October 24, 2017

Heather Eppelheimer is a child life specialist with Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. While she is quick to offer support in any way she can, Heather’s primary responsibility is to work closely with expecting families who have lost a child.

Heather helps these families cope with their loss and create lasting memories of their child. She offers the same type of support to her colleagues who might be going through a stressful time, consistently rising above and beyond as a supportive teammate.

“Heather has become a staple of support and mentorship for our Child Life Department,” said Saraben Turner, a child life manager. “She approaches each day with a mission to provide optimal, compassionate care to her patients and families, while also ensuring that her colleagues and teammates are feeling supported in the exceptional work they do.”

“She truly exemplifies living compassionately and amplifying unity in her every day work,” Turner continued. “She is continually provided with Caught You Caring awards and other recognitions highlighting the strong work she provides to patients and their families, her team and Texas Children’s Hospital.”

Launched in 2015, Texas Children’s Caught You Caring program is a systemwide program that recognizes employees for going above and beyond to provide compassion and kindness in the care of a patient, family or co-worker. Recently, Epplelheimer was among more than a dozen employees who received a pair of tickets to watch the Houston Texans Play 60 game on October 1, after being recognized for his acts of kindness through this program.

Texas Children’s wants to continue to recognize those who take great pride in the work they do and encourages patients, families and employees to catch someone who is making a difference.

To nominate a colleague, Caught You Caring boxes and cards can be found across the Texas Children’s hospital system for patients and families to fill out. Employees can fill out a Caught You Caring form on Connect. Cards and online submissions will be distributed to leaders for staff recognition.

For the next three weeks, Connect will feature a series of Caught You Caring videos spotlighting several of our employees who have gone above and beyond their role in the care of our patients and their families.

October 10, 2017

On October 2, Elsa, Texas Children’s first therapy dog, celebrated her one year anniversary at the hospital with patients and friends alike. The four-legged, full-time employee arrived in October 2016 and has brought smiles and comfort to patients, families, visitors and employees ever since.

To commemorate her special day, Elsa donned a “It’s my gotcha day!” t-shirt. She spent time greeting patients and guests, and received many cards from those who love her most. Patients also decorated new bows for Elsa’s collar and enjoyed cookies during the celebration.

Graciously funded by Judy and Bobby Shackouls, the golden retriever spends her days with her handler and Texas Children’s child life specialist, Sarah Herbek. The two collaborate with medical teams and physical and occupational therapists to provide support to patients who may be having trouble coping with hospital stays, a new diagnosis or other experiences.

Texas Children’s looks forward to celebrating many more milestones with Elsa.

July 18, 2017

After nearly five months of renovations, Texas Children’s recently opened an outdoor play garden for patients and their families so they can relax and have fun during their visit or hospital stay at Texas Children’s.

“The hospital can be a stressful environment for patients and their families,” said Rene Hoelker, a project manager for Texas Children’s Facilities Planning and Development. “The play garden provides a relaxing retreat for them to get away from their daily task of being in a patient room and actually enjoy their time here.”

Located outside the Abercrombie Building, a beautifully hand-painted mural greets visitors as they enter the Merle C. Donigan Play Garden. The play garden features a colorful display of child-friendly play pieces, musical instruments and plenty of shade structures, benches and lush landscape for optimal relaxation. Heat-resistant turf – green simulating grass and blue depicting rivers – keeps the ground cool during the hot weather.

“All of the play pieces were carefully designed to ensure our patients – whether ambulatory or confined to a wheelchair – can easily access the amenities offered in the play garden,” Hoelker said.

One of the biggest design challenges of this renovation project was figuring out how to creatively conceal the exhaust travelling from the underground parking garage into the play garden. Instead of just building a wall to mask the entry point, the Facilities Planning and Development team collaborated with a local muralist to transform this wall into a carefully designed piece of art.

“We started to think about what themes we wanted to design,” Hoelker said. “We came up with the four seasons. As visitors walk around the mural, it transitions from summer, spring, fall to winter.”

Muralist Sebastein Boileau and his team spent countless hours hand designing and painting the mural as well as the light tower, which illuminates the play garden at night with different shades of color depicting the changes in season.

“Since this is for the children, we incorporated a lot of animals and fun colorful elements in our mural design,” said Boileau. “We hand painted from the background to the foreground the same way you would a painting. We approached this project more like a big painting rather than a mural.”

Patients and their families in Abercrombie can also view the play garden from their patient room window. For patient families like Madison Fitzgerald, she is thankful to have this space available for her son and other children at the hospital.

“In the middle of the medical center, all you see are hospitals,” Fitzgerald said. “To see something bright and fun for the kids, something that they can enjoy that is not so scary, is a huge benefit.”

The new Abercrombie play garden was named in memory of the late Merle C. Donigan, a long-time Texas Children’s Auxiliary member who graciously donated funds to support this renovation project.

July 11, 2017

For two weeks in June, Camp For All 2U brought the joy of summer camp to patients at Texas Children’s Hospital’s Main and West Campuses.

The program transforms areas of the hospital into camp, providing patients who may not get the experience of camp outside of the hospital the opportunity to enjoy a variety of games and activities. With a different theme each day, camp activities include archery, a petting zoo, arts and crafts and much more.

