September 10, 2019

Jennifer Werner, a wound ostomy nurse at Texas Children’s, sees roughly 10 patients and their families each day at our Medical Center campus. With 11 years of wound care experience under her belt, Werner assesses, treats and develops care plans for patients with wounds, ostomy and continence conditions.

“I always put myself in my patient’s shoes and share an understanding of their anxieties,” Werner said. “Sharing my experience can help put a family at ease and help build a strong relationship in the process. After all, care for their child’s wounds should be as gentle and compassionate as care for my own.”

Before becoming a wound ostomy nurse, Werner served as a fitness director for the U.S. Navy. But it was her young daughter who inadvertently inspired her to go back to school to pursue a different career path.

“As the mother of a daughter with spina bifida, Amanda has taught me so much about surgical wounds, pressure injuries and ostomy problems, enough to grow a passion for care,” Werner said. “It has been 11 years since I made the career change and I have never looked back. This is truly a rewarding field.”

While every nurse will tend to a wound at some point in their nursing career, certified wound ostomy nurses demonstrate a higher level of knowledge, skill and expertise in this highly specialized field and often act as educators and consultants to staff nurses and other members of the health care team. Understanding the underlying etiology of wounds, this rare breed of nurses play an integral role in the healing process, and their jobs require ongoing training, lots of patience and a great deal of compassion for their patients.

From our three hospital campuses at the Medical Center, West Campus and The Woodlands, to our inpatient and outpatient clinics for pediatric and women’s health, Texas Children’s wound ostomy nurses use evidence-based practices to assess, treat and care for patients with simple to complex wounds. These include wound debridement (a process that removes dead tissue and contaminants), dressing wounds, treating and preventing pressure ulcers, and caring for patients with continence conditions and ostomies, where proper pouching techniques are necessary to improve outcomes.

In addition to providing direct patient care, our wound ostomy nurses educate patients and their families on how to care for wounds at home and how to prevent infection and further injury. Furthermore, the team also collaborates with our multidisciplinary partners on ways to enhance skin care management and prevent pressure ulcers, especially in high acuity areas of the hospital like our intensive care units.

While every patient is different, and the healing process takes time, the satisfaction of seeing a patient’s wound heal, witnessing their ability to self-manage their condition while maintaining their dignity and self-esteem – and realizing that you played a role in this – makes this nursing specialty extremely rewarding.

“In addition to working in collaboration with an amazing hospital staff, knowing that I helped my patients in some small way to improve their quality of life is what makes this job rewarding,” said MaryAnne Lewis, a wound ostomy continence nurse serving Texas Children’s community hospitals and outpatient nursing clinic in The Woodlands. It often takes a village to heal some of these complex wounds, and the incredible synergy at Texas Children’s makes it possible.”

Lewis uses her more than 30 years of wound/ostomy care experience to help ostomy patients overcome the physical and emotional burdens of their medical condition. She created a support group that offers helpful resources for these patients and opportunities to meet other families facing similar challenges.

“The support group is probably the single best thing I’ve been a part of to promote ostomy care in the past 30 years,” Lewis said. “I can apply and recommend specific pouches for patients but only someone with a similar diagnosis or situation can truly understand what the other person is going through.”

At Texas Children’s Hospital, our seven wound care nurses have over a century of combined nursing experience in wound care, ostomy and continence care with varying levels and areas of certifications.

Houston Texans Mascot TORO made a special visit to Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women Labor and Delivery Unit on August 28. While there, TORO welcomed a handful of little ones to the Texans family and offered the newest members of the Homefield Advantage Texans-branded birth certificates. The visit was a nice surprise for some of the hospital’s newest additions and was made possible by the partnership Texas Children’s has with the Texans to inspire children to lead healthier, more active lives.

Texas Children’s recently hosted the Patient Access Collaborative’s Pediatric Patient Access Symposium held on September 5 and 6. This two-day conference provides a forum for the nation’s largest and most prestigious health systems to discuss, collaborate and advance initiatives that can vastly improve patient access to ambulatory care.

Each year, industry leaders from across the country come together to share ideas on solving some of the most challenging aspects of patient access. Approximately 50 attendees representing 20 of the largest pediatric hospitals in the country convened at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women to attend this annual conference. “The Patient Access Collaborative offers us a forum – year round – to collaborate with our peers and move towards the shared goal of advancing access to care for children across the country,” shared Grace Karon, Assistant Director of Business Operations and Strategic Planning.

