August 16, 2020

Texas Children’s Hospital remains committed to supporting equality, justice, respect, and the Black Lives Matter movement. The Psychology Section’s Collaborative on Racial Equity and Inclusion for Black Youth (REI) provides resources and information, and supports our patients, colleagues, and the broader community in this important mission. One aspect of this collaborative is providing actions the Texas Children’s community can take. In the newest installment of the “Take FIVE” series, we offer suggestions on how to support Black-owned businesses as a strategy toward anti-racism and promoting equity. We encourage you to “Take FIVE” and consider carefully where you spend your money and what businesses you support. Check back often to learn more ways you take action.

Why is it important to support Black-owned businesses? Read this piece from the Amplify series on Mashable to understand the background for this important prioritization in spending habits.

Go local! Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States. Because of that, it is highly diverse and is home to many Black-owned businesses across several industries. Check out Houston Buy Black, The Houston Black Pages, and Houstonia Magazine for searchable directories of local restaurants, stores, and services that can support the Black community in and around Houston.

When you need a product that isn’t available locally, take a pause before clicking on the big box store. Prioritize shopping at Black-owned businesses across the country. Lists of such stores are abound. Here are a few places to start: Google’s new business profile features indicating Black-owned, The Strategist from New York Magazine, and Refinery 29’s list of apps & websites to locate Black-owned businesses.

Support companies that support anti-racism. Whether you are buying a COVID-19 mask, clothes, beauty items, or art, there are opportunities for your dollars to be transformed into donations to support anti-racism organizations. If you need to beat the summer heat, Ben & Jerry’s has a long-standing commitment to racial justice and dismantling white supremacy!

Make an impact on Black-out days. Following on a Civil Rights Era tradition of boycotts to take a civic stand and be heard, Black-out days are a way to impact the United States economy by withholding spending for one coordinated day. Learn more: https://money.com/what-is-blackout-day-2020/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/blackoutdaymovement/

Click here to read the previous Take FIVE post on how to access some educational tools about racism.

August 11, 2020

Thanks to Texas Children’s Hip Preservation Program, eighteen-year-old Mallory Sweeney is back to doing what she loves – dancing. Read more

Jennifer Abernathy shares how fulfilling a new hobby has helped her stay mentally grounded during COVID-19, and hopes her experience inspires other nurses to pursue fun activities to help them relax and recharge during this pandemic. Read more

August 10, 2020

Wonder and think

The following passage was written by Texas Children’s Chaplain James Denham.

You know, it occurred to me yesterday that I feel like we are in a Dr. Seuss book.  Particularly, I feel like I am living the book “Oh, The Thinks You Can Think.” In the beginning of that book, you are reading about birds and yellow and blue. Pages later, you are reading about snuvs with their gloves and bloogs blowing over black water and running into a jibboo! In the middle of the reading, you are invited to think about a day in Da Dake and a night in Na-Nupp with its three moons up.

The past few months feel similar to that. The times we are living in are unprecedented and almost unreal to be honest. A pandemic, with places shut down, travel slowed, and ubiquitous masks. I sometimes feel like I am living right there in Na-Nupp, a world I can only imagine, and it seems kind of scary. In Dr. Seuss’s book, we are led through the adventures of Peter the Postman who unenviably delivers mail to angry walruses and is forced to go left no matter what. I feel his stress. It’s as though he knows the world we are living in today. It’s as though the many thinks we can think are much more real and that some are straight from the pages of this book.

However, Dr. Seuss doesn’t suggest fear or stress.  In the face of the many thinks we have thought, we are invited to wonder and think, think and wonder as it says in the book. Maybe this world isn’t so scary after all. As I read this book to my son, I often find a sense of peace by the end.  “Oh the thinks you can think up if only you try!” Indeed.

It is as though the imagination releases the power of those fears or stresses.  To wonder and think, think and wonder, allows us to actually respond to what we see. The more I think about meeting a jibboo, the better I am at actually doing what I thought about. Imagination gives us options and possibilities.

