August 23, 2016

82416wclibrarydonation640The Katy-West Houston Pi Beta Phi alumnae group recently presented $4,800 to Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus. These funds will go toward the West Campus’ library, which offers books, board games, puzzles and movies for patients and their families to enjoy. The library also houses medical and parenting resources, paperback fiction, magazines, foreign language books, computers and a fax machine.

Texas Children’s has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Pi Beta Phi alumnae and shares a mutual commitment to literacy and education. The first Pi Beta Phi Patient/Family Library opened in 1985 at Texas Children’s Hospital, and in 2011, the Pi Beta Phi Patient/Family Library opened at the West Campus.

Currently, there are more than 140 Pi Beta Phi Book Nooks located at Texas Children’s medical center campus, the West Campus, Texas Children’s Health Centers, Texas Children’s Urgent Care facilities, the Centers for Children and Women and in all the Texas Children’s Pediatrics practices throughout the Houston area.

After the check presentation, Pi Beta Phi alumnae members received a tour of the West Campus, which included visits to the library, radiology department and sports medicine area. As the Greater-Houston’s first suburban hospital designed exclusively for children, the West Campus upholds Texas Children’s mission of providing the highest-quality health care for children, coupled with a location that’s convenient and accessible for area families.

Running With Bulls

It’s time to get active with the Houston Texans!

TORO’s Kids 1K presented by Texas Children’s Hospital and the Running of the Bulls 5K Run and Walk presented by H-E-B and are back and registration is open.

Here are the details:

Sunday, October 9, 2016
NRG Park
Competitive 5K Run: $30
Non-competitive 5K Run/Walk: $25
TORO’s Kids 1K: $20

You’ll get the full Texans experience at the Finish Line presented by Mattress Firm by running through the Houston Texans game-day bull tunnel and finishing on the floor of NRG Stadium for a post-race party, featuring free food and drinks, live music, giveaways, autographs from Texans celebrities, and more.

To register, click here.

August 16, 2016

81716ChronicleAdOrtho250Texas Children’s is the honored sponsor for every Tuesday’s “Houston Legends” series. 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 is featured in this week’s 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 several weeks. We also will spotlight this special feature weekly on Connect, so stay tuned to learn and share our rich history.

81716adolescentsportsinside640Thirty years ago, Dr. Ralph D. Feigin recruited Dr. Albert Hergenroeder from Seattle to start an Adolescent Medicine & Sports Medicine Section at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital to address the growing need for quality, pediatric care of adolescent patients and young athletes with a variety of complex medical issues.

What began as a small section is now a burgeoning part of Texas Children’s Hospital with an ever-growing staff and a wide national reach. Each branch of the department conducts original research and sees more than ten thousand patients a year.

“We have accomplished a lot in the past three decades that have enabled us to put ourselves on the map as one of the best Adolescent Medicine & Sports Medicine programs in the country, and we are not slowing down,” Hergenroeder said. “The past few years have been filled with growth and expanded services, a trend we plan to continue for the foreseeable future.”

Sports Medicine

Sports Medicine specifically has undergone dramatic growth in the past couple of years adding four primary care physicians to the program’s existing three: Hergenroeder and Drs. Joe Chorley and Jorge Gomez. In addition to that, Texas Children’s Hospital has developed a robust sports physical therapy program. Led by Dr. Gabriel Brooks, the program has more than 30 sports medicine physical therapists located around the Houston area.

“Most of the conditions that we see in sports medicine don’t need surgery,” Hergenroeder said. “However, the vast majority need at least some physical therapy consultation. With the proper diagnosis, it is the sports specific physical therapy that helps them improve and makes it less likely they will be reinjured.”

The bulk of what the Sports Medicine program does is care for children, adolescents and young adults who are hurt while doing some sort of physical activity. The section’s staff also specializes in other sports related problems, such as concussions, the unique problems of the female athlete and the staff refers to their orthopedic surgical colleagues who have specific training in sports medicine and pediatric orthopedic issues to perform surgery when necessary. The primary care sports medicine and orthopedic physicians work as one team. Their goal is to get their patients back on the field, dance floor, or wherever they go to remain physically fit.

“We are a comprehensive sports medicine program, Hergenroeder said, and what makes us different from other sports medicine programs in the city is that we’re pediatric based. We understand the pediatric and adolescent athlete as we were trained as pediatricians and adolescent medicine physicians first, and specialized in sports medicine with an emphasis on the young athlete.”

Members of the team are located at Main and West campuses, and are in Texas Children’s Health Centers across the greater Houston area, including Sugar Land, Cy-Fair and The Woodlands.

Adolescent Medicine

The Adolescent Medicine program in the Adolescent Medicine & Sports Medicine Section is one of the best in the best in the country with a staff of five adolescent medicine physician specialists, three psychologists and a dietitian.

The staff takes care of complicated problems in adolescents and young adults such as eating disorders, obesity, chronic fatigue, polycystic ovarian syndrome and reproductive health issues. The division has an inpatient component, an outpatient clinic and is developing an intensive outpatient program that will act as a bridge between the two.

“Typically, we take care of the sickest, most medically fragile patients with eating disorders,” Hergenroeder said, adding that this division does research to advance the medical care of such complex issues. “We believe we are one of the best eating disorder programs in the U.S.”

