November 10, 2020

As of November 9, 70.8% of our team members are vaccinated against the flu. Additional vaccination events are available across the organization, with some events taking place at or nearby employee screening locations. Read more

 

“Every time our nurse, Teresa, comes into the room, she always makes sure we are comfortable,” wrote a Texas Children’s patient family. “I’ve cried to her about our circumstances many times, and she comforted me. I believe she goes above and beyond her duties to make sure our time here is as nice as possible.”

This heartfelt note shared by a mother of a 9-month-old patient who was treated for an extensive brain injury at Texas Children’s shows how important it is to keep the patient family’s experience at the forefront of everything we do. A small gesture can go a long way to show just how much we care for our patients.

Every day at Texas Children’s, employees like Teresa Gomez make a positive difference. Whether for our patients or colleagues, these small acts of kindness often determine the experience we create. Gomez’s kindness not only made the stressful time less difficult for the family, but her selfless actions also caught the attention of her team members who shared her story on a Caught You Caring card.

Launched in 2015, Caught You Caring is a system wide program that allows patients, families and staff, to recognize employees who have gone above and beyond their role to provide compassion and kindness to another person. This could be in the care of a patient, service to a family or in support of a coworker.

Gomez, and six other Caught You Caring Award recipients, were recognized this year. In lieu of a formal ceremony due to COVID-19, Patient and Care Services coordinated surprise reveals for each of the winners that included a trophy and certificate presentation in the presence of their leadership teams.

Here are this year’s Caught You Caring Award winners:

  • Patricia Bratcher, Team Leader/PPCT – Specimen Management, The Woodlands. Pat is a genuine leader. Her colleagues say she always has a smile on her face and a hug for her patients if they need it. She takes the time to truly listen and consistently helps her patients, and their caregivers alike, feel at ease. A patient family described Pat in this way: “Miss Pat was the phlebotomist who took my child’s blood. She was so patient and made sure my nervous daughter was comfortable. She not only made us laugh but she also built up my daughter and boosted her esteem. We walked away from a stressful situation feeling better than we did when we arrived.”
  • Toni Davis, Lead ASR – West Campus Sleep Lab. Toni genuinely cares for people and she exemplifies that every day. If a patient, a family or a co-worker is in need, she takes the initiative to lend a helping hand. For example, when a family from out of town arrived the day before their child’s sleep study, the patient had a medical concern that needed immediate physician follow-up. The WC Sleep Lab physicians were not in clinic that day and the family was very anxious to see a physician. After making several phone calls, Toni was able to get their child evaluated by a physician at the Medical Center Campus on the same day and the family was very grateful.
  • Amanda Feilke, PA Surgical Hospitalist, The Woodlands. Amanda is a dependable and strong leader, a valuable clinical reference for her APP peers, and an advocate for her patients. A colleague recalls a time when Amanda spent countless times providing support and reassurance to a family whose child had spent several months in the NICU. During her days off, Amanda would come to the NICU to check up on her patient and the family. The consistent presence and reliable source of knowledge served as a stabilizing force for this family who had experienced a lot of chaos and uncertainty. Furthermore, Amanda arranged for a professional photographer to take pictures with the family and their baby that they ended up using for holiday greeting cards.
  • Teresa Gomez, Staff Nurse, 10 West Tower. Teresa places her patients, their families, and co-workers first in everything she does. Following discharge earlier in the week, a child’s g-tube had been accidentally dislodged and the patient’s parent was unable to reach anyone in clinic over the weekend. Teresa wasn’t charging at the time, but was quick to come to the charge nurse’s aide, volunteering to speak with the parents over the phone. She calmly coached them through the process. The family was especially grateful for Teresa’s patience with them and her willingness to pause from caring for her other patients on the unit to assist this patient family and nurse.
  • Susan Hardy-Croskey, MFM Clinical Nurse Coordinator, Medical Center Campus. As a member of the Nursing Retention Council, Susan strives to make working at Texas Children’s the best it can be. She ensures her team is providing the safest care to patients, and she makes sure to educate her patients as much as possible on the importance of prenatal care and follow up. We recently had a patient with many needs who had issues with transportation. Susan continuously checked on her via MyChart and phone when the patient could not make it to TCH due to distance. Susan helped her find assistance closer to home, and the patient was forever grateful.
  • Analisa Luedtke, Spanish Interpreter, Medical Center Campus. Analisa is professional, thorough and positive in her interactions with families, faculty and staff in the ICU, where children face complex diagnoses, medical issues and/or end-of-life issues. Her colleagues describe her as a model of politeness, calmness and grace, and no matter how busy she is caring for other patients and their families, she welcomes opportunities to help her colleagues in the most challenging situations. For example, when a patient in the PICU was nearing end-of-life and the family needed an interpreter, Analisa enthusiastically volunteered to help the family even though she was not assigned to the PICU that day. A colleague wrote, “I have always found Ms. Luedtke to be a wonderful partner to help me work with families. I am honored to call her my colleague.”
  • Steven Zack Wirt, Therapy Supervisor, PM&R. Steven demonstrates what it means to be a tireless leader. In times of high stress or difficult situations in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit (IRU), Steven is problem focused and solution driven. He provides positive and constructive feedback with equal caring and compassion. When a patient with a severe brain injury was admitted to the IRU, Steven, with the medical team’s support, determined new therapeutic techniques were needed for this patient. Without his leadership, recognition of a need, and development of a solution, the outcome for this patient would not have been as positive.
Caught You Caring: How to submit nominations