Highlights from the first day of the symposium included opening remarks from Texas Children’s Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Larry Hollier, who shared this video of our hospital’s patient access journey, and the incredible strides our organization has made in the last year to improve access for our patients and their families system wide. Guests also had the opportunity to tour our state-of-the-art Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower and Mission Control.

The Patient Access Symposium also included several insightful workshops and presentations on patient access-related topics including scheduling optimization, national benchmarks, and referral management, to name a few.

Discussion groups run by Texas Children’s leaders offered attendees the opportunity to transparently share barriers and lessons learned from their own access journeys.

  • Challenges of Governance, Sustainability, Leadership and Change Management in Access Journey

Trent Johnson, Assistant Vice President

Ramzey Ibrahim, Manager – Business Process Transformation

  • Patient Access Technology Opportunity: Reducing No Shows, Call Center Optimization, Patient Portals

Julie McGuire, Director – Enterprise Systems

Colleen Julien, Manager – Enterprise Systems

Martin Wortley, Assistant Director – Customer Care Contact Center

Dr. David Bank, Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs – Ambulatory Services and Network Development at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, delivered the welcome address for day two of the annual symposium. “As a result of the efforts of everyone involved in the Access initiative, Texas Children’s national reputation will become even stronger as we emerge as “THE” leader in the national effort to improve access to care for children and their families.” Dr. Bank is the founder of the Pediatric Access Collaborative and also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Patient Access Collaborative.

Day two of the symposium highlighted some of the recent milestones of two major Access initiative ventures that leveraged technology solutions to solve complex operational problems:

  • Texas Children’s Space Utilization Program

Sara Montenegro, Assistant Vice President – Texas Children’s Pediatrics

Taylor Pierce, Business Process Engineer

  • Texas Children’s Move to Online Scheduling

Diesa Samp, Director of Transplant and Ambulatory Nursing

Martin Wortley, Assistant Director – Customer Care Contact Center

Elisa Lange, Lead – Marketing Special Projects

“We are so honored to have this opportunity to host this year’s symposium at Texas Children’s Hospital,” said Texas Children’s Assistant Vice President Carrie Rys. “It was a tremendous opportunity to share our access improvement journey as well as gain valuable insight on improvement ideas from our peer network.”

Aaron Mansfield shares how a mobile end-of-treatment bell that he designed and built is helping our cancer patients and their families celebrate this memorable milestone in their cancer journey. Read more

Your name, title and department. How long have you worked here?
Donna Jackson, Senior Administrative Assistant, Texas Children’s Health Plan. I have worked at the Health Plan for two years and previous to that at Facilities Planning and Development at the Medical Center Campus for four years.

Tell us how you found out you won a super star award.
Sara Gonzalez-Quezada asked me for help with the AV equipment in the conference room. When I walked in everybody from the Executive 14th floor was there, including Mark Mullarkey and all my leaders. They yelled surprise and that’s when I found out I won a Super Star award. I was in disbelief and speechless.

What does it mean to be recognized for the hard work you do? How has the organization helped you achieve your personal and professional goals?
I was very shocked as I have been at the Health Plan for a fairly short time, compared to others who work so tirelessly every day. I am accepting this award for the entire Administration team as there are many people here at the Health Plan who deserve this award as well. My leaders have continuously shown me appreciation, flexibility and support. In turn my goal is to make their jobs easier, within my possibilities. At The Health Plan I get to work with an amazing group of people and the view from the 14th floor is the envy of many. In addition to this, the location makes for a shorter commute to work, which allows me to spend more quality time with my family.

What do you think makes someone at Texas Children’s a super star?
A super star creates opportunities to go above and beyond and provide a service reflective of the mission. At the Health Plan, we have so many super stars who work tirelessly for our Health Plan members.

What is your motivation for going above and beyond every day at work?
As an Admin everything we do is to make Leaderships’ job easier in some way. They are always very busy and work long hours, so anything that I can do to minimize their workload, by taking the initiative, being a problem solver and always having a positive attitude helps. They always let me know that I am appreciated which is nice.

What is the best thing about working at Texas Children’s?
Working at the Main Campus was my first experience in health care, so knowing that you are working for children and their families is really special. There is always something interesting going on. At the Health Plan we are all working toward the same goal for our Health Plan members. Everyone here is so dedicated to making the members’ satisfaction a success.

