June 1, 2020

Texas Children’s Well-Being team has launched a new series of Virtual Self-Care Sessions to help our team members focus on their own well-being, and better manage the stress that health care workers around the world are feeling during this pandemic.

Click here in to begin watching the series of short videos that explore five different self-care topics: mindfulness, deep breathing, stretching, progressive muscle relaxation and unwinding before bed. Facilitators also help viewers experience the effects of each practice by taking them through guided exercises that can be done practically anywhere, at any time.

In the Mindfulness Guided Meditation sessions, Employee Assistance Program Specialist Pilar Valenzuela Silva explains how mindfulness is the practice of actually being present in the moment – which in turn trains us to become more mindful throughout the day – and takes you through a guided meditation.

Mindfulness Guided Meditation – Part 1: https://youtu.be/Kc1bgwtl_PI
Mindfulness Guided Meditation – Part 2: https://youtu.be/ieMTWbjG-K8

Silva returns for the Deep Breathing sessions, which explain how breathing from the belly instead of the chest can induce relaxation. You’ll also have the opportunity to try out the proper deep breathing technique.

Deep Breathing – Part 1: https://youtu.be/KA0RtzmuRlM
Deep Breathing – Part 2: https://youtu.be/vhHZ97_diJ4

Relax your muscles and increase your blood flow in the Stretching sessions, where Health Coach Jackie Pacheco speaks about how stretching loosens tight muscles and leads you through some simple exercises.

Stretching – Part 1: https://youtu.be/dwchISuKIxQ
Stretching – Part 2: https://youtu.be/_rtdkEQUII4

Registered dietitian and Cigna On-Site Health Coach Staci Tobolowsky Astrein leads the Progressive Muscle Relaxation sessions, demonstrating how the practice can be used to tame stress and increase awareness of the sensations associated with tension.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation – Part 1: https://youtu.be/-S00SRQZA_A
Progressive Muscle Relaxation – Part 2: https://youtu.be/ZcLXywCEBbM

Astrein also leads the Unwinding before Bed sessions, which discuss how being mindful before bedtime can boost the quality of your sleep and help you sleep longer – while also relieving stresses during the day, and helping you fall asleep faster.

Unwinding Before Bed – Part 1: https://youtu.be/7cOZYa5LzSw
Unwinding Before Bed – Part 2: https://youtu.be/80ZF-AqlDAE

The pandemic has been a challenging time for all of us. We want you to know that you are not alone and that if you find yourself feeling stressed about the situation, there are resourses available that can help support your mental, physical and spiritual needs. If you have any questions, please contact the Well-Being Team at wellbeing@texaschildrens.org.

Texas Children’s is always looking for ways to improve the experience of our patients, families and employees during their time with our organization. We are especially sensitive to our breastfeeding moms and tube feeding parents.

To better support these groups, Texas Children’s has purchased a Mamava, which is a self-contained, mobile pod with benches, a fold-down table, an electrical outlet for plugging in a breast pump, and a door that can be locked for privacy. The 4-foot by 8-foot suite is meant for individual use, but can fit more than one person, as well as mothers with babies and other children in tow.

Named the “Baby Bistro Suite” in honor of our ongoing commitment to breastfeeding moms provided at the Baby Bistro, the pod was recently installed on the fifth floor of Wallace Tower and is now open for use. To use the pod, a visitor or employee will reserve their time using the Mamava app or request a keypad-code from guest services. Information about the suite will also be added to wayfinding signage.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer our breastfeeding moms and tube feeding parents such a comfortable, clean, distraction-free space to nourish their children,” said Nancy Hurst, director of Women’s Support Services. “I also am proud of Texas Children’s for its continued commitment and dedication to the overall well-being of these patients, family members and employees.”

Texas Children’s is the first hospital in Texas to unveil a Mamava suite at one of its facilities. Employees from several departments including, Infection Control, Facilities, Supply Chain, Contracts, Surgery, Patient Experience, Marketing and Women’s Services came together to make it happen.

The effort began more than a year ago after Patient Experience conducted some employee focus groups about ways we could improve our overall patient experience. One thing that came up was a need for more private spaces for moms to breastfeed or pump. Often times, these moms use exam rooms, which can interrupt employee workflow, or bathrooms, which are less than ideal. Other options included the Mamava.

“Our executive steering committee signed off on the idea shortly after we presented it to them, affirming that purchasing the pod was the right thing to do,” said Katie Daggett, director of Patient and Family Services. “Creating a private, peaceful space for our breastfeeding moms and tube feeding parents shows we are a family-centered organization that cares about not only our patients, but their entire family.”

Sascha Mayer, co-founder and CEO of Mamava said she is extremely excited to support breastfeeding mothers at Texas Children’s.

“We believe that all mamas deserve a clean, comfortable, and dignified place to use a breast pump or breastfeed distraction-free — anywhere, anytime,” Mayer said. “Mamava pods provide flexibility for facilities and easy access for moms.”

