During Lauren Bailey’s routine 20-week anatomy scan in October 2020, her OB/GYN noticed an abnormal growth on her placenta. It was a chorioangioma, a benign, vascular tumor. Read more
May 17, 2021
More than 100 team members in Texas Children’s Department of Pathology were recently awarded the G.J. Buffone Pathology Improvement Award for the way they responded to the COVID-19 pandemic over the last year – extending shifts, adjusting schedules and making personal sacrifices to manage significantly increased volumes of testing in the lab.
Since March 2020, Pathology has received and tested more than 183,000 samples for COVID-19 diagnostic testing alone. This includes testing of Texas Children’s patients and team members, as well as patients from other hospitals in the Houston area. It is also in addition to various other tests needed for patient management and treatment of COVID-19, which caused test volumes in some specialties to rise dramatically.
For the diagnostic testing, technicians looked at samples like nasopharyngeal swabs, nasal/nasopharyngeal washes and bronchoalveolar lavages. Labs involved in this work included Specimen Management, which receives all specimens from various collection sites; Medical Microbiology & Virology, which handles rapid COVID-19 testing; and Molecular Microbiology, which handles both routine and rapid COVID-19 testing. Additional testing labs included Chemistry for COVID-19 antibody testing, and the Microbiome Center for COVID-19 sequencing for variant surveillance.
To accommodate the increased laboratory workload, Pathology team members worked tirelessly behind the scenes, stepping up to cover extra weekends and even eschewing family and personal time to remain flexible through inconsistent shifts in schedules. In some services where staffing has had to nearly double to keep up with the pace, leaders have managed their teams while also onboarding new technologists to meet the demand.
With a mission to provide state-of-the-art diagnostic services to Texas Children’s patients and their families, Pathology is committed to providing answers to support accurate diagnoses by obtaining puzzle pieces in the form of patient samples. The team celebrated National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week from April 19-23.
For a look at our Texas Children’s lab technicians – truly among the unsung heroes in health care – at work, check out the video above.
May 14, 2021
On May 14, President and CEO Mark A. Wallace and Texas Children’s Hospital leaders, supporters and special guests celebrated the groundbreaking of our new hospital serving the Austin community.
Career Opportunities now available
We are excited to share with you that we currently have leadership opportunities available for our hospital in Austin. To learn more, search our internal job openings through the Careers page on Connect. Please stay tuned for more available positions as our new hospital gets under development.
A first look at our new hospital in North Austin
Texas Children’s Hospital is excited to reveal images of its freestanding hospital for children and women in Austin, offering the public a first look at this innovative, state-of-the-art facility. The hospital is also excited to share the address of its new hospital: 9835 North Lake Creek Parkway.
Set to open in Q1 2024, this $485 million project will bring a top tier children and women’s hospital to the city. Recently, the hospital made multiple public notices as construction and building plans continue toward an anticipated spring 2021 groundbreaking.
The renderings – created by design, architecture and engineering firm, Page – give a first look at the 365,000-square-foot, 52-bed hospital. To address the need for expanded pediatric, fetal and Ob/Gyn care in the Central Texas area, the hospital will include neonatal intensive care, pediatric intensive care, operating rooms, epilepsy monitoring, sleep center, emergency center, fetal center for advanced fetal interventions and fetal surgery with a special high risk delivery unit, state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging, acute care, an on-site Texas Children’s Urgent Care location and more than 1,200 free parking spaces.
Additionally, an adjacent 170,000-square-foot outpatient building will connect patients and families to Texas Children’s numerous subspecialties including cardiology, oncology, neurology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, rheumatology, fetal care, and dialysis, among many other subspecialties.
Texas Children’s first entry into Austin was in March 2018 with the opening of Texas Children’s Urgent Care Westgate. This location provides high-quality, efficient and affordable pediatric-focused care after hours and on weekends. Located at 4477 South Lamar Blvd., Suite 400, Texas Children’s Urgent Care is staffed by board-certified pediatricians and nurses, with facilities and equipment designed specifically to meet the needs of children and adolescents up to age 18.
Additionally, Texas Children’s Pediatrics, the nation’s largest pediatric primary care network, currently has 10 locations in Austin, which provide full-service care for children including, among other offerings, prenatal counseling; newborn and infant care; well and sick child visits; immunizations; and hearing and vision screenings; as well as camp, school and sports physicals.
In October 2018, Texas Children’s Specialty Care Austin opened bringing the hospital’s own subspecialty pediatric care to the Austin community. Located at 8611 North MoPac, Suite 300, Texas Children’s Specialty Care helps increase access for children and families in need of allergy and immunology, cardiology, clinical nutrition, diabetes and endocrinology, ophthalmology, plastic surgery, and pulmonology, among other subspecialties.
