The Houston Texans sent four vaccinated health care workers to Super Bowl LV in Tampa Bay as part of the NFL’s celebration of frontline medical heroes. Read more
February 4, 2021
In recognition of their unwavering commitment to our patients and the community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, four vaccinated Texas Children’s health care heroes were selected to attend Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Fla. The NFL and Houston Texans are treating our team members to this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Those chosen to attend Super Bowl LV are:
Kaitlin Hernandez, Respiratory Therapist
Bhumi Patel, RN
Dr. Matthew Pesek, Medical Director, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus
Matthew Rivera, RN
Dedicated to our patients amid the pandemic
Hernandez, Pesek and Rivera have worked in the Special Isolation Unit (SIU) at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus since March. Patel has worked on 15 West Tower at the Medical Center Campus caring for COVID-positive acute care patients throughout the pandemic.
“I’ve worked in the SIU for many years,” Hernandez said. “This is what we’ve trained for.”
“Because we were prepared, we were able to care for children with COVID-19 effectively and safely very early on in the pandemic,” Pesek commented.
“Working in the SIU has been the most enjoyable work I’ve ever done in my nursing career,” Rivera added. “I can’t say enough about the team we work with.”
They all note that while this past year was challenging, their training and support from the Texas Children’s community and their families helped them get through some of the toughest days.
“I’ve had so many opportunities to grow and become the nurse I am now,” Patel said. “I love working for Texas Children’s and can only imagine what the future will hold.”
Gearing up for the big game
On Tuesday, TORO and the Houston Texans Cheerleaders surprised our health care heroes with a special send off, complete with Texans gear, a travel kit and more.
“I’m not really an emotional guy, but when they told me I was going to the Super Bowl, I was emotional and shocked,” Rivera said.
Health care workers from across the country, including our four selected health care heroes, will have completed their COVID-19 vaccination prior to traveling to the big game.
“I feel blessed to be vaccinated,” Rivera said. “I trust the science and the doctors around me.”
“I’m so grateful that we were able to get vaccinated so quickly,” Patel added.
Each team member received a roundtrip flight on United Airlines, two-night hotel stay and a ticket to the game, among other items.
All activities during Super Bowl week, including game day, will be conducted in accordance with CDC and local health guidelines. Health and safety precautions, such as increased physical distancing, face coverings, hand hygiene stations, first aid areas and directional signage will all be in place to create a safe environment for all individuals in attendance.
“It’s incredible that people are noticing and recognizing the work we do. It makes us all feel so good,” Hernandez said.
“This is a huge morale boost for all of us who have been working so hard throughout the pandemic,” Pesek added. “It’s amazing that the NFL is going out of its way to recognize thousands of health care frontline workers who are doing an incredible job, day in and day out.”
Texas Children’s is the Official Children’s Hospital of the Houston Texans. To learn more about our partnership, visit texaschildrens.org/texans.
October 12, 2020
Texas Children’s celebrated PLAY 60 by cheering on the Houston Texans as they beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 5th Annual Kids Day game presented by Texas Children’s Hospital.
Kids Day highlights the National Football League’s PLAY 60 initiative, a campaign that encourages kids to be active for 60 minutes a day in order to reverse the trend of childhood obesity. Texas Children’s, the local presenting sponsor of PLAY 60, was featured throughout Sunday’s game.
Texas Children’s surgery patient, Matthew, served as the Coin Toss Captain. Sitting in his room at Texas Children’s in the Medical Center, he said “Go Texans! Beat the Jags!” To watch the coin toss, click here.
Even though our patients couldn’t be there in person to cheer on their team, they were there in spirit as featured cardboard cutouts in the stands at NRG Stadium. View photos of those cutouts below.
The week leading up to the game was filled with fun as well. On October 6, Houston Texans linebacker, Jacob Martin, made a special virtual visit to Cancer Center patients ahead of Sunday’s game. A robot dressed in Martin’s jersey went room to room as if he was on-site at the hospital. During this time when in-person interaction is limited, this surprise brought many smiles to patients and their families. View photos from Martin’s visit below.
Additionally, the Houston Texans Foundation donated $250,000 to Texas Children’s in support of our Pediatric Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit (IRU). The IRU works to heal patients physically and emotionally following a severe illness or traumatic injury. This gift named the unit’s gym and transformed it with encouraging phrases and Texans colors. The donation will also provide resources to help enhance the quality of life for these patients.
Click here to see a video about the IRU and Martin’s visit, and see photos of the unit below.
