May 27, 2025

Our community-focused and evidence-based upSTART programs support expectant parents and families with young children with accessible early childhood education and intervention. The mission of upSTART programs is for all families with young children in the Greater Houston area have access to the knowledge, tools, services and resources needed for their children to thrive.

On May 2, the Division of Public Health Pediatrics’ team threw an “upSTART Baby Shower” for expectant and recently delivered moms. Most mothers had never had a baby shower whether it was their first or fourth baby. 

The room was filled with joy and love. The families mingled while the team celebrated their bundles of joy. There were stations for education on things like safe sleep and car seats while others were for fun like designing onesies. Each of our team members were present for the moms and dads and kids; engaged and inviting. Some holding babies, some on the floor with toddlers.

The team pulled this together and made it look effortless thanks to the help of Diane Kaulen, Maura Dugan and Beth Van Horne. Their caring and thoughtful dedication made this event a success for the mothers of our community.

 

May 22, 2025

Thank you to everyone who submitted photos for the Hospital Week Photo Challenge. We loved seeing all the spirit, creativity and teamwork. 

Below are the winning submissions. The winners were notified via email. Congratulations!

Most TCH Spirit: Spiritual Care Team (Fruits of the Spirit) 

Best Team Photo: Quality Education and Simulation Team

Most Creative: TCH Woodlands Pathology

Thank you to each and every one of you working hard to make our hospitals a safe, welcome and healing place for our patients and their families.

How serious is whooping cough? Is whooping cough going around? How long does whooping cough last? What is the pertussis vaccine? What are the symptoms of whooping cough?

Discussing pertussis in adults, treatment for whooping cough symptoms, pertussis vaccines and more with Alyssa Kuban, MD, associate medical director at Texas Children’s Pediatrics Cypress. AMA Chief Experience Officer Todd Unger hosts.

Click here to read the story and watch the video. 

Texas Children’s Hospital has seen record numbers of patients seeking behavioral health care in our emergency centers last month. Dr. Marni Axelrad discussed how to help teens and children dealing with anxiety, depression, and other challenges.

Click here to listen. Skip to 22:37 for the interview.

If you are heading to the pool, the lake, the river or the gulf this summer, know how to keep kids and even adults safe in the water.

While 70% of drowning incidents happened in summer and 80% happened in pools, that leaves another 30% that happen at other times of the year and 20% that happen in something other than a pool: that includes bathtubs, water buckets, kiddie pools, rivers and lakes.

Infants can drown in as little as 2 inches of water, said Dr. Lisa Gaw, a pediatrician with Texas Children’s Urgent Care. “They have no head control,” she said.

Your children’s risk factors depend on their motor skills. Can they sit up and stay sitting up? “What can they do if they tilt over and are face down? Can they get back up?” Gaw asked.

Click here to read the story and learn about specific safety steps you can take.

May 19, 2025

The Texas Children’s Mobile Clinic Program (TC-MCP) began in 2000 with the donation of the Superkids Mobile Clinic (SKMC) by the Junior League of Houston. The vision for the mobile clinic was to provide uninsured families an alternative to the emergency room for healthcare. Over time, this evolved to providing free care for uninsured and underserved children from newborn to 18 years of age. What started as a dream has now cared for almost 100,000 patients at 80 different sites.

The SKMC serves primarily the southwest area of Houston. In 2006, the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Houston/Galveston, Inc. added their Ronald McDonald Care Mobile (RMCM) to the TC-MCP, serving the southeast and north areas of Houston. In 2014, with a donation from the Katz Foundation, an additional unit named the Texas Children’s Care Squad (TCCS) joined the fleet of mobile clinics. 

Serving the Community

Seeing anywhere from 7,000-11,000 patients annually, the clinic provides care to immigrant and refugee families from all over the world. The program also serves as a much-needed safety net for native Houstonians who have suddenly become uninsured. 

The mission is to provide comprehensive health care and preventive education to underserved children in the Houston area. The TC-MCP’s goals are to:

  1. Educate families about health insurance options
  2. Explain to families the advantages of establishing a permanent medical home for their children
  3. Increase immunization rates in target areas
  4. Reduce inappropriate ER use by increasing access to health care in target areas
  5. Promote health education and healthy living in the communities served
  6. Provide a learning opportunity for Baylor College of Medicine medical students and residents with a focus on addressing health care disparities.

The mobile clinics provide everything from well childcare to illness and urgent care visits to immunizations to hearing and vision screening. The clinics also work through health insurance referrals, dental and mental health referrals, and referrals to permanent and trusted medical homes.

With 13 members, including five English-Spanish bilingual Baylor College of Medicine providers, one pediatrician/medical director, two pediatricians and two nurse practitioners, the clinic offers formative educational experiences for Baylor College of Medicine medical students and pediatric resident physicians. 

The impact made by the mobile clinics is undeniable—25 years of service to our community is only the beginning.

Texas Children’s Urgent Care network includes 13 locations between Houston and Austin, employing 83 Advanced Practice Providers. Their dedication to evaluating and treating pediatric patients in a timely manner is instrumental to good outcomes and patient satisfaction. Now, thanks to the hard work of Emily Hunt, Assistant Director of Operations and Providers, TCH urgent cares are running even more smoothly.

X-Rays Make Waves

Over the last year, Emily has worked to advocate for APPs to be able to provide care within the full scope of their practice. After much collaboration with the Texas Board of Nursing and Texas Medical Board, she was able to find the necessary rules to allow APPs to take X-rays in the clinics, allowing for more streamlined and efficient care. With support from the Department of Radiology, the collaborative teams have been able to develop training and education to support this new skillset. Previously, only physicians and radiology technicians could take X-rays in the urgent care setting, creating bottlenecks for imaging services. 

The goal is for 100% of the APPs to be X-ray certified by the end of the summer. They are already about halfway to that goal, with 100% completion in Austin. Through a combination of onsite training with the X-ray machine and educational videos, each APP works on skills like positioning, the ins and outs of the X-ray machine and how it communicates with Epic. Once the training is complete and registration is filed with the Board of Nursing, the providers are ready to X-ray. This added benefit has led to an increase in both efficiency and patient satisfaction.

Our Physicians and APPs work side by side to care for our families. Whether evaluating a child with a fever, suturing a laceration, or taking an x-ray and identifying a fracture, our Advanced Practice Providers go above and beyond to provide the highest level of care to their patients and Emily wants them to be recognized for that. “I am proud to be a leader within the urgent care team and continue to advocate for the advancement of our Advanced Practice Providers,” Emily said. “Their collaboration and expertise are integral to the TCUC team efforts to ensure the highest level of quality care is provided to the patients that present to our clinics.”