June 17, 2019

Dr. Huda Zoghbi, world-renowned neuroscientist and director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, was recently honored for her groundbreaking contributions in pediatrics, neuroscience and genetic research by the BrightFocus® Foundation and by the American Pediatric Society (APS).

The BrightFocus Foundation presented Zoghbi with the Pioneer in Genetics award at their An Evening of BrightFocus gala in Washington, D.C. that brought together more than 350 guests from the scientific, philanthropic, private and public sectors. The award recognized Zoghbi’s collaborative cross-species genetic studies that could one day lead to actionable therapies for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

BrightFocus funds research activities worldwide aimed at ending Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration and glaucoma, and provides resources – including research updates, facts and data, inspiring stories and advice from recognized experts – for those affected by these life-altering diseases.

In an interview with event host, MSNBC anchor Richard Lui, Zoghbi discussed how the research that’s being done on rare diseases could potentially translate to more common illnesses.

“We work on rare diseases and try to find treatments for them, but what I’ve learned is that many of the principles that we apply to the study of rare diseases can be applied to more common disorders using a similar strategy,” she said. “Eventually, we hope that the headway we make on these rare disorders could lead to treatments for millions in the long term.”

At the annual Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting, Zoghbi was named the 2019 Norman J. Siegel New Member Outstanding Science Award recipient by the American Pediatrics Society (APS), the oldest and most prestigious academic pediatric organization in North America. The award is presented each year to one new APS member for their considerable contribution to the advancement of pediatric science.

The PAS Meeting is the leading event for academic pediatric and child health research, and brings together thousands of pediatricians, researchers, academics and health care providers from around the world, and unites them in the mission to improve the health and well-being of children.

The APS is dedicated to the advancement of child health through the promotion of pediatric research, recognition of achievement and cultivation of excellence through advocacy, scholarship, education and leadership development. Admittance into the APS is via nomination. Members are recognized as academic leaders in pediatrics, and they continue to contribute to the overall progress of child health while inspiring the next generation of child health professionals.

Texas Children’s and academic partner Baylor College of Medicine were proud to have several faculty and staff inducted into the APS this year.

These included:
Dr. Carla Davis, chief of Immunology, Allergy and Rheumatology
Dr. Heidi Schwarzwald, chief medical officer of Pediatrics for Texas Children’s Health Plan
Dr. Jesus Vallejo, medical director of Texas Children’s International Patient Services
Dr. Kristy Murray, vice-chair for Research in the Section of Pediatrics at Baylor

Every day there is a different task and work space, but the quality of Kristi White’s patient care in always the same; extraordinary. As the charge respiratory therapist, White assumes the responsibility of assisting almost everyone whether it is relieving people for breaks, setting up equipment, or attending meetings. Despite the many busy days, she says that being successful is all about remaining confident and encouraging.

“It’s a positive and happy environment here. Even on their worst days, the kids don’t think of the negative things,” White said. Since the children are already so positive, we have to remain that way as well to keep the energy up.”

White is the epitome of positivity as she continues to be dedicated to making sure her patients and co-workers keep a smile on their faces as the head of the Respiratory Department’s Morale Committee. She is also a forward thinker and takes initiative when it comes to advancing a patient’s recovery.

“Kristi steps out of her role as a respiratory therapist all the time,” Respiratory Care Supervisor Lindsey Franks said. “She goes above and beyond for not only the people in our department, but for our patients as well. She is an amazing knowledgeable charge therapist who is always willing to go the extra mile.”

Franks recalled a time when Kristi first started at West Campus and had a patient who was on a home continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mask. She was very concerned that the child was outgrowing the mask and knew it was something that needed to be accessed.

“Kristi took time out of her busy day to call the home health company, give them the patient’s name, serial number of mask, and inform them that the patient needs a mask refitting as soon as possible,” Franks said. “She is more than deserving of the Caught You Caring Award because to me, it is all about the little things.”

