Melissa Campbell, a transport nurse for Texas Children’s Kangaroo Crew, shares the critical role of our transport team and how their training, passion and shared commitment to patient safety helps keep them strong no matter what challenges they face along the way. Read more
The countdown clock is ticking. Texas Children’s Nursing will host its next virtual town hall from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 1. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no live event at the Pavilion for Women Conference Center as we have done in previous years. The town hall will be hosted virtually via Microsoft Teams Live to keep everyone safe and to ensure we maintain social distancing.
Hosted by Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre’, the town hall will include a discussion of our COVID-19 response, nursing quality outcomes, Joint Commission plans, and system updates. Participants are encouraged to pre-submit their questions for the town hall by emailing it to info@voiceofnursing.org.
“With so many participants expected to attend the livestream, we will not be able to answer questions real-time via chat,” said Andre. “We will respond to as many pre-submitted questions as time permits during the town hall. All other questions will be responded to via email or “Ask the CNO” feature on the Voice of Nursing blog. Your feedback is critical to helping us enhance our processes and outcomes.”
As always, patient care is our first priority, and we know not all nurses will be able to participate in the virtual town hall livestream. However, nurses can still participate by viewing the town hall on-demand. The link to the town hall recording will be available on the Voice of Nursing blog the day after the event.
Click here to view the flyer for more information on town hall including how to access the link to the livestream. Remember, you don’t need the Microsoft Teams Live app to view the town hall. You can click on the link, or copy and paste it into your browser – and choose the “Watch on the Web Instead” option.
Lauren Cavallaro shares how the challenges brought on by COVID-19 has helped her and her colleagues in the Emergency Center become a stronger team as they continue to adapt to new patient care processes during this unprecedented time. Read more
Texas Children’s Cancer Center hosted several virtual activities throughout the month of September to honor our courageous patients and their families, and to thank our dedicated staff for all they do. While COVID-19 changed this year’s Going Gold celebrations, many came together in a virtual and socially distant way to shine the light on pediatric cancer for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
Director of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers Dr. Susan Blaney said she is grateful for those who participated in our virtual events to help raise awareness for such an important cause. Although great strides have been made in combatting childhood cancer, there is still work to be done.
“We need a cure for every child diagnosed with cancer,” Blaney said. “Each day in our Cancer Center, our devoted team of physicians, nurses, researchers, and many others, are focused on translating the discoveries from our laboratories into novel therapies to improve the cure rate and outcomes for childhood cancer. ”
Here are some highlights from this year’s Going Gold celebrations at Texas Children’s.
On September 8, The Faris Foundation hosted a socially distant Let There Be GOLD Carnival for patients and their families on our inpatient Cancer Center unit. The floor was adorned in gold ribbons, stars, beads and other festive decorations, and there were numerous activities for children including arts and crafts, games and gold slime making.
Patients and their families also received a special visit from Elsa, our therapy dog, who dressed up for the occasion wearing a Going Gold T-Shirt to celebrate September Childhood Cancer Awareness.
Texas Children’s Cancer Center was inspired to “Go Gold” six years ago by a young patient, Faris D. Virani, who was perplexed about why he didn’t see as much gold in September compared to other colors he saw during different disease awareness months. Motivated by Faris’ concern, each year the Cancer Center has increased their level of “gold-ness,” and this year was no different.
Faris’ mother and founder of The Faris Foundation, Dr. Asha Virani, joined with Texas Children’s Cancer Center staff for the Let There Be GOLD Carnival. Virani said she knows her son, who lost his battle with Ewing sarcoma, is smiling because of all of the gold that was shown around Texas Children’s in September.
“September Childhood Cancer Awareness month is a golden opportunity to spread awareness and love,” said Virani. “Over the years, Texas Children’s has been a leader in making this cause so visible.”
Also this month, patients, families and staff at Texas Children’s Cancer Center had their very own Pajama Day to help raise awareness of childhood cancer. Wearing their pajamas, they stood in solidarity to honor the courageous journeys of our patients and families who have been touched by pediatric cancer.
