Mili Vakharia shares the joy she experiences as a preceptor and mentor to students and advanced practice providers. Read More
Along with a select group of leaders, Ryan Breaux is poised to take on Texas Children’s expansion into Austin in early 2024. Learn more about Ryan’s story. Read More
“Commit for life” with Texas Children’s and the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center by participating in a blood drive at the Feigin Center on March 16. Check out the flyer and scan the QR code below to schedule your appointment.
Texas Children’s joins the global celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8 by saluting our women team members, and honoring the many ways you drive our mission forward – breaking boundaries and achieving milestones every step of the way.
According to the most recent demographic data, women comprise 83% of our One Amazing Team! That includes:
75% of our leadership positions,
64% of our physicians, and
34% of our Board of Trustees.
To take a closer look at how our team breaks down by multiple dimensions of diversity, check out “Texas Children’s By the Numbers” on the Learning Resources page of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) website.
#BreakTheBias
The theme for International Women’s Day 2022 is #BreakTheBias in a call for all to join the movement for a gender equal world.
Bias is defined as a positive or negative inclination towards a person, group or community that can lead to stereotyping. And whether that bias is deliberate or unconscious, it can impede progress.
As part of expanding our DEI commitment, Texas Children’s continued its inclusive leadership journey in 2021 with leaders assessing and reflecting on their own unconscious bias. This was followed by a 6-hour interactive workshop on ways to confront and challenge bias by acting with courage and creating connection.
Visit the DEI website for more resources to watch, read, listen to and explore – including a free test to help you learn and discover areas of conscious and unconscious bias in your own mind, and ways to confront and challenge that bias as we move forward into tomorrow, together.
Your turn!
Do you have a woman colleague, mentor or loved one whose social, economic, cultural or political achievements have inspired you? We’d love to hear about it. Share your story with DEI via e-mail.
Be on the lookout, Texas Children’s team members – an executive could be visiting your area soon to hear directly from you about how to build on our culture of quality, safety and experience.
In February, an initial Culture Rounds pilot took place at the Medical Center Campus on 9 West Tower (WT). This pilot proved successful and generated a wealth of feedback that led to the expansion of Culture Rounds, now including additional units and departments across the organization. The second pilot will begin on March 16.
Culture rounding is an evidence-based best practice enabling leaders to more closely engage with our employees, patients and their families while cultivating relationships and driving the prioritization of quality, safety and experience. Executives want to gather your thoughts to identify and address opportunities for improvement.
Assistant Vice Presidents Tarra Kerr and Paige Schulz are leading the effort, which aligns with the goal to listen to and learn from our team members’ voices as we build Texas Children’s tomorrow, together. In an additional show of commitment, Texas Children’s is also designating 2-3 p.m. every Wednesday as protected time for culture rounding.
“Hearing what’s on the minds of our employees and our patients can only make Texas Children’s better, and that’s our main objective in making the Executive Culture Rounds,” said Kerr. “We’ve already been able to act on feedback received in our first pilot and we look forward to hearing more every week about what we can do to make Texas Children’s an even better place to work and receive care.”
For the pilot program at 9WT, four teams rounded on the unit weekly for a total of four weeks. Each team consisted of two executives and one scribe who partnered with our team members and patient families to make a positive impact on safety, quality and experience.
For the second pilot that starts this month, 16 teams will make rounds for a total of 12 weeks, ultimately covering 32 different areas. Each team will be assigned to visit 1-2 care locations for the duration of the pilot period, which will allow for relationships to form and provide an opportunity to actively track the resolution of any identified issues.
For more information on executive culture rounds and quality, safety and patient experience, contact Quality Specialist Kandice Bledsaw via e-mail.
March 9, 2022
We’re honoring our dietitians and diet technicians on Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Day, March 9. Almost 150 of these nutrition experts work throughout Texas Children’s in hospital and ambulatory settings. They support our patients throughout their hospital journey in multiple ways including:
Supporting the specialized nutrition needs of complex patients in the ICU
Growing preterm infants in the NICU
Educating patients with diabetes
Supporting medical teams with total parental nutrition (TPN) recommendations
Contributing to the Texas Children’s Pediatric Nutrition Reference Guide
Conducting research
Speaking at national conferences
Ensuring our ambulatory patients are leading their healthiest lives
You are One Amazing Team, dietitians. Thank you for all you do to serve our patients’ nutritional health needs.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics celebrates Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Day the second Wednesday each year.
March 7, 2022
Join Texas Children’s retirement benefit provider, Fidelity, in celebrating Women’s History Month by taking a closer look at the unique financial realities of being a woman – and learning how to navigate them.
Fidelity is hosting a series of free, virtual Women Talk Money events throughout this month that focus on what women need to know to achieve their best financial futures. Life expectancy, health care costs, and career interruptions due to caregiving are all factors that acutely affect women and impact their ability to stay on track with financial goals.
In each online session, Women Talk Money participants can connect with a community of women and learn how to harness their strengths to develop smart money habits that lead to savvy investing. The marquee events scheduled for March are listed below. To register, click here.
Money Moves to Super-Charge Financial Wellness
Noon to 12:45 p.m., Tuesday, March 8
Featuring Erin Lowry of “Broke Millennials” and Farnoosh Torabi of CNET and “So Money”
Money Moves and Healthy Habits to Raise Your Investing Game
Noon to 12:45 p.m., Wednesday, March 16
Featuring Tori Dunlap of “Her First $100K”
Money Moves to Maximize Your Biggest Asset: Your Career
Noon to 12:45 p.m., Thursday, March 31
Featuring Cate Luzio of “Luminary” and Claire Wasserman of “Ladies Get Paid”
The Women Talk Money community is focused on normalizing talking about money openly and honestly, planning for gender differences that can impact women’s financial outlook, and spotlighting knowledgeable advisors who are passionate about helping women reach their retirement and other personal finance goals.
A 2022 study from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that women are more likely than men to have no personal retirement savings. Additional research from Fidelity shows that those women who do invest in their retirement plans are often not investing elsewhere, though their returns are better when they do.
At Texas Children’s, all team members are immediately eligible to begin saving for retirement with the 403(b) Savings Plan, which is administered by Fidelity. Texas Children’s matches 50% on the first 6% contributed to the retirement plan!
Additional resources offered to our team members through Texas Children’s partnership with Fidelity include:
Monthly financial webinars.
One-on-one financial coaching sessions that provide an opportunity to ask questions and create a financial plan in a private setting. To schedule a consultation, click here.
