April 11, 2017

Forty-five campers attended Camp Keep Smiling’s Mardi Gras-themed weekend March 24-26, participating in everything from mask making to ropes courses and more.

Camp Keep Smiling is a camp for children with cleft lip and palate. Hosted by the nonprofit Camp for All, the camp provides a safe, fun environment for patients between the ages of 10 and 16 to engage in meaningful social interaction and gain self-confidence. Participants can enjoy activities like canoeing, fishing, archery, ropes courses, basketball and arts and crafts.

Admission is free of charge for patients as it is supported directly by donations.

Texas Children’s Pediatric plastic surgeon Dr. Laura Monson, who helped start the camp, leads the camp with other team members from the plastic surgery division. Physicians, nurses, OR staff and child life specialists serve as counselors who notice tremendous strides in the campers towards the end of the session.

The Friends of the Baylor Faculty Wives Quilting Group visited with Dr. William Shearer, Terry Raburn, and Theresa Aldape to present quilts for newborns with perinatal exposure to HIV. The group formerly known as The Baylor Faculty Wives Quilting Group and now the daughters and granddaughters of the founding group are quilting beautiful quilts for the newborns seen at Texas Children’s Hospital. This group of quilters has been handcrafting colorful quilts and presenting them to Dr. Shearer for more than 25 years. Several of the quilts presented this year are in memory of Eileen Colquhoun who introduced her daughters to the quilt program and lovingly sewed many quilts herself throughout the years. Each quilt has “With Love and Comfort to You” written on the back panel, and it is signed with the first name of the quilter.

The quilting project known as the “Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt” emerged from a national project started in the mid-1980s, and it was presented across the country. When a loved one passed away due to the complications of AIDS, the family and friends would sew and dedicate a special quilt in their memory. The quilt panels were sewn together to show the increasing number of people who lost their battle to AIDS. Today, the quilt is the largest piece of community folk art in the world. People around the world continue to quilt blankets for newborns with HIV exposure and for children, adolescents, and adults living with HIV/AIDS.

This year the Friends of the Baylor Faculty Wives Quilting Group brought an array of beautifully handcrafted quilts for the newborns being tested for HIV, and seen in the Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology Department at Texas Children’s. We welcome the quilters every year and provide the quilts for newborns seen in the clinic or Clinical Research Center in the Abercrombie Building. The parents of newborns cherish their quilts, and we often see them with their treasured quilt blanket when they return for their appointments at Texas Children’s.

To quilt for newborns and children affected by HIV, please contact Theresa Aldape or call ext. 4-1385.

On Wednesday, April 19, Texas Children’s Green Team will host our annual Earth Day celebration. But it will be slightly different than last year. We will have four locations for employees to join in on the fun.

  • Texas Children’s Medical Center Campus (The Auxiliary Bridge) – 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • Texas Children’s West Campus – 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • Texas Children’s Health Plan (large conference room in basement of Chase building) – 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
  • Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands – Tree planting event only

Dozens of vendors will be available to provide eco-friendly, cost-saving tips to employees including how to become more energy efficient, tips on eating green, as well as ways to reduce waste and recycle more to promote a cleaner, healthier planet. Earl the Bear will be greeting guests at West Campus and Captain Clean Up will be at the Main Campus event.

The Green Team will be handing out customized Green Team water bottles and seeded confetti packets at the Green Team tables – so be sure to get there early since supplies are limited. Also, there will be a trivia game to test your knowledge on tips to go green for a chance to win prizes and several informational handouts will be distributed to employees.

Safe disposal of expired medications
Pharmacy will be hosting the Medication Disposal and Medication Take Back Program at Main Campus and West Campus only. Please bring expired or unused medications for proper disposal at the event.

Tree planting events
10 a.m. – Vice President Matt Schaefer and other leaders will be present for the tree planting at West Campus.

There will be a tree planting event at The Woodlands. The time and location have yet to be determined.

Stay tuned to Connect for more details about Texas Children’s Earth Day celebrations. Also, if you’d like to reach out to the Green Team with your green ideas, email teamgreen@texaschildrens.org.

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.