Mamava is an expert in lactation space design, thoughtfully designing solutions for breastfeeding moms on-the-go. With both analog and digital products, Mamava celebrates and supports the 21st century breastfeeding mama. Mamava is women-owned, made in America, and a proud member of the B Corp community. The Mamava app, free for iOS and Android, helps moms find pumping and breastfeeding friendly locations (never a bathroom!), unlocks Mamava pods through a proprietary smart technology system, and delivers useful breastfeeding content. To learn more visit mamava.com.

Since the global pandemic began three months ago, our Pathology team and collaborative partners across the Texas Children’s system continue to lead the way in diagnostic testing for COVID-19.

On April 29, Texas Children’s became the first hospital in the Texas Medical Center to launch rapid molecular testing and antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2, which has enabled the organization to provide care to patients who have delayed diagnosis or complications due to COVID-19, and those patients who may have symptoms of the multi-system inflammatory syndrome of children associated with COVID-19.

To date, over 12,000 patients across our campuses and community locations have been tested for COVID-19. Texas Children’s has also provided testing to nearly 1,000 inpatients at Harris Health System as part of our efforts to support our peer institutions in the Texas Medical Center. Today, Texas Children’s has the capacity to perform 800 COVID-19 tests per day and are rapidly approaching 1,000 tests per day.

While these numbers are impressive, Texas Children’s Pathologist-in-Chief Dr. Jim Versalovic says our measurement of progress is not solely about increased volume, but more importantly, how we apply these tests to create the greatest impact for our employees and patients, while keeping everyone safe.

“We now have an expanded menu of COVID-19 tests available,” said Versalovic. “As part of our robust surveillance testing program, we have the ability to rapidly test patients within 2-3 hours who need emergent medical procedures, surgeries and obstetrical emergencies at our three hospital campuses. Additionally, we are taking advantage of our drive-through COVID-19 testing capabilities. All of these efforts combined have made a profound impact on the quality care that we provide to our patients.”

Along with Employee Health and our Infection Control partners, Versalovic says we also have the capacity for more COVID-19 surveillance testing of our employees to ensure their health and safety.

Leveraging new technology

Coupled with the organization’s ability to provide additional COVID-19 testing options, Texas Children’s launched the Hologic Panther Platform on May 13, a new, state-of-the-art technology that has helped the organization expand its testing capacity and capabilities, accelerate turnaround times from specimen collection to results, leading to remarkable improvements in workflow efficiencies in the laboratory.

Prior to using this testing platform, the pathology team conducted 400 COVID-19 tests per day. Once the results came in, the data had to be manually inputted into the patient’s electronic medical record in Epic. Now, as test results flows into the Panther Platform system, they are automatically populated into Epic. Through the use of the Panther Platform, Texas Children’s has close to doubled its testing capacity.

“When combined with other testing options, the Panther Platform puts us well within the range of 800 to 1,000 tests per day,” said Dr. Jim Dunn, director of Medical Microbiology and Virology. “As results come off the Panther Platform machine and are electronically interfaced with Epic, the lab technologists can quickly review each result and then release it to the patient’s chart. This automated testing process has significantly improved our workflow efficiency by reducing turnaround times from 10 hours to six hours.”

In addition to leveraging this technology, cross-training technologists from other areas of the laboratory – Molecular Oncology, Cancer Genomics – has allowed Pathology to expand its daily hours of operation, which along with other factors, have helped the organization expand testing capacity and capabilities.

“Our approach to doing as much as possible for our patients, employees and staff regarding SARS-CoV2 testing has really been a collaborative team effort,” Dunn said. “We’ve been able to marshall all possible resources including both new and existing instruments, reagents, other supplies, and personnel.”

COVID-19 testing task force

Texas Children’s COVID-19 Testing Task Force has also played an instrumental role in COVID-19 testing. The task force is comprised of multi-disciplinary team members from Texas Children’s Pediatrics, Infection Control, Infectious Diseases, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Pathology, Nursing and Human Resources.

Over the past two weeks, this group has worked tirelessly to develop a prioritization schema for SARS-CoV2 PCR testing using the best available evidence and incorporating current and projected volumes. The prioritization schema identifies those patient populations – patients scheduled for an appointment or procedure and patients who are presenting for care — for whom testing is prioritized to best meet the overall goals of promoting the health and safety of our patients, their families, employees and staff.

The task force developed a process map outlining patient eligibility criteria to help providers identify patients eligible for testing either in the ambulatory setting or prior to their arrival, at one of our COVID-19 drive-through testing sites at the Medical Center Campus, West Campus and The Woodlands Campus.

