January 19, 2022

 

Wednesday, January 19, 2022: 3 p.m.

Cold weather expected with potential storms and frozen precipitation

Texas Children’s leadership and the Department of Organizational Resilience are closely monitoring a strong cold front with potential for frozen precipitation starting Thursday evening and lasting into Friday morning across Houston with inclement weather also expected in Austin, Beaumont and College Station.

While scattered storms and thunderstorms are expected this afternoon, the biggest concern is the possible frozen precipitation Thursday and Friday, which may lead to light ice on isolated overpasses and roadways. High temperatures in the low 40’s are expected for both days with lows in the lower 30’s.

Austin: Biggest risk is possible frozen precipitation, including light sleet/freezing rain which could start as early as 4-6 a.m. Thursday and last until midnight.

Beaumont: Similar to Houston, potential strong storms this afternoon and evening with a slight risk of freezing rain or sleet tomorrow night into Friday morning.

College Station: Biggest risk is possible frozen precipitation Thursday afternoon into the evening.

As your safety is our first priority, we advise our team members and medical staff to prepare now for the potential inclement weather.

  • Please monitor the local news and weather for traffic and safety alerts.
  • Use caution when navigating roadways and plan for additional travel time to make detours or adjust your route if necessary.
  • Please save your leader’s contact information to your phone or mobile device and check in with them on your status.
  • To sign up for emergency text message alerts, follow these instructions.

Additional emergency weather updates will be communicated as needed. Thank you for your attention and always operating safely.

Eric Allum
Administrator on Call

Dan DiPrisco
EVP on Call

January 13, 2022

This week on Mark Wallace’s blog, he honors the remarkable Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and recalls memories from his childhood that helped shape him into the man he is today. Read more

January 12, 2022

Friday, January 14, everyone on our One Amazing team will have an opportunity to help meet the growing need for blood to support health care operations across our community. The Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center is hosting a blood drive in the Feigin conference center at the Medical Center Campus. To give, please register using this link. Donations will be taken by appointment only.

Based on CDC guidance, the Blood Center implemented several safety measures to protect donors from COVID-19, including no longer accepting walk-in donors, increasing sanitization and placing donor beds 6 feet apart to maintain social distancing.

For questions or assistance, please contact Volunteer Services at 832-824-2257.

On December 30, Texas Children’s patients were transported in the comfort of their rooms to the world of Encanto! The Child Life, Patient Experience and Biomed teams collaborated to make this special movie premiere a reality. Here’s how.

The idea for the event was sparked in late summer, during Pixar Week – when all of the Pixar movies are promoted as a way for fans to connect online and relive their favorites. This special week is part of Texas Children’s partnership with Starlight and Disney to televise Disney Plus content on CCTV. The three teams’ desire for our young patients to experience the excitement around newly released movies as well as regular content got them thinking about how to make that possible.

Patient and Family Services Director Katie Kalenda Daggett worked with Disney Studios to secure permission for Texas Children’s to premiere the next new Pixar movie coming out – Encanto – on the CCTV network in patient rooms. This started the ball rolling for the three teams to put together the big event! Also, “this first-time agreement with Disney to show one of the movies for a special event in addition to bedside and in activity/playrooms is something we hope to be able to do more of in the future,” said event lead, Child Life Services Gaming Activity Coordinator Marty McMahon.

The teams were innovative on how to create a community environment where each patient would have the opportunity to “be a kid” and socialize. According to McMahon, “A ton of work went into bringing this premiere to life for patients…we made a true production of everything leading up to premiere day, with songs produced by the Music Therapy team for weekly Music group, and flyers designed and printed for day-of distribution to patients with a summary about the movie and show times.”

Premiere day featured hand-delivered Encanto-themed toys and four showings throughout the day, in patient rooms, two in English and two in Spanish, with subtitles for both.

“This was a really fun day for all, and good way to connect in a collective way,” said Child Life Services Manager Kari Lown. “It was a real perk to provide real-time Disney magic in the way of this movie so that our patients could participate in one of the latest trends and all of the excitement about Encanto at the same time as their families and everyone else in the world,” she added.

Nelson Castellon shares his experience attending Just Jackie hosted by CNO, Jackie Ward. Read more

Learn from Senior Vice President of Facilities Planning and Development Jill Pearsall, and other leaders to come, on what’s headed to Austin. Read More

In this short video, learn how varying backgrounds and experiences have shaped the lives of three of our colleagues: Cherry Nguyen-Westmoreland, Natashia Bush and Ramon Enad. Read more