The book also invites a different reason why we wonder and think and think and wonder.  We reframe through our imagination.  Instead of seeing a world we couldn’t have imagined like Da Dake or Na-Nupp, and feeling the what-ifs as heavy, we see the world in all its intricacies.  Instead of seeing with fear that the virus is relentless, we wonder and think about the relentless success of our medical teams in treating it more effectively. Instead of seeing with only fear about what will happen in the fall, I get to wonder and think about the quality time with my wife and son and the silliness of my dogs.  Instead of fear and stress or quarantine, I can also imagine my laughter that beft go left and the Vipper of Vipp, as I laugh about the silliness in our crazy world too.

It’s relieving that it doesn’t have to be one or the other. Reframing, like this children’s book does, does not negate the hard. It just points out the possibilities otherwise. When we wonder and think, think and wonder, there is no beauty or joy that cannot be had, even in a pandemic.  This world is still full of good, sacred, beautiful, and amazing things and people. Oh the thinks you can think up!

 

In keeping with Texas Children’s pledge to support you in every aspect of your well-being, we’ve compiled resources to help keep your families healthy and strong. This handy guide covers various topics such as parenting resources, tips for physical activity, nutrition, stress management and much more. Read More

As work life began to change for many Texas Children’s employees, the introduction of the Labor Pool system has brought new opportunities. Employees who normally serve in administrative or office roles have been able to interface with patients and families in a new way.

A whole new world

Kathleen Wood, director of Business Services with Texas Children’s Physicians Services Organization, manages the Labor Pool operation at the Medical Center. She said that although providing new insights and perspectives to employees was not an initial primary goal of the program, it has been a joy to see this emerge as an outcome.

“I understand this benefit in a very personal way,” Wood said. “In the past, while working in Revenue Cycle, I also volunteered in patient transportation at West Campus Radiology. That time spent on the front lines reaffirms the purpose of the organization and the importance of what we all do.”

Barbara Shreffler, manager of Research in the Office of Philanthropy, has spent the last two months managing several screening locations across main campus including Feigin, West Tower, Abercrombie and MPERT.

Shreffler said the work is challenging, but equally rewarding. “How else would I get to know emergency room nurses, pharmacists and other clinical professionals?,” said Shreffler, whose full-time job doesn’t require her to go into a patient care area. “I can honestly say that I have made new friends and I really do think that this experience will make me a better member of the philanthropy team.”

She went on to say that she has a reinvigorated enthusiasm to do more for Texas Children’s. “This Labor Pool role has made me more knowledgeable and more passionate about my work.”

Shreffler is not alone in how she feels. Elizabeth More, who works as a physician liaison in the Fetal Center, joined Labor Pool in April and became a team lead for screening at Legacy Tower and the Pavilion for Women.

“In my current role, I establish relationships with referring providers and their staff. My hope is that by building these trusting relationships with potential and/or referring providers, they will refer their patients to us for evaluations and interventions,” More said. “However, it is very rare that I have any interactions with the patients that they refer to us. My Labor Pool assignment has opened my eyes to see things from our families’ perspective.”

Some employees have an opportunity to work in a variety of roles. Diane Ramirez, a medical interpreter, has worked several positions for labor pool with the most recent one being as an elevator ambassador.

“This position, in particular, gave me a better sense of understanding on how the patients and their families feel nowadays when they visit our facilities,” Ramirez said. “Labor pool assignments gave me the opportunity to empathize with our visitors and take pride in our role in the community during these difficult times.

But wait…there’s more!

Some employees are not only gaining new insights but also new career skills. Kelley Hernandez, a senior coordinator in the Office of Philanthropy, began as a team lead for the screening areas in March and became a Labor Pool coordinator just last week.

“Serving in the Labor Pool has been such an incredible opportunity,” Hernandez said. “In my full-time role, I do a lot of data entry and spreadsheet manipulation. As part of Labor Pool I’ve been able to strengthen my decision making skills and critical thinking skills. No two days are alike! When I first started I was only lead over one location, and a few months after taking on this role I was covering four locations. I enjoy that every day is a new challenge and I wake up looking forward to what the day will bring.”

Labor Pool shifts are still available all across our organization. To sign up, click here.