White’s innate ability to automatically adhere to the needs of patients regardless of what it is makes her stand out from others. She has no problem jumping into a full body Disney character costume to please a patient, or even come in early or stay late just to finish a project for the kids. She says that thinking outside of the box is such a regular action for her that she didn’t expect to be acknowledged for it, especially this time around.

“I actually laughed and I said, who nominated me for this?” White said amusingly. “I didn’t believe it, because in my mind I just do regular things that a pediatric respiratory therapist would do. However, that is the nature of this department, there is always a surprise and I am very appreciative of this particular one. The possibilities, opportunities, and experiences are endless here at Texas Children’s.”

In 2018, The Walt Disney Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger announced that Disney will dedicate more than $100 million to bring comfort to children and their families in hospitals across the globe, beginning right here at Texas Children’s. Learn more by visiting our 2018 virtual Annual Report.

Although great strides have been made in the battle against pediatric cancer, some children still do not survive. When this occurs, Texas Children’s does its best to envelop families with love, support and knowledge on how they can cope with such a profound loss.

One such program offered to bereaved families by Texas Children’s Cancer Center is the Retreat for Renewal. The weekend retreat is held at Camp for All in Burton, TX and features fun activities, as well as therapeutic breakout sessions for reflection and expression.

“Retreat for Renewal is a safe space where families can express their feelings and meet other people who are going through similar situations,” said Nicolle Bengtson, a Child Life Specialist involved in the program. “The experience really allows these families to bond and open up about their individual experiences.”

Funded by the Cancer Center and generous donors, Retreat for Renewal has been offered for almost a decade. However, the retreat primarily served English speaking families. This year Retiro de Renovación had its inaugural year. This retreat was created for Spanish speaking families.

Attended by eight families, Retiro de Renovación was held in March and included a combination of fun camp activities, and therapeutic breakout sessions. Bengtson and Child Life Specialist Alyssa DeMoss organized the retreat after experiencing the continued success of the Retreat of Renewal and identifying an unmet need for additional emotional support for the Cancer Center’s bereaved Spanish speaking families, in the language that felt the most comforting to them.

“We are excited to offer even more families this level of bereavement support,” DeMoss said. “It was really beautiful to see the parents and siblings at the retreat connect, and watch as the families created a new and meaningful support network.”

Many of the families expressed how much the retreat meant to them in written comments. One family wrote that it was nice to be able to share their stories with other families going through the same thing. Another family mentioned meeting others who were going through a similar situation made them feel less alone.

“It was nice to take time to remember our loved ones,” the family member said.

The Spanish-speaking retreat – Retiro de Renovaciόn – was funded by the Texas 4000 for Cancer cycling team, which rode 4,000-plus miles from Austin, TX to Anchorage, Alaska, in an effort to raise money for cancer-related programs and efforts.

The group donated $25,000 of their proceeds to Texas Children’s for the Retiro de Renovación. The Cancer Center is grateful for the donation and hopes to be able to hold future Spanish-speaking retreats.

June 11, 2019

Texas Children’s entered FY19 with a renewed focus on improving operational effectiveness and maintaining our financial excellence, goals that allow us to continue developing, expanding and reinvesting in our mission to provide the very best care for our patients and families.

Our recent credit ratings from the nation’s top three credit agencies are proof we’re accomplishing those goals.

The agencies – Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch – have once again affirmed Texas Children’s high credit ratings (Aa2, AA and AA respectively), as well as a stable financial outlook. It is the 23rd straight year Texas Children’s has maintained outstanding credit ratings.

“This is fantastic news and it speaks volumes about Texas Children’s,” said President and CEO Mark Wallace. “The agencies’ ratings are certainly a reflection of our consistently strong financial performance, but their analysis goes beyond just the numbers. They also noted our world-class medical staff, our seasoned management team, and our successful expansion efforts, including the completion of the Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower and our growth in Austin. We should all be very proud of this achievement.”

