience team will hold similar training for team members at The Woodlands Campus, West Campus and the Medical Center in the coming months.

Do you thrive on ensuring safety? Sign up to be a decontamination team volunteer – contact orgresilience@texaschildrens.com to learn more.

Right Care, Right Place, Right People. Now ranked #1 in Texas and #3 in the nation, we’re bringing the best to Austin. Click here for countdown updates, resources and more on the Austin Expansion SharePoint.

January 15, 2024

Texas Children’s will open the doors to our first hospital in Austin in the coming weeks. The brand new campus will cater to both children and women with a comprehensive range of inpatient and outpatient services – many of which are not available locally or even offered at our own community hospitals in Houston.

Come join the fun and celebrate at the Texas Children’s North Austin Campus Keep Austin Healthy Family Run & Walk. This free event will have activities for the whole family.

When
Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024

Event schedule
10:15 a.m.: Health & Wellness Village Opens
11:00 a.m.: 5K Run/Walk Begins
12:45 p.m.: Kids K Begins
1:15 p.m.: Kids Bike Ride Begins
2:00 p.m.: Event Concludes

Location
Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin Campus
9835 North Lake Creek Parkway
Austin, TX US 78717

Admission
FREE

Register
Click here to access a flyer and QR code to register.

More information
Health & Wellness Village
Opens at 10:15 a.m. Join us for the many family/kid friendly activities we’ll have waiting for you. Craft workshops, ambulance tours, photo booths, bounce houses and climbing walls are just scratching the surface!

5K Run/Walk
Begins at 11:00 a.m. The route will consist of multiple loops within the campus. Want to run/walk more than a 5K? That’s perfectly fine! Want to finish early? That’s fine too! Regardless, we’ll have an easy exit point into the Healthy & Wellness Village along the route.

Kids K
Begins at 12:45 p.m. with one amazing lap (0.8 mile) around the loop with the little ones!

Kids Bike Ride
Begins after the Kids K – around 1:15 p.m. The course will be open for bikes until the event close at 2:00. So bring the kids’ bikes (and helmets!) and let them take a spin – or 10 – around the course. No bike? Our friends from Woom will be out with their demo bikes and helmets.

Now ranked #1 in Texas and #3 in the nation, we’re bringing the best to Austin. Click here for countdown updates, resources and more on the Austin Expansion SharePoint.

 

January 11, 2024

It’s that time of year where everyone seems to be coughing, sniffling and sneezing. We are experiencing increased upticks across the community with cases of COVID-19, flu and other respiratory illnesses. Below are a few reminders on how to protect yourselves and others against these viruses and where to get help if needed.

  • Masking. While masking remains optional, we recommend you consider masking at work. In the community, consider masking, particularly in crowded areas. Masks are strongly encouraged for those with high-risk conditions. Please note that masks are widely available at Texas Children’s hospital campuses and care locations at building entry points.
  • Hand hygiene. Clean your hands frequently and thoroughly to protect yourself and your patients. Clean your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer. Follow the Five Moments for Hand Hygiene ENG|ESP.
  • COVID-19 vaccines and staying up to date. We continue to offer the updated COVID-19 vaccine to all team members (including BCM faculty and staff) through Employee Health at our Medical Center, West and Woodlands campuses in addition to Austin Mopac. The current COVID-19 vaccine provides greater protection against more recently encountered Omicron subvariants. To schedule a free appointment at one of these locations, please click here. If you prefer to receive the vaccine at an outside provider, most medical plans cover COVID-19 vaccines at 100% under preventive care at an in-network provider. Out-of-network coverage depends on the plan in regards to cost share. Employees can visit www.myCigna.com or use the myCigna app for more information.
  • Feeling sick. Stay home if you feel sick and get tested if you have respiratory symptoms compatible with COVID-19 or flu. Note that antiviral treatments are effective if administered early enough for influenza or COVID-19. Early diagnosis and treatment also reduce spread of viruses in the workplace. Click here to review the COVID-19 Return to Work process. For non-COVID-19 related illnesses, click here to review the Illness in the Workplace Policy.
  • Employee Health Virtual Assistant. Access the Employee Health Virtual Assistant from any device, any time, on or off the Texas Children’s network for COVID-19 related guidance and support.

If you have any questions, please contact the Employee Health Nurse Support Line at 832-VACCINE (832-822-2463), open Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Team members can also email employeevaccines@texaschildrens.org.

For more information on COVID-19, please visit our COVID Command website on Connect.

January 2, 2024

In December’s Patient Access Forum senior leaders participated in a fireside chat to discuss pertinent issues affecting access and how we can create capacity and opportunity to get our patients in the door quicker, all while delivering exceptional patient care.

This year’s event not only featured some lively discussion, but also included plenty of holiday festivities with Christmas music, refreshments, a facility dog and pictures with Santa.

Charla Bassey, assistant director of the Patient Contact Center, facilitated the fireside chat. Panel participants included:

  • Dan Gollins, President TCP/TCUC
  • Dr. Robert Ball, Medical Director, eHealth
  • Laura Hardy, Vice President
  • Denise Tanner-Brown, Associate Chief Nurse Executive and Vice President
  • Trent Johnson, Vice President

While each panelist brought their own expertise and perspective to the discussion, they all agreed, we can’t stop and must keep looking forward to provide better solutions to fit the changing landscape. Below are highlights from the discussion.