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

“Keeping the Caught you Caring program top of mind is an important part of our recognition efforts and strengthening morale across the organization,” said Saraben Turner, senior project manager for Patient and Family Services. “We are always looking for new ways to shine the light on this program, because every day is a day to celebrate our employees for going above and beyond for our patients.”

If you’d like to nominate a colleague for this award, click here to access the submission form.

There is the last week for 2021 Annual Enrollment. Please take a moment to explore our 2021 benefits offerings and make your elections safely and conveniently online at www.texaschildrensbenefits.org by midnight, Tuesday, November 17.

Thank you for participating in Annual Enrollment.

November 3, 2020

Following a global communication last week about the need to stay vigilant in the face of rising large-scale and coordinated ransomware attacks targeting health care systems across the country, Texas Children’s continues to closely monitor this significant threat. To keep our team members further informed, below is a brief Q&A on what is taking place, how it could potentially impact Texas Children’s and what you can do to help.

What is ransomware?
Ransomware locks a computer system to prevent the owner or organization from accessing data until they pay a ransom. If a ransomware attack were to impact Texas Children’s, it could potentially have significant impacts across our digital systems, including PeopleSoft, EPIC, Microsoft Office (i.e., email, Teams, OneDrive, etc.), and more.

What do we know about this latest ransomware attack?
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a warning about a significant, “imminent and credible” ransomware threat to hospitals and health care providers being perpetrated by cybercriminals based in Eastern Europe, including one called UNC 1878. The threat appears to involve a combination of phishing, Trickbot malware and Ryuk ransomware, which were recently deployed against dozens of health care organizations, including Universal Health Services.

What is being done nationwide at this time?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and DHS issued bulletins about this threat on October 29. The FBI and the DHS-Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have also issued a Joint Cybersecurity Advisory report. To learn more, click here.

What is being done at Texas Children’s?
The federal government has recommended that hospitals and health care providers implement the necessary security measures as soon as possible, and Texas Children’s is working diligently to do just that. Additionally, given that our response may escalate quickly in the event of an attack, we have asked our senior leaders to review their business continuity plans with their teams to ensure we are prepared for any potential network disruptions. Although our Information Services (IS) team has worked diligently to keep Texas Children’s secure during these types of malicious attacks, every employee shares a responsibility to protect our digital environment.

What can you do to help?
Help protect Texas Children’s by heightening your awareness of external emails from unknown senders, and by carefully considering before clicking on website links and opening email attachments. In particular, pay close attention to any unusual email that engages you to click over to a file sharing site, such as Google Drive. Putting this vigilance into practice in the workplace could also help you avoid potential phishing scams and ransomware attacks sent to your own personal email.

What do I do if I receive a suspicious email?
While there are several ways ransomware can be transmitted across an organization, the most common is email, where an employee may be deceived into clicking a link or opening an attachment from a fraudulent account. If you receive a suspicious message, refrain from opening the email or any attachments, and do not click any links. Simply delete the message from your inbox and notify IS Security by emailing isservicedesk@texaschildrens.org.

If you have any questions about information security or phishing, please call the IS Service Desk at 832-824-3512.

How do I sign up for emergency alerts through Everbridge?

In the event that Texas Children’s is impacted by a ransomware attack, our IS team may be required to shut down all or parts of our network, including email. Should this happen, Everbridge emergency text messaging would serve as a primary means of communicating with our workforce.

If you are not currently receiving emergency text communications from Everbridge, please sign up for alerts by following the instructions below:

  • For TCH employees: Add your mobile phone number to your profile in MOLI to begin receiving these messages. Upon logging in to MOLI, simply click on “Personal Information” and then “Phone Numbers.” From there, you will see an area to add your mobile phone.
  • For BCM employees: To opt-in for emergency text messages, please click here and then log in with your username and password. From there, you will be prompted to submit a mobile phone number.

After more than 34 years of service, CNO Mary Jo Andre shares a bittersweet announcement about her retirement, and how this transition will be an opportunity to build on the sturdy foundation that our nurses have created. Read more

November 2, 2020

Even at an organization as high performing as ours, it’s important that we remember to uphold compliance and ethical standards in everything we do. That’s why the celebration of Compliance and Ethics Week is so important. All week long, compliance officers across the organization will be available to answer questions about the work they do to ensure that we meet federal and state regulatory requirements.