Each year, the agencies analyze financial, operational and strategic data to determine our ratings, which can be compared to a company’s stock price or a person’s credit score. A great rating for Texas Children’s means that we are a financially sturdy organization that can easily meet our financial commitments, which leads to job security for each and every employee.

All three agencies cited Texas Children’s track record of clinical excellence, robust research programs, exceptional reputation, outstanding fundraising capabilities and strong financial position as key reasons for the ratings.

More Texas Children’s Pediatrics patients over the age of 18 will have the opportunity for a smooth shift to adult care as the Transition Medicine program expands to include seven locations: Corinthian Pointe, East, Gulfgate, Gulfton, Kingsland, Palm Center, and Ripley House.

Transition Medicine is the process of educating, organizing and eventually transferring patient care from the pediatric to the adult health care system. During this time the patient and their parent are informed of various ways to optimize the patient’s health moving forward. Texas Children’s is dedicated to helping patients transfer care smoothly without a decline or break in their treatment.

In 2016 Dr. Cynthia Peacock, medical director of Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine’s Transition Medicine Clinic, was awarded the “Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Program” 5-year grant from the Health Services Research Administration to increase transition readiness at Texas Children’s Pediatrics.

“I wrote the grant to help the Texas Children’s practices because lots of the referrals within the Texas Children’s family were struggling in the community to find someone to take care of them,” Peacock said. “This was especially prevalent amongst children and youth with special health care needs.”

The grant provides funding that also serves as an incentive to encourage clinics to become involved in the program and begin developing their own transition medicine process by educating their staff and providers.

“As we are providing care for an increasing number of complex care patients, our need to have a well-defined system for transitioning care to adult providers who are capable of continuing to provide the care these patients and their families need has never been greater,” Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Texas Children’s Pediatrics and Texas Children’s Urgent Care, Dr. Stan Spinner said. “Our partnership with Dr. Peacock is providing us with the education and the tools necessary to help ensure a successful transition for our patients and their families.”

Upon receiving the grant, Dr. Rebecca Laster was selected as the physician leader to work with the clinics and help them identify specific tools that they could use to promote transition readiness and transfer. Her experience as a physician in the community clinics sparked her desire to want to assist these patients during this transition.

“I always think back to a time when one of my patients had a really hard time transitioning to adult medicine. That made me want to learn more about the process so I could better assist them,” Laster said. “Although, we have a lot of patients who’d like to stay with us forever, sometimes that’s not appropriate because we’re not trained in adult care. Therefore, I have the transition conversation with every single one of my patients so they know how important it is to eventually find an adult physician, and if they can start the process of thinking about it early on then everybody’s prepared.”

Many young adults between the ages of 18 to 21 transition their care to adult providers when they leave for college or enter the workforce. But for those with complex chronic pediatric diseases, transitioning is a struggle filled with barriers and challenges that include patient maturity, psychosocial and family needs, coordination and reimbursement issues, and identification of adult providers able to care for unique patient populations.

“Coordination of care is essential to avoiding gaps in care and adverse health outcomes for our patients. This is especially true with our vulnerable populations who have multiple chronic illnesses and complex health and social needs,” Nurse Care Coordinator of Texas Children’s Pediatrics, Pam Brock said. “We help provide support and guidance to our patient/families in navigating this process and by making sure all needs are met prior to transition. This helps to ensure a smooth transfer and avoids disruptions in their care. This program has increased overall fund of knowledge surrounding transition and continues to help improve the transition process for our patient/families.”

Jimmy Garcia is a 20-year-old patient at the Texas Children’s Pediatrics Ripley House location and has recently transitioned to adult care at The Transition Medicine Clinic at Baylor College of Medicine (BMC). Garcia has a global developmental delay, cerebral palsy, scoliosis, an intellectual delay, and is also non-verbal and non-mobile. He has been a patient at Texas Children’s since he was only a few months old, and is one of the many patients who benefit from the Transition Medicine program as they get older. His mother, Cynthia Garcia says that she didn’t know what to expect during the transitioning process, and is thankful for the assistance that their physician provided.

