March 23, 2020

Texas Children’s is establishing labor pools to be staffed by employees across the system who have the skills and abilities to fulfill any potential labor needs during the COVID-19 event. The following labor pool roles are available at this time:

All employees are eligible
  • Patient/visitor screener
Registered nurse and Advanced Practice Provider only
  • Employee Health support
  • Emergency Center phone support
  • Emergency Center nursing support

We are asking leaders and/or team members who have leadership approval and are interested in volunteering to follow the steps below. Prior to signing up, please speak to your leader to ensure you can be relieved of your current responsibilities without disrupting any core departmental operations.

As labor needs emerge, pool participants will be evaluated against any requirements. Team members selected to fulfill labor pool assignments will be contacted separately to confirm participation and will be provided with additional training, if applicable.

Medical Center campus

Please sign up via this link (best opened with Google Chrome) as soon as possible. A confirmation email will be sent to you and your immediate supervisor with shift details. Team members can request shifts for Emergency Center Nursing support via the COVID19 Labor Team inbox at covid19laborteam@texaschildrens.org. If you have any questions, please contact covid19laborteam@texaschildrens.org.

West Campus and The Woodlands

Team members interested in volunteering for the labor pools at West Campus or The Woodlands are to email the labor teams at their respective campus:

As we approach the end of the My Nutrition Challenge, your Texas Children’s Well-Being team wants to help our participants finish strong and make building healthier, more balanced meals a lifelong habit. In the last week of the challenge, focus on including 2 tablespoons of healthy fat with your meals.

Healthy fats do more than add flavor to our food. They can also help regulate blood sugar, decrease inflammation, increase satiety and lubricate joints.

Cigna Health Coach and Registered Dietitian Staci Tobolowsky Astrein shows us how to fatten up our meals the right way in the final video of our challenge series.

March 17, 2020

Once you submit the form, you will be notified if you are cleared for work or will be contacted directly by Employee Health for further evaluation (based on your travel history). Complete the form here.

 

Texas Children’s Apheresis Program led by Dr. Poyyapakkam Srivaths has reached a milestone with the addition of a new service, photopheresis. Photopheresis is a medical treatment that causes photoactivation of white blood cells by separating them from blood, which are then exposed to a medication called 8-methoxypsoralen followed by UVA irradiation before returning the blood to the patient.

Texas Children’s is currently using this apheresis therapy for bone marrow transplant patients who are experiencing graft-versus-host disease and lung transplant patients who are undergoing organ rejection. Photopheresis is typically used when other treatments have failed.

We are the second institution in Houston to offer photopheresis, and the only program dedicated solely to pediatric patients.

“There was a tremendous multidisciplinary effort to make this happen,” said Dr. Tina Melicoff, medical director of Texas Children’s Lung Transplant team. “We are thrilled to now offer some of our transplant patients with rejection issues another treatment option through photopheresis.”

To be able to offer the service, two photopheresis machines were purchased and a core group of dedicated nurses were trained to operate it. Clinicians expect to treat about five patients a year with each patient receiving about three sessions a week for about 10 weeks. Each session lasts around two hours.

Texas Children’s recently conducted its first photopheresis treatment on a bone marrow transplant patient. The patient is expected to receive additional treatments over the next several months.

“By offering this therapy, we are offering hope to patients who already have been through so much,” said Dr. Robert Krance,” director of Texas Children’s Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant/Stem Cell Transplant Program. “Photopheresis is a promising therapy for our patients experiencing host-versus-graft and organ rejection.”

Photopheresis is the second new extracorporeal therapy introduced in the past 20 years at Texas Children’s. The last extracorporeal therapy, Molecular Adsorbent Recirculating System, or MARS, was introduced six years ago for liver failure patients.

“MARS helped to transform our liver transplant program,” said Chief of Renal Services Dr. Michael Braun. “I am hopeful photopheresis will have a similar impact for our BMT and lung transplant patients.”

Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre shares the proactive measures we are taking to ensure the safety of our patients and care teams as we adapt and respond to the COVID-19 situation. Read more

On his blog last week, Mark Wallace shares how the evolving situation around COVID-19 proves the sturdiness of our organization as we work together with our community partners. Read more

We’ve made it past the halfway point of the My Nutrition Challenge and your Texas Children’s Well-Being team is here to support and encourage our participants to keep adding healthier food options into your day-to-day routine. This week, focus on filling one-quarter of your plate with carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates sometimes get a bad rap, but they’re an important source of energy and fiber – you just have to pick the right types and amounts.

Cigna Health Coach and Registered Dietitian Staci Tobolowsky Astrein shares more helpful insights on carbohydrates in this video.