How do we stay embedded in the community and customer obsessed?
“The great thing about Texas Children’s is that we have such a large primary care structure. We have 69 locations across Houston, Austin, and College Station. We’re the largest pediatric group in the country. It is really important to be able to pick up the phone, you have a concern, and get in the door. The work Dr. Ball and Grace [Karon] and team have done around e-consults has us really thinking differently. It doesn’t have to be a face-to-face contact, but how do we get pediatricians the right answers so they can give the family the answers? For us we’re looking at how we stay engaged with community. So we have a lot of work that goes on around sponsorships. We have a lot of staff, physicians that live in the community. We look to them to ask, what’s important to you? What sponsorships? What programs? How do you engage with your community? It’s really important you engage your families in the communities they live; respect the differences that happen in those communities. Houston is so big you can drive an hour or so and still be in Houston, and it’s still very, very different.” – Dan Gollins

Can you share insights into any specific initiatives or investments made by the organization to optimize accessibility for patients and positively impact their journey within the healthcare system?
“We are doing so much and I really want to thank everyone in this room because there are so many different projects that are going on from how we connect with our patients to how we schedule an appointment, and how we get referrals through the door. There’s been a lot of work done on the behavioral health front in getting clinicians embedded into our TCP practices. So those of you who have tried to get a psychiatry appointment or psychology appointment over the last several years, that is very difficult to do in the Houston area. There are just not a lot of providers, but in partnership with TCP we have masters level clinicians embedded in 19 practices serving about 4,000 patients right now, so it’s a huge undertaking and really trying to get the right care at the right time at the right location for these families.” – Laura Hardy

What major technology or industry evolutions do you think we need to start considering today for major landscape changes in the future?
“I think the keyword is one size doesn’t fit all. There’s nothing more frustrating for families than spending an hour traveling three miles in Houston in traffic and fighting their way through parking and then they see their provider for three minutes. And so that choice (telemedicine) has to be driven and TCP has shown this over and over, families and parents are really good judges of what they need. We need to give them super-sized menu options of how to connect with us and then they will become very good at choosing what the right thing is for them and we don’t have to tell them, you can only schedule this online if it fits in this tiny box. Also, some of the big transitions we’re going to see over the next few years is really having the ability to monitor patients at home so they don’t have to come in for their blood pressure check, etc. I think virtual nursing is going to be a big impact.” – Dr. Robert Ball

How is our organization enhancing patient engagement strategies? In light of increasing options for patients beyond Texas Children’s, what initiatives are in place to ensure we are the preferred and consistent choice for their healthcare needs?
“It’s about the human experience and the personal connections. When I think about patient experience, I bracket it into four categories. First of all pre engagement. We are all ambassadors of Texas Children’s right, so we are wearing that brand either literally or figuratively. Next is the engagement opportunity and that’s when they call us. They need our services. They’re looking for someone to connect with them. The next category is the actual interaction. So you’ve engaged with them. Now they’re coming into the clinic. We do a lot of training for leaders and staff just to make sure we can make those intentional connections and solidify those moments for them, right, because they’re not going to forget those moments. Finally it is about the follow up, so when they’re getting ready to leave. Do we have the right tools and infrastructure in place so they can care for their child post experience. We’ve already talked about telemedicine and those options to increase access, but the one thing I want to drive home about the work we’re doing here at Texas Children’s that can’t be replicated, it’s about those personal connections. – Denise Tanner-Brown

As a leader at Texas Children’s, where do you identify the greatest opportunity for enhancing patient access? Recognizing the sustained demand for Inpatient Rehab services, could you elaborate on the organization’s plans to expand access for patients, both within our main facility and across community locations?
“We run consistently full all the time in that unit because there’s not a lot of IRU beds for pediatric patients. Back in November on the 13th, we actually did a ribbon cutting for an expansion. We expanded four beds, and as you all have guessed, those instantly were filled. There’s a lot of work that goes as we restack the buildings we have here. Certainly, we have to be thoughtful of critical care and acute care as well. They all have to be looked at together, but there is a desire to continue to expand the IRU. Before we rush into that, we need to assess and make sure the best decision based on looking at not only IRU demand but acute and critical care as well. And that’s what we’re carefully thinking through before we ultimately go into that bigger expansion.” – Trent Johnson

The number one question the audience wanted to know: Are you a Beyoncé fan or a Swifty? The majority of our panelists said they were Team Taylor! Denise Tanner-Brown did share with the forum that she is the President of the Beehive!

Many thanks to the Patient Access Forum Steering Team for creating and organizing the Access and Patient Experience forum. Members include, Bryan Samp, Kathleen Wood, Grace Karon, Leroy Thomas, Jr., Jennie Maldonado, Luke Horton, Michael Potter, and Enrique Gonzalez. Leaders: Charla Bassey & Kimberly Troupe.

From tree lightings to Santa visits, Texas Children’s celebrated across the organization. Read More

On Dec. 27, Texas Children’s will transition to Chemwatch, a new software provider for hazardous chemical inventory management and Safety Data Sheet (SDS) access.

To help ensure a seamless transition, over the next few weeks, your chemical inventories will migrate to Chemwatch with no action needed on your part for the migration.

Action needed – training
  • All employees can click here to access the general user training on Environmental Health and Safety’s SharePoint site.
  • Administrative users (i.e., staff who update departmental inventories) will receive a Teams invite in the coming weeks for additional training. Administrative user training also will be available on the EHS SharePoint site.

The link to access your safety data sheets on Chemwatch will remain the same – Go to Connect under the Tools dropdown and click Safety Data Sheets (SDS).

If you have any questions, please contact EHS at 832-824-1961 or environmentalhealthandsafety@texaschildrens.org.