Hundreds of employees with Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands recently poured into the grand lobby of the new hospital for a day-long employee orientation that covered everything from welcoming remarks by hospital leadership to expectations regarding emergency preparedness, patient experience and quality and safety protocols.

The doors of the new 550,000-square-foot building will open its doors to the public on Tuesday, April 11. The recent orientation sessions mark the near end of a long and thorough preparation process leaders and staff have undergone to ready themselves to serve the patients and families of The Woodlands and surrounding communities north of Houston.

“Opening day is almost here and I feel confident that we have done everything in our power to prepare ourselves and the entire Texas Children’s system for what will be a monumental day in our service to patients and their families,” said Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands President and Texas Children’s Executive Vice President Michelle Riley-Brown. “Our efforts have spanned many topics but have consistently focused on quality, safety and the overall patient experience people will have when they arrive at our doorstep for care.”

During the past year, more than 600 employees and providers who will staff the new hospital have been involved in one or more of the following initiatives to prepare themselves as a team to serve the thousands of patients and families expected to seek high quality care and pediatric services in their community from Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.

Connections: The Experience and The Vision: All Woodlands employees, physician partners, and leadership completed two courses focused on hardwiring a culture based on both the patient and the employee experience. The goal of these sessions is to build on the existing Texas Children’s core values of living compassionately, amplifying unity, embracing freedom and leading tirelessly. In addition, the sessions aspire to establish behaviors that unify Woodlands employees as a team and leave patients and families feeling connected to the new hospital and staff as their healthcare provider.

Breakthrough Communications: Eighty physicians and advanced practice providers completed this Texas Children’s Hospital led physician communication course focusing on enhancing the conversation and dialogue between patients, families and caregivers.

Error Prevention Training: Hundreds of providers and staff working at The Woodlands campus took this three-hour class taught by members of the Texas Children’s Quality and Safety Department and trained Woodlands campus instructors. The course focused on sustaining a culture of safety and strategies for reducing medical errors and serious safety events.

Provider Orientation: The entire medical staff have either attended or is scheduled to attend provider-dedicated sessions focusing on operational details specific to The Woodlands campus. Training includes topics such as emergency response, community outreach, personal safety and security, environmental safety, quality metrics, new equipment training, useful communication tools and resources for providers, and a hospital tour.

Advanced Quality Improvement (AQI) Boot Camp: A group of about 40 leaders and medical providers attended this intense program aimed at improving care delivery and quality of care. The training occurred over three days and was based on a national patient safety training program that has shown significant improvement in patient outcomes.

Simulation Training: The leadership team at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands partnered with the Texas Children’s Hospital Simulation Center to design and facilitate a robust simulation training for the care teams and testing of the hospital environment. Using advanced technology and equipment to create life-like scenarios ranging from routine patient care to emergency code situations, the simulations allowed providers, staff, and even family members to respond as a team and test the hospital’s systems, environmental layout, and processes. The scenarios were recorded on video, allowing hospital leaders to review the training exercises and make any necessary adjustments before opening the hospital.

Emergency Management Drills: Texas Children’s Hospital, in partnership with the Montgomery County Sherriff’s office, University of Texas Police Houston, the Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management, and Houston Police Department, have conducted two active shooter exercises at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands. The purpose of the exercises was to test the emergency notification procedures, train staff to respond to an active shooter, and give our law enforcement partners a chance to practice their tactical response to an active shooter in the new building.

In addition to these formal training programs, leaders, physicians and staff have been meeting weekly to discuss things such as system optimizations, scopes of service, workflows, staff onboarding, teambuilding and more. Everyone involved has been working collaboratively to ensure we transition smoothly into operations on April 11, said Director of Patient Care Services Ketrese White.

“We have a unique opportunity to provide world class dedicated pediatric care to this community and surrounding communities nestled in the North,” White said. “We are excited to see the positive impact we will make in this community.”

Located off of I-45 in The Woodlands, Texas Children’s Hospital the Woodlands will serve children and families in the Woodlands, Kingwood, Conroe, Spring, Magnolia, Humble, Huntsville and beyond. The new hospital will build on a decade’s worth of relationships Texas Children’s has built in the community through our primary and sub-specialty care services offered at Texas Children’s Pediatrics locations and the Texas Children’s Health Center The Woodlands.