“We are so excited to have Camp For All 2U here at Main Campus for the second time,” said Child Life Specialist Sarah Herbek, who collaborated with Camp For All to bring the experience to Texas Children’s. “For many of these patients, this is the only opportunity they will have to experience camp this summer due to their current medical condition.”

Camp For All Program Supervisor Allen McBride said he was thrilled to be back at Main Campus and, with the generous support of the Wood Group, to be able to expand the program to West Campus.

“We are grateful to be able to give these patients the chance to temporarily forget what they are going through and just enjoy being a kid,” McBride said.

And, enjoy they did. Many of the patients didn’t want to leave camp and signed up to attend for multiple days.

View photos from Camp For All 2 U below.

Child Life Specialist Riley Hammond was key to getting the camp at West Campus and said “It is huge for staff and parents to see these kids having so much fun. In terms of normalization in the child life world, camp has tremendous positive impact on patients and families.”

It wasn’t just the children who were having fun. Camp counselors, volunteers and hospital staff were overcome with smiles, laughter and child-like joy as well. Some even went so far as to let the camp goers throw a pie in their face just for laughs.

Andrew Stewart, CEO of the Wood Group, was one of those volunteers and said he and his executive team wanted to participate in something extraordinary that would support the amazing work that’s already being done at Texas Children’s.

“We’ve had a wonderful time,” he said. “And, I think the children have as well.”

For more information about Camp For All, visit www.campforall.org.

June 13, 2017

Molly Mae LeBlanc, daughter of Texas Children’s employees Jill and Andy LeBlanc, passed away at Texas Children’s on May 6, 2017. Molly was diagnosed with Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease (ARPKD) prior to her birth. She battled her kidney and liver disease valiantly and spent much time being cared for at Texas Children’s by many different services and members of our health care team. Molly was a beloved member of the Texas Children’s family and will forever be remembered as an exemplary model of hope and love.

Jill and Andy have chosen Texas Children’s as the beneficiary of donations made in Molly’s memory. The monetary gifts received will be used to benefit the child life program and to establish a nursing scholarship in Molly’s name. Donations may be directed to Texas Children’s Hospital, Office of Development, Suite 5214 PO Box 300630, Houston, Texas 77230-0630. Please specify that the donation is in memory of Molly Mae LeBlanc.

You may also submit your donation online by clicking here. Specify donation amount and type. Under gift designation, click “other.” Under my gift info, click “in memory of,” then type in “Molly Mae LeBlanc.” Complete the online form by entering your contact and payment information. If you have any questions about making a donation, contact giving@texaschildrens.org  or call ext. 4-6806.

Also, please join us for Kendra Gives Back Party from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 15, in Rice Village at 2411 Times Boulevard, Suite 120, Houston, TX 77005. Twenty percent of the proceeds will benefit Texas Children’s Hospital for The Molly Mae LeBlanc Nursing Scholarship.

April 4, 2017

For Nilima Gandhi, watching her 6-year-old son interact with Texas Children’s new robot fills her heart with joy. Her son suffers from beta-thalassemia major – a condition where the body cannot produce red blood cells – which requires him to receive blood transfusions every two to three weeks.

“When my son comes to Texas Children’s, his heart’s beating really fast and with something like this, at least it can calm him down,” Gandhi said. “I think the robot brings positive energy to the kids. At least when they are here, they can play with the robot and forget about their pain.”

Just 2-feet tall, the child-friendly robot named MEDi is one of several Child Life therapeutic intervention tools used to improve the emotional well-being of our patients by reducing their anxiety, perception of pain, and fear of hospitalization.

“We can use the robot to distract patients during medical procedures such as blood draws or IVs,” said Child Life Specialist Danielle Coleman. “MEDi can engage patients in fun activities like Simon Says and Rock Paper Scissors. He can also sing songs, dance, tell stories, and we can program the robot to greet patients by their first name so their experience with MEDi is more autonomous and life-like.”

MEDi uses a wireless router and a tablet that contains various applications for different play behaviors including a set of medical applications (coaching behaviors) that MEDi uses for specific medical procedures.

“As long as I am connected to the router and he is fully charged, MEDi is completely autonomous – no wires attached,” Coleman said. “I simply click on an application on the iPad and MEDi will execute those specific behaviors.”

For patient families like Dorothy Nelson, whose great-grandson is being treated at Texas Children’s for sickle cell anemia, she admits the robot has benefited her just as much as it has benefitted her grandson.

“His reaction to the robot was unbelievable, as though he was really talking to a human being,” Nelson said. “And to see him getting happy and excited about it makes me feel good.”

Earlier this year, Child Life and Development hosted a special check presentation ceremony to thank the Greenberg family for graciously donating the robot to Texas Children’s Hospital.

“We hope it is really successful and a lot of people enjoy it,” Natalie Greenberg said.

March 7, 2017

Hundreds of children recently gathered with hospital staff on The Auxiliary Bridge of Texas Children’s Hospital and outside the main entrance of Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus to participate in one of the medical system’s most popular events – the annual teddy bear clinic.

During the clinic, children are given the opportunity to act out the roles of various health care staff such as doctors, nurses, therapists and technicians. Children pretend to perform a variety of tests, exams and therapies to diagnosis their Teddy bear’s symptoms and heal its body.

Hosted by Child Life to celebrate national Child Life Week, the event celebrates our patients and families and how the intimate world of play is used to encourage children’s learning and support children’s coping.