“As variables change, including patient volumes and our ever increasing testing capacity, the eligibility criteria for testing will require changes in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Brent Kaziny, medical director of Emergency Management. “While there are many worthy reasons for COVID-19 testing, it is important that we continue to conserve and prioritize this limited resource. We encourage our providers to keep us informed about other populations that should be considered for testing eligibility.”

For more information about COVID-19 testing at Texas Children’s, go to the COVID-19 Communications Page on Connect where you will have access to the electronic Testing Request Form, patient eligibility criteria for COVID-19 testing, Frequently Asked Questions and a list of drive-through testing locations.

For the fifth year in a row, the OBGYN Department at The Center-Greenspoint has earned the Patient-Centered Specialty Practice designation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

The practice was the first in Texas to receive such a designation in 2013 and has continued to become re-designated every year.

“This recognition means that we are who we say we are,” said Dr. Erica Giwa, medical director of the program. “The needs of our patients is our first priority and we deliver programming that supports that. We are so honored.”

Specifically the practice was recognized for setting standards that ensure quality, implementing programs that promote quality, improving vaccination rates and much more.

The award-winning team is a multi-disciplinary one comprised of MDs, pharmacists, behavioral health specialists, care coordinators, nurses and administrative staff.

The Center for Children and Women is part of Texas Children’s Health Plan. The two Center locations are full-service clinics for Health Plan members only, with a few exceptions for members of other government-sponsored programs.

For more information about The Center visit jointhecenter.org

Need to recharge your mind and body? Try mindfulness, a practice of training your mind to focus on the present nonjudgmentally. It can help reduce stress and control anxiety.

Find a 5-minute meditation and additional stress management resources recommended by Employee Health, the Employee Assistance Program and Well-Being on the COVID-19 Resources site under “Employee Assistance.”

On his blog this week, Mark Wallace shares why we must speak up, teach our children right from wrong, lean in and have the difficult conversations. Read more

Grounded in spirituality 

The following passage was written by Texas Children’s Chaplain James Denham.

This pandemic stretches on doesn’t it?  We have been encouraged to sleep, reminded to eat, encouraged to care for ourselves, told to prioritize non screen time, and call those we care about it.  All of these things are incredibly important to us making it through a time full of endless anxiety, ambiguity, and change. There is another aspect of our coping that grounds all of this – our spirituality.  Spirituality is appropriately defined by Christina Puchalski as “the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connection to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred.”  Our spirituality reflects the people, things, and places that give value, bring joy, embody hope, and convey wonder and awe in us.  Spirituality is what gives meaning to eating, sleeping, spending time with family and friends, and even work.  As such, it is a universal human experience that could be expressed in a sense of being alive or connected or feeling something sacred or transcendent.  In short, we all are spiritual.

Carl Sagan found spirituality and science connected in the immensity of space and the wonder it brought him.  Mother Teresa’s spirituality was experienced in serving those suffering immensely and seeing God in their faces.  John Muir felt wonder and sacredness among the trees in a forest or the stunning views of Yosemite and the life that thrived among those places.  My wife feels the sacredness of life when she hears the sounds of choirs filling giant spaces with moving sounds that are filled with amazement.  One physician once described the sacredness of performing a heart surgery and participating in the healing of a child.  Wow, and wow to all of it!

During a season like this, we are pressed on all sides by anxiety.  During this season of life, our spirituality is what grounds us. It is what brings me a smile on the days I feel down. It is what brings lightness when life feels heavy. It is what brings connection in empty spaces. It restores meaning when “I don’t know” seems like a common refrain.

I am stirred by beauty and wonder. When I stand in front an ocean and watch the sun pierce the sky with its stunning brushstrokes, I feel my breath stop for a bit and find calm.  When my son and I pray together every night, I feel in tune with every parent and child across the world and with people from generations that repeated some of the same yearnings and gratitudes!

I have walked through Texas Children’s over the years and have watched many children pedaling their bikes across the bridge in a spirit of perseverance. Each time, I have been filled with more joy and awe than I could capture in any words! I have seen in our chapel a nurse pray on Ash Wednesday, a Jewish rabbi blow a shofar for a family, and a Muslim physician kneel for prayer. I have seen a mother holding her newborn baby and the sacred connection of a baby who has just opened their eyes and met their mother’s embracing gaze! I feel all of these people’s work is an extension of their faith. Every day, no matter what anxiety, hardship or struggle I come across, I have still found an experience so meaningful and beautiful that it gives me a sense of unmatched wonder and awe, and reminds me that we are connected, life is meaningful, and beauty and wonder still shine through!

Your spirituality matters.  Your spirit matters. It shapes what brings you wonder and how you hope. It shapes the way you play, the way you create, the way you love. Today, connect with your spirituality.  Do one thing you love today. Name something that is beautiful to you.  Listen to music that stirs your soul.  Pray with the compassion that connects you to others. Look up at the stars and the sky.  Play with a child whose imagination roars.  Our spirit is stronger than anything we will face this week and beyond.