One in four youth in the U.S. have a diagnosable mental health disorder that often is a direct response to what is happening in their lives. The COVID-19 pandemic, along with many other societal factors, have affected all of us, but for children who already suffer from anxiety or depression, the emotional impact can be severely magnified.

Many pediatricians are seeing more children and adolescents with mental health problems, and they are playing an increasingly significant role in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in young people. While numerous surveys of pediatricians indicate they feel they lack the necessary training and skill to manage their patients’ mild to moderate mental health care disorders, a new program at Texas Children’s is providing the support they need.

On May 18, Texas launched the Child Psychiatry Access Network (CPAN), a new statewide pediatric mental health initiative that Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine are partnering on for our region. This state-funded program provides pediatricians, family physicians and other health care providers direct and immediate access to a pediatric mental health specialist to help them manage their patients’ mental health care needs more effectively.

“We want our pediatricians to feel more comfortable managing the mental health care needs of their patients,” said Jennifer Evans, assistant director of the Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics and the Psychiatry Service at Texas Children’s and associate program director for the Central Operational Support Hub (COSH) for the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium that oversees the state implementation of CPAN. “Pediatricians at our TCPs and The Centers for Children and Women can collaborate directly with our CPAN team about their patient’s plan of care instead of having to refer their patient to our child psychiatry clinic where they would be placed on a lengthy waitlist.”

When a pediatrician calls the CPAN hotline (1-888-901-CPAN Monday – Friday from 8-5 excluding holidays) to reach the Baylor hub, a Texas Children’s behavioral specialist, licensed counselor or licensed clinical social worker will answer the phone. Depending on the patient’s needs, they will connect the pediatrician to a Texas Children’s psychiatrist who can provide real time consultation on various mental health issues. For instance, if there is a question about a patient’s medication, they can advise whether to adjust the medication dosage. The CPAN team can also help pediatricians develop a behavioral or safety plan for patients with depression or suicidal tendencies, and other mental health disorders. Pediatricians can also call the CPAN hotline to access educational resource materials on mental health.

“Through CPAN, our pediatricians are given the knowledge, skill, training, and support they need to address and treat mild to moderate mental illness,” said Dr. Laurel Williams, medical director for COSH and Division Head of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Division at the Menninger Department of Psychiatry. “If we can collaborate more directly with our PCPs, our psychiatry team will have greater access for youth and families that need more regular, intensive specialty care.”

Baylor College of Medicine is one of 11 centers participating in the CPAN initiative. Each Department of Psychiatry across the state of Texas has a region that they are responsible for supporting. Baylor and Texas Children’s are providing support to the seven counties in the Greater Houston area. However, there are times when our CPAN team has provided mental health consultation and training to pediatricians in other parts of the state including El Paso.

Extending our reach in the community

Along with the CPAN initiative, Texas Children’s psychiatrists also provide mental health care support to patients and children in the community in other ways. Through a 4-year grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA), our teams at Texas Children’s and Health and Human Services are able to provide more comprehensive evidence informed treatments for youth with serious mental health disorders (SMD) like bipolar and psychosis. The grant provides assistance in building infrastructure that can be maintained beyond the life of the grant through cultivating collaborations and coalitions across important teams that assist children with SMD.

“We transfer 6 to 7 kids per week to inpatient units and these are mainly bipolar patients who are having a really hard time,” Evans said. “SAMHSA has changed the dynamic of care for these patients. Instead of sending them to the hospital, we can have intensive services in the home. It’s like an intensive outpatient service in your home.”

As part of the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) program, our psychiatric team is also collaborating with various independent school districts – Houston, Spring, Conroe, Pasadena, Center for Success Charter School and Sheldon – to provide in-school behavioral telemedicine care to at-risk children and adolescents that include free comprehensive assessments and up to four clinical sessions either with a physician or a therapist.

“Through our CPAN, TCHATT and SAMHSA partnerships, our psychiatry section will be able to grow by three physicians and over 10 licensed therapists allowing our team to provide these new services without taking away from our current services,” Williams said. “In collaboration with Dr. Kirti Saxena, our interim chief of psychiatry at Texas Children’s, we have six physicians, along with our child psychiatry fellows, social work interns and trainees who will spend a portion of their time working on these programs to ensure every child gets the care they need.”