“This week is so important to help raise awareness and to help promote a culture of compliance within the organization,” said Devona Williams, Director of Controls and Compliance at Texas Children’s Health Plan. “I think we do extremely well. However, we do have room for improvement in educating team members about what Compliance does, the importance of it and the potential consequences for non-compliance.”

Tessy Carpenter, Interim Director of Compliance & Privacy, reminds the organization that compliance is everyone’s responsibility at Texas Children’s. “It forms the foundation for the ethical environment we want to create and maintain, and supports our workforce members’ daily efforts to act with integrity.”

Reminders about compliance

Compliance and Ethics team members ensure that we meet federal and regulatory requirements. This week they remind us that:

  • We are all responsible for compliance.
  • Compliance professionals are not the police. They are our partners in protecting the organization.
  • Compliance does not make the rules. They ensure that the organization is compliant with applicable Federal and State regulatory requirements.

There are 7 elements to an effective Compliance program:

  • Designation of a compliance officer and compliance committee
  • Implementation of written policies, procedures and standards of conduct
  • Internal monitoring and auditing
  • Training and education
  • Enforcement and publicized disciplinary guidelines
  • Prompt response to offenses, with corrective action and reporting
  • Effective lines of communication
Texas Children’s Compliance Leadership

A big thank you to the men and women who lead our One Amazing Team in this area. We celebrate you – and your teams – this week.

Lance Lightfoot
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
TCH Compliance and Privacy Officer

Melissa Murrah
TCHP Chief Risk Officer
Vice President, Risk, Audit, Compliance, Privacy & Organizational Resilience

Tessy Carpenter
TCH Interim Director, Compliance & Privacy Office

Devona J. Williams
TCHP Director, Controls and Compliance

For more information about the Compliance and Privacy Office visit this Connect site. View the Texas Children’s code of ethical behavior for additional ethics guidance.

Halloween came early for several patients, their families and employees at Texas Children’s. While the COVID-19 pandemic changed this year’s Halloween celebrations, Child Life teams at our three hospital campuses organized several spooktacular activities while keeping safety and social distance in mind.

At Texas Children’s Medical Center Campus, the festivities began on October 10 in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where our hospital’s tiniest patients celebrated their first Halloween dressed up in costumes that ranged from lady bugs, butterflies and fruit, to super heroes and Disney characters.

Texas Children’s NICU Child Life and Music Therapy team organized the Halloween celebrations with support from the Newborn Center Social Work team and NICU leadership. Due to COVID-19, this year’s celebrations were organized differently to maintain social distancing. Instead of hosting costume decorating parties where parents gathered in a room to make their babies’ costumes, kits were distributed to families so they could make their own Halloween costumes individually.

“We provided materials to create felt layover costumes so that all NICU patients, no matter their medical needs, could participate,” said Child Life Specialist Teaghan Robinson. “Several families used the kits to create costumes for their babies, while other families purchased their own costumes for the occasion. Since the hospital environment can be a difficult place for NICU patients and their families, our team wanted to normalize their experience as they celebrated their baby’s first Halloween.”

For siblings who were unable to visit their newborn brother or sister in the NICU due to hospital visitation restrictions, the NICU Child Life and Music Therapy Team provided Halloween themed picture frame decoration kits for parents to take home with them so their children could also join in on the fun.

Video: Halloween highlights at Texas Children’s

The Halloween festivities didn’t stop there. There were plenty of other Spooktacular events in October:

Child Life Zone Halloween Party: Spirit of Halloween donated costumes to patients and their families for this special occasion. Activities included pumpkin painting, witches slime making, a photo booth, and games. Patients from each floor came up to the Child Life Zone on their designated day to allow for social distancing. Staff from other departments volunteered the event and dressed up in their Halloween best.

Reverse Trick or Treating: Complete with music, games, a photo booth, and COVID-19 friendly trick or treating, a decorated cart filled with Halloween goodies made its way to each patient floor in West Tower. Patients, dressed up in their costumes as they waited eagerly in their room to trick or treat with staff.

Halloween at West Campus: Patients received Disney-themed bags filled with fun activities based on the individual’s age/developmental level. These bags included stuffed animals, Halloween/Autumn coloring or sticker activities, Disney pen and journal, Disney playing cards and books to read.

Halloween at The Woodlands: The Woodlands Campus celebrated Fall Fun Day where staff handed out over 400 bags of fall themed toys and activities to our inpatients and outpatients. Inpatients were able to participate in socially distanced pumpkin painting. The NICU patients were also able to have their First Halloween pumpkin pictures by the Child Life team with the support of First Memories Texas equipment and supplies. The bags and items were generously donated by community partners including: Clariant Oil Services, Junior League of The Woodlands, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. The Woodlands Fire Department, Klein Cain Mu Alpha Theta, Modern Woodmen of America, National Charity League – Woodlands Chapter, Chick-Fil-A College Park and 501st Legion – South Texas Squad of Star Garrison.

View the photo gallery to get a glimpse of the fun everyone had at these unforgettable events.