What does it mean to you that everyone at Texas Children’s is considered a leader? What is your leadership definition?
“We are all leaders” is something that is stressed at the Health Plan. For me personally, it enables me to be very proactive in my work and allows me to take the initiative on many projects. Because of this I am always learning new ideas and making contacts, which in turn makes me better at what I do.

The Woodlands Rewards and Retention Committee is honored to present this quarter’s Woodlands Shining Star winners. Physical and occupational therapy (PT/OT) technician Robert Cole, and Infectious Disease provider Dr. Ankhi Dutta, were honored for their hard work and dedication.

Cole was nominated by many of his co-workers and peers for embodying all of the values of Texas Children’s. He constantly makes himself available when needed, even if this means coming in early or working through lunch.

“There was a patient that had to be rescheduled multiple times and due to no other opening, the patient had to be scheduled during lunch time one week and early morning before regular appointment times the following week,” Physical Therapist Kendall Peterson, shared. “Robert offered, without hesitation, to come in to assist the therapist put a cast on the patient both weeks. He gave up his lunch and he came in early before his shift started in order to help the therapist and the family.”

Another example of Cole living the core values is his undeniable willingness to help. One day when he was headed to lunch, he noticed a family from the therapy department in the parking garage having car trouble. He spent his lunch time helping the family get their car started, and making sure their needs were met.

Cole’s helpful spirit is also spread to other employees during times when they may need to step away from the stress of work. He is the organizer and motivator for the Woodlands Therapy Department kickball team and constantly encourages new therapists to participate.

Dutta was nominated for living the values of embracing freedom, leading tirelessly, living compassionately, and amplifying unity. She is very well respected and known for going above and beyond for her patients and families.

“Dr. Dutta is the rare specialist who knows and cares for the whole patient,” Dr. Stephen Edwards said. “As a tireless leader, no matter where the patient is inpatient, outpatient, PICU, NICU, even College Station, she is readily available to offer guidance and is a light when doubts in patient care case darkness.”

She has been instrumental with helping the care team diagnose and care for patients even after they are transferred to the Medical Center Campus PICU. This is just one of the many ways that she constantly goes the extra miles for our patients and their families.

Congratulations to each of you and a huge thank you for being the shining stars that you are and going above and beyond for our patients, families, and co-workers!

Hyundai Hope On Wheels (HHOW) dedicated half a million dollars in Hyundai Young Investigator and Scholar Hope awards last week to Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers to help Texas Children’s continue its long-standing fight against pediatric cancer.

HHOW, a non-profit organization supported by Hyundai and its U.S. dealers, has committed $13.2 million to support 52 physician-researchers across the nation in their research for better treatment options and to improve care for children diagnosed with pediatric cancer.

The Hyundai Young Investigator and Scholar Hope Grants dedicated to Texas Children’s were presented on September 6 to Dr. Susan Blaney, director of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers, during a Handprint Ceremony.

The awards will support the research of Drs. Sarah Injac and Alison Bertuch. Bertuch, director of the Cancer Center’s Bone Marrow Failure Program, is studying the role of DNA repair defects in leukemia predisposition in the Ribosomopathy Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome. Injac, a Cancer Center physician-scientist, is conducting research on medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children. To read more about their work, click here.

“Research is vital to our continued fight against cancer,” Blaney said. “We appreciate the continuous support provided by Hyundai Hope On Wheels gives, which allows us to continue our efforts, without interruption, to find a cure for all pediatric cancers.”

During the ceremony, children who are battling cancer at Texas Children’s dipped their hands in paint and placed their handprints on a white 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe. Their colorful handprints on the official Hope Vehicle represent their individual and collective journeys, hopes and dreams.

“For 21 years, Hyundai and its dealers have partnered with physician scientist research teams from the top hospitals and institutions around the country in a quest to finally beat this disease,” says Scott Fink, Board Chair and Hyundai dealer owner, Hyundai of New Port Richey. “Hyundai’s contributions have helped to significantly improve childhood cancer cure rates to more than 80 percent. This is why every minute is precious and every second matters in the fight against pediatric cancer.”

HHOW remains one of the largest foundations in the nation to support medical institutions and efforts to support cutting edge pediatric cancer research. This year will reach $160 million in total lifetime funding since 1998 towards finding a cure. With this latest award, Texas Children’s has received $3.3M since 2008 from HHOW.

For more information about Hyundai Hope On Wheels and to view a list of our 2019 Hope On Wheels grant winners, please visit www.hyundaihopeonwheels.org/research.