This year’s Pajama Day was part of #AmazonGoesGold campaign to raise awareness of childhood cancer. Children are fighting cancer while in their pajamas, so the team decided to have a pajama party to celebrate our patients and their journey.
The Pajama Day started with children decorating sleeping masks, pillowcases and their own robes. All three Cancer Center inpatient units had their own concession stand where the patients came and filled their snack box and chose a movie of their choice. Some patients were very interested in scary movies while others wanted something different – there was something for each of our patients. Each child took their snack box and watched a movie with their family in their room.
In conjunction with the #AmazonGoesGold campaign, Amazon donated a gift of $500,000 to Texas Children’s Cancer Center as part of their Go Gold initiative to help advance pediatric cancer research.
Video messages from our Cancer Center staff and patients
To celebrate our patients and their families, our Cancer Center team gathered virtually to share inspiring video messages throughout the month of September. And, several of our fellow patients shared their own messages of hope and encouragement for other children and families impacted by childhood cancer.
One of our patients had this to say to those facing cancer: “September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. My encouraging words to you are stay strong, always be positive, and you can beat cancer.”
Click here to view Cancer Center staff videos. Click here to view encouraging words from our patients.
The Health Plan continues its focus on cultural competency as the deadline nears to complete the state-mandated training. More than 80 percent of employees have taken the course.
Teams have spent the past few weeks in discussion around the 15 national Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards, their personal experiences, and ways they can improve their work performance in this area.
These discussions, along with recent Cultural Competency Week activities are being managed by the newly developed Cultural Competency Committee. In the future, the committee will ensure that the organization adheres to the national standards and plays an integral role in addressing health disparities.
Provider Relations Liaison Javier Valdez, who is a 32-year Texas Children’s employee, has seen our organization navigate many cultural shifts and is pleased to be part of these latest efforts.
“I feel that we do well when it comes to cultural competency, but I think we could always do better,” Valdez said. “This is exactly why I’m so glad to hear of the committee’s work.”
In his role Valdez meets the needs of culturally diverse providers who serve culturally diverse members.
“We have a very seasoned team that is close and able to discuss issues openly,” he added. “I think this is why it’s important that we have a bilingual staff that can speak many languages. This way we are able to assist our members in a language they feel the most comfortable speaking.”
Valdez added that a member’s culture is often connected to their social situation, their health and subsequently the solutions to any health care issues. This means that the more we understand a person’s culture, the more we can help them reach their health care goals.
The Health Plan’s care coordination team also conducted a series of cultural competency discussions starting back in May. The discussions were led by Care Coordination Director Ashley Simms and Assistant Director Katara Butler.
Butler said the team’s conversations centered around a few key themes; including personal accountability regarding cultural biases, keeping others accountable regarding their biases and remaining open to learning more about the culture of others.
“Not only do we serve a diverse member population, but as a team we are also diverse,” Butler said. “As managers it’s important that we give our teams all the tools they need to grow personally and professionally in this area.”
All health plan leaders received talking points to help them host cultural competency conversations. These conversations will provide even more context for the state-mandated training, available in HealthStream.
From COVID-19 to Hurricane Laura, Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre shares a message of appreciation and support to our nurses for their continued dedication, courage and preparedness in keeping our team and patients safe, while adjusting to what has become our new normal in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more
The 2020-21 flu season has arrived and it’s time for our One Amazing Team to step up, make a plan and take action against the spread of the flu.
Starting this week, Employee Health will administer flu vaccines at no cost to Texas Children’s employees; Baylor College of Medicine employees working at Texas Children’s facilities; Morrison, Crothall contract employees; and volunteers at Texas Children’s.
Getting your flu vaccine is the first and most important step you can take to prevent transmission of the flu and protect yourself and others – and it’s even more critical this year, with the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing and health care systems around the country closely conserving resources.
It’s also easier than ever this year to make your flu shot plan. We’ve launched a new external website at texaschildrensbenefits.org/flu with all the workforce-related flu resources and information you need to get prepared. On this site, our team members can:
By getting vaccinated against the flu, you are helping to keep our patients and their families, our entire workforce and our community safe. For a step-by-step guide to making your flu shot plan for this year, visit texaschildrensbenefits.org/flu.