The hospital will offer services in more than 20 areas of specialty care at a state of the art facility with 32 acute care beds, four operating rooms, 12 radiology rooms with two MRIs, an emergency center with 25 patient rooms, a sleep center, a helipad, 1,000 free parking spaces and 28 critical care rooms (14 NICU and 14 PICU). Patients will receive expert care from highly skilled clinicians, and may also benefit from support services such as translation services, child life specialists, social work, care management, chaplains, volunteer services, and patient/family advocacy.

Texas Children’s Hospital in partnership with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, University of Texas Police at Houston, Montgomery County Hospital District, Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and the Houston Police Department conducted two active shooter exercises on March 3 and then an active shooter exercise followed by a mass casualty exercise on March 10. The exercises were conducted in the Emergency Center, lobby and cafeteria of the hospital, which will open its doors to the public on April 11.

“I think these are critical exercises to undertake and am proud to see Texas Children’s Hospital performing these,” said Dr. Jennifer Arnold, medical director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Pediatric Simulation Center. “The opportunity to identify system flaws before a real life threatening emergency occurs is priceless.”

View photos from the exercises below.

The scenario for one of the exercises was of a disgruntled family member of a deceased patient seeking retribution on the Emergency Center physician. A police officer dressed in normal clothes and carrying a plastic training weapon played the shooter and 25 employees from across the Texas Children’s system played either an employee, patient, or family member.

The purpose of the exercise was to test Texas Children’s emergency notification procedures, staff training for response to an active shooter (Run, Hide, Fight), and to give our law enforcement partners a chance to practice their tactical response to an active shooter in our new building.

“As nurses we enter the profession to provide care to others and in these situations there is a pivotal moment where you must place yourself first to ensure safety,” said Tarra Kerr, director of nursing for Texas Children’s Hospital Emergency Center. “This is hard to do and we must continue these training opportunities to prepare, and more importantly create an avenue to have open dialogue about these prevalent issues.”

The second exercise involved an active shooter exercise in the cafeteria and common areas of the hospital, followed by a mass casualty incident and medical surge exercise in the Emergency Center using 20 young people volunteering to be patients and dressed in Moulage or simulated injuries using special effects makeup.

According to various participants, the exercises were very successful and lessons learned will allow staff to improve Texas Children’s emergency plans for an active shooter event, improve our emergency notification processes, and improve our staff training.

“While I hope to never encounter a scenario such as an active shooter on site, this drill certainly gave me and my colleagues the skills to be prepared for and to survive this terrible and hopefully exceedingly rare event,” said Dr. Joseph Allen, medical director of Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands Emergency Center.

Each year, the Denton A. Cooley Lectureship in Surgical Innovation honors the inventiveness, originality and vision of Cooley, one of the first surgeons at Texas Children’s Hospital and an international surgical icon and pioneer. The lecture on March 24 about the science of facial transplantation was the first lecture to be held after Cooley’s death in November 2016.

The 2017 Cooley lecturer was Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, the Helen L. Kimmel Professor of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery at New York University (NYU) School of Medicine and NYU Langone Medical Center. His lecture was titled “New Face, New Beginning: Reconstruction to Transplantation” and is available online.

Rodriguez, who is a plastic surgeon and dentist, took audience members through the history of facial reconstruction emphasizing improvements in plastic surgery, microsurgery, skin grafting, and bone and tissue transfer. He also shared his experience performing two successful face transplants and what he learned about the surgical transplantation process, organ procurement, organ rejection and many other aspects of the transplant process.

In August 2015, Rodriguez led a team of physicians at NYU in performing the most extensive successful face transplant completed to date. The recipient has continued the path to an excellent recovery and has shown no signs of rejection.

This success was due, in part, by the learning experience of the first face transplant he and his team completed in March 2012 at the University of Maryland Medical Center. This patient has experienced many life-threatening rejection episodes requiring immediate intervention.

“Dr. Cooley would have been so energized by this lecture and learning about the work Dr. Rodriguez is doing,” said Dr. Charles D. Fraser, Jr., surgeon-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital. “I hope everyone who attended the lecture and views it online and is inspired to innovate in every way possible.”