The Houston Texans paid tribute to three Texas Children’s frontline heroes during halftime of the team’s first home game on Sunday. The video thanking the frontline heroes for their ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted Dr. Amy Arrington, Medical Director of the Special Isolation Unit at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus; Lakeisha Forney, Unit Support Assistant, Facilities Operations; and Lauren Myers, RN, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. View more
September 8, 2020
Smith Legacy Tower is lit red, white and blue – the official colors of the Houston Texans – in honor of our partner’s first regular season game on Thursday, September 10 against the defending Super Bowl Champs, the Kansas City Chiefs. Texas Children’s is the Official Children’s Hospital of the Houston Texans and local sponsor of PLAY 60, the NFL initiative encouraging kids to get 60 minutes of active play per day.
July 20, 2020
Dance, learn and perform with the Houston Texans Cheerleaders! Presented by Texas Children’s Hospital, the 2020 Junior Cheerleaders program will be virtual this year but just as fun and at a lower cost.
Instructional video with new choreography for the 2020 performance
Rehearsal time with Texans Cheerleaders in your Junior Cheerleaders’ age-specific Zoom class
Zoom performance with Texans CheerleadersZoom performance with Texans Cheerleaders and all 2020 Junior Cheerleaders. The performance will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, August 15.
Registration for the program is open to children ages 7 to 12 through 5 p.m. Friday, July 31. Click here to sign up. Have questions or need more information? Visit the Houston Texans website for more information on virtual Junior Cheerleaders performance details, FAQs and more, or email CheerPrograms@HoustonTexans.com with questions.
Tell your friends and family that your loved one is going to be a HTC Junior Cheerleader! Download this shareable graphic to share on your social stories and type in the name of your Junior Cheerleader! Be sure to tag @texanscheerleaders to be featured on our social stories!
June 22, 2020
A new nine-bay labor and delivery ward at Area 25 Health Center in Lilongwe, Malawi, is providing women a private place to give birth, and clinical workers more space to deliver the same amount of babies per year born at the Pavilion for Women.
“This is a huge step forward for our patients and our clinicians,” said Dr. Jeffrey Wilkinson, vice chair of Global Health and professor, OB-GYN and director of the Global Women’s Health Program. “It falls right in line with our goal of providing the highest quality of care to the women and children we treat through our Global Women’s Health program.”
Formed in 2012, the program is a collaboration between Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation – Malawi and the Ministry of Health of Malawi. This public-private partnership leads the way in the development of transformative programs that benefit thousands of women and babies as well as scores of learners in low resource settings.
Women and children are disproportionately affected by lack of access to health care services, particularly in resource limited settings. Malawian women have some of the worst odds with 675 deaths per 100,000 live births – among the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world. By contrast, the ratio for US women is 14 deaths per 100,000 live births.
To improve these odds, the Global Women’s Health program has invested a lot of time and effort into expanding the quality and quantity of services offered at Area 25 Health Center, significantly alleviating the burden of increasing demand for maternal and neonatal services at Kamuzu Central Hospital (Lilongwe’s referral hospital) and Bwaila Maternity Hospital, the largest maternity unit in the region with 17,500 plus deliveries per year.
With the help of generous donors, a maternal waiting home, a four-room operating theater and now a new labor and maternity ward have been built to help clinicians, midwives and non-medical staff better serve the women and children of Malawi.
Each room in the new labor and delivery ward is equipped with a swinging door that leads out to a nurses’ station. One of the nine rooms has a private bath and shower. The other eight rooms share four private baths and showers, each with a sliding door for easy access.
Prior to opening the new ward, women at Area 25 were delivering their babies in a six-bed labor and delivery ward on beds lined up in one room and separated by only a curtain. Because of the cramped quarters, family members were not able to accompany or help their loves ones during delivery.
The new ward has enough space for one family member to be in the room during delivery, an accommodation that is somewhat unique in health care facilities across Malawi and sub-Saharan Africa. The old labor and maternity ward will be used for anti-labor, triage, admissions and evaluation of patients coming in for labor.
“This has been a transformational gift for the women and babies in this region,” said Dr. Ibe Iwuh, one of the OB-GYNs at Area 25. “It’s helped us not only provide high quality care to women but also to demonstrate the potential between a public-private partnership between a US academic institution, a US health care organization, and the Malawi Ministry of health.”
Dr. Chikondi Chiweza, one of the OB-GYNs at Area 25, said it’s very satisfying to see Area 25 become one of the busiest maternity wards in the area.
“Because of the waiting home, women who might have gone into labor far from a medical institution now have a safe place to wait during their last few weeks and days of pregnancy,” Chiweza said. “The operating theater has enabled us to take care of more complex patients, and the new maternity and labor ward will allow us to better meet the ever-growing demand of births and well-woman services.”
For more information about the Global Women’s Health program and Area 25, click here.