The new hospital is yet another example of Texas Children’s commitment to expand their expert pediatric and maternal care to more conveniently serve the families of Central Texas. View our photo gallery for renderings of the hospital below. For more information, please visit www.texaschildrensaustin.org.
May 13 was an exciting day for Texas Children’s, as 12 to 15-year-olds received their first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Register for a vaccine appointment through Texas Children’s. To sign up, please visit our Plus One page.
May 12, 2021
Since its launch in 2001, Texas Children’s Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) service is the medical home for children, teens and young adults with pulmonary hypertension, a rare condition characterized by high blood pressure in the lungs.
Now, the nationally recognized program has earned a designation that reflects its incredible growth and success in providing truly comprehensive, multidisciplinary and life-changing care: the Texas Children’s Hospital Pulmonary Hypertension Center.
Like other centers at Texas Children’s, the PH program submitted an intensive application to the Board of Trustees and executive leaders to demonstrate that it deserved this distinction. The packet included letters of support from partners in Fetal Surgery, Lung Transplant Services, the Specialty Pharmacy, the Vascular Anomalies Center and the Pulmonary Hypertension Association. There was also a letter from a grateful parent about how profoundly the program and providers have impacted her daughter, who was diagnosed with PH at just 8 years old.
“There was a time I wasn’t sure [she] would start high school, but here we are in her freshman year. She plays clarinet, an instrument she has to use her lungs to work. … I now feel as though I can let myself dream of her future,” Jessica Johnson wrote. “The support we have received from the Pulmonary Hypertension team at Texas Children’s Hospital has been immeasurable. I’ll never be able to thank them for what they have given us.”
Committed to comprehensive care
After winning approval to become a center in December 2020, the PH team commemorated the milestone at a special, COVID-friendly ceremony in March.
“This is more than a renaming; it’s a recognition from the hospital of the work that we’re doing and the investments they’ve made into this program,” said Dr. Nidhy Varghese, who joined the PH team in 2011 and serves as director. “To be counted among our other recognized centers and to be among that illustrious group is an honor. It’s unbelievably inspiring, and we are grateful.”
One of the first and most significant investments came in 2015, when Texas Children’s approved the hiring of a nurse coordinator position that made it possible for the PH center to manage every aspect of our patients’ care. Any situation or need a child or family encountered on their journey could be assessed and addressed from the PH clinic on an inpatient or outpatient basis – whether it was a specialty drug, personalized diet or exercise routine, mental health support or financial resource.
A multi-talented team of experts
Today, the PH team includes two nurse coordinators, as well as pulmonologists, critical care intensivists, a cardiologist and nurse practitioner, social workers, exercise specialists, a dietitian and clinical pharmacy specialists. Each member brings an expertise and perspective that helps the program reach further and do more every day, Varghese said.
The team has mastered telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, continuing to see PH patients and families who travel from across Texas, along the Gulf Coast and around the country to receive trusted care. Dedicated research projects are also scaling new heights.
“We didn’t do this work for the promise of today,” Varghese said, reflecting on how the PH program has steadily expanded into a recognized center and destination for so many patients and families seeking help for the complex condition.
“We did this work because Texas Children’s needed us,” she said. “Our patients needed us. And so we did the work and we are going to continue fulfilling that need. We’re going to continue to provide the best care possible for our patients. That’s the oath that we’ve taken as medical providers. And it’s the promise we’ve made to the PH community.”
May 11, 2021
All Texas Children’s employees, Baylor faculty members and staff partners with a Texas Children’s issued badge can send the registration link to an unlimited number of individuals (ages 12 and older) to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at Texas Children’s.
How does the Plus One Program work?
Please see below for an overview and click here for additional frequently asked questions.
The individual can be of any relation to you – e.g. your spouse, partner, parent, child, friend, etc. Participants must be willing and able to receive the vaccine in the Houston area.
As some personal information is required, your individual(s) should complete the registration form. Simply send him/her the link below to register and schedule his/her vaccine appointments.
If he/she does not have internet access or a computer, we recommend that you assist in the registration and scheduling process.
Due to limited vaccine supplies, Texas Children’s will continue to use our fair and equitable approach for administrating the vaccine by assigning registered individuals into different distribution phases based on the participant’s objective risk elements, along with the number of vaccines we have available. How quickly we go through each phase will depend on how many vaccines we receive from the state. In addition to registering with Texas Children’s, we also encourage signing up at other distribution avenues and getting vaccinated as soon as a vaccine is made available by any entity. Once registered individuals are eligible to schedule their vaccination through Texas Children’s, they will be notified via email and/or phone.
Once your team reaches a 75% vaccination rate, you’re automatically eligible to win some of the hottest electronics on the market – just like these recipients! Read more