Hergenroeder said he plans on continuing to grow this part of the section and that in five to 10 years he expects the program to continue to be one of the premier adolescent medicine programs in the country.

For more information about adolescent medicine click here and for more information about sports medicine click here.

81716powersoccer640City youth who use power wheelchairs will participate on the Houston Fireball’s power soccer team in the third soccer match between a Professional League Soccer team and a Power Chair team. Eighty percent of the Houston Fireball team is made up of Texas Children’s patients.

The MLS Houston Dynamo and the NWSL Dash teams face off against Houston’s only power soccer team from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, August 16, at Fonde Recreation Center, 110 Sabine Street in Houston.

The event will be an excellent opportunity to observe young athletes with motor disabilities showcase their talents while watching a leading Houston sports team play soccer in power chairs with the Fireball’s team. Dr. Tim Lotze, director of the Muscular Dystrophy Clinic, along with other Texas Children’s physicians and staff representing three to four service lines will be watching from the stands as they cheer their team on.

Power soccer is the fastest-growing sport developed specifically for power wheelchair users that allow them to unleash their competitive spirit, develop sportsmanship and team-building skills. The World Cup will be played in US 2017.

Click video to see the Fireball/Dynamos in action. Pump Up for the great power soccer clash!

The event includes Mascot Diesel, DeeJay. Senegal, EMCEE Sarah Pepper (95.7), and single item auction where highest bidder plays on the Dynamo team the last 15 minutes in a power soccer chair. Concessions available.

Admission is FREE. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Autographs will be available after the match.

If you are interested in playing power soccer, contact Diane Murrell at ext. 2-1058 or go to the Fireballs web site at www.houstonfireballs.com

On August 6, more than 400 patient families traveled from all over the country for the 2016 Texas Children’s Newborn Center family reunion. The reunion celebrated former patients who graduated from the Newborn Center in 2015 after spending 21 days or more in our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

The reunion was held at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women where parents shared stories of hope and triumph with other NICU families and reconnected with the nurses and doctors who delivered life-saving care to their critically ill babies.

“The families were so grateful to be able to come back and share the great progress their babies have made,” said Judy Swanson, vice president of nursing for the Newborn Center. “It gave them the opportunity to visit with the employees, physicians and other families that they spent so much time with while in the NICU. It was heartwarming to see them making so much progress.”

Highlights from the reunion included remarks from Swanson and Texas Children’s Chief of Neonatology Dr. Gautham Suresh, Newborn Center Nursing Director Heather Cherry, guest speakers Katy Haynes and Desiree Collins-Bradley, and blessings from Texas Children’s chaplain Kirsten Springmeyer.

The NICU reunion also offered exciting entertainment for the children including coloring, face painting, inflatable pony races, appearances from Minnie Mouse and SpongeBob SquarePants, and the guests enjoyed a good old-fashioned Texas barbecue.

81016Play60640Does your child’s school need new equipment for physical education, sports or after-school programs? Maybe help refurbishing a track or building a trail? If so, let them know they can apply to receive a PLAY 60 grant from Texas Children’s Hospital and the Houston Texans. In honor of Super Bowl 51, these grants have been super-sized to $50,000 so we can help more schools get the equipment they need to get students moving. The deadline to apply is Friday, September 9.

What is PLAY 60?

PLAY 60 is the NFL’s campaign to encourage kids to be active for 60 minutes a day in order to help reverse the trend of childhood obesity. To ensure that our schools have the right tools to integrate healthy activity into the school day, the Houston Texans and Texas Children’s Hospital are proud to award PLAY 60 grants to Houston-area schools in need of additional funding. These grants are designed to help schools with equipment for P.E., sports, or after-school programs, field, gymnasium or playground refurbishments, activity trails, interactive fitness technology installations and other projects that will get kids moving.

PLAY 60 Grant Requirements:

The PLAY 60 grant opportunity is open to schools located in the Greater Houston Area including public, private and charter schools. Each school can submit a formal funding request for up to $10,000. The request should include a narrative of no longer than 500 words that must include the following:

  • Details on how the grant will be used and why it is need
  • Estimated number of youth that will benefit from the grant
  • Demographic information about the school and students
  • Detailed spending budget of how funds will be used
  • Copy of the school’s IRS tax determination letter showing the school’s tax-exempt charitable status

Grants must be submitted by the school principal. Please provide all contact information including name, title, school address, phone number and email. Examples of projects include equipment for P.E., sports, or after-school programs, field, playground or gymnasium refurbishment; activity trails, interactive fitness technology installations. Winners will be selected based on how great the need, how many students will be impacted, and how the equipment aligns with the mission of PLAY 60.

PLAY 60 Grants Timeline:
  • First date to submit applications – August 1, 2016
  • Last day to submit grant applications – September 9, 2016
  • Notification to grant recipients – September 16, 2016
  • On-field Grant Presentation at NRG Stadium – October 2, 2016
  • Disbursement of grant funds – March 2017
  • Funds must be used by – July 1, 2017

Please submit all grant requests to texanscare@houstontexans.com by September 9, 2016.
If selected, your school will be required to submit a grant evaluation form after funds have been allocated.
Click here for more information and for a sample grant letter and budget.