“I still wanted him to continue to see Dr. Wright,” Garcia said. “She was such a great pediatrician to him and our family, and Jimmy just feels so comfortable with her. However, everyone in the office was very positive during the process and prepared and helped us to be comfortable with accepting that Jimmy was eventually going to leave them.”

Texas Children’s academic partnership with BCM allows for an effortless transition for our patients. The goal of the BMC clinic is to prevent urgent health care crisis and to minimize the impact of a shrinking social support network that these patients and families have come to rely on in the pediatric health care system. According to Garcia, transitioning into adult care was just as easy as transferring out of the pediatric system. Their pediatrician, along with the Garcia’s social worker were very instrumental in assisting with paperwork and other aspects of the process.

“When it came time to schedule Jimmy’s first appointment, it was so smooth and easy,” Garcia said. “Our first visit to the transition clinic was also amazing. It was a joy seeing everyone so accepting of Jimmy. When we go to the doctor now, he knows the clinic, and he recognizes the environment. Jimmy is non-verbal so he doesn’t exactly express his words or anything, but the smiles, his reactions, those are things that let us know he’s comfortable and he’s aware of his surroundings. He’s doing really well!”

The program began with two clinics during the pilot year and grew through the third year. While currently in its fourth year of the grant, the goal is to identify additional clinics that are willing to participate. At the beginning of the process, clinics sign a memorandum of understanding, then identify the activities they would like to implement and goals they want to achieve to help with addressing transition.

Patients like Garcia represent the hard work that the transition medicine team has put forth, and the success of the program as a whole allows for more practices to be added and even more patients to be helped. Identifying patients who will need help transitioning in the future is key.

“Transition is not an event, it’s a process,” Peacock said. “You can’t drop someone off at the curb. It’s really about making sure that they engage.”

Engaging with the teenager and parent to make sure they have a plan, looking into insurance options, knowing what the next steps will be in advance helps to facilitate the transfer more efficiently. All seven participating practices have done this and more as they recently met their goals for the 2018 grant cycle and are looking forward to celebrating their continued success.

“Texas Children’s Pediatrics is excited to have many locations become a part of the Transition Medicine Program,” President of Texas Children’s Pediatrics, Kay Tittle said. “The goal is that this success continues on past the length of the grant, more practices are added, and we to continue to address transition effectively.”

These clinics are provided with an array of resources in the form of trainings, Epic tools, and supports for developing their own transition initiatives. If you work with TCP and are interested in learning more about Transition Medicine and how you can help support these efforts, please reach out to Pam Brock, RN pmbrock@texaschildrens.org, or Dr. Rebecca Laster, rblaster@texaschildrens.org.

June 10, 2019

Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women has been designated a level IV maternal care facility, the highest level of care available. The designation was finalized late last week and followed a rigorous site visit conducted by the EMS/Trauma Systems Office of the Texas Department of State Health Services. A level IV maternal care facility provides comprehensive care for pregnant and postpartum patients, from those with low-risk conditions up to and including the most complex medical, surgical and/or obstetrical conditions that present a high-risk of maternal morbidity or mortality.

“This designation certifies that we offer the highest level of care for the most complex obstetric patients,” said Dr. Christina Davidson, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and chief quality officer at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. “It speaks to the expertise of our clinical teams and the processes we have in place to ensure high-quality care and the positive outcomes we strive for.”

With the overall goal of reducing infant and maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States, the designation comes as the result of legislation passed in 2013 requiring Texas to establish and implement neonatal and maternal level of care designations by March 1, 2018. The intent of the legislation is to ensure both neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and maternal care facilities have the resources and expertise to provide high-quality, specialized patient care that leads to the best outcomes for mothers and babies.

Texas is one of the first states requiring maternal care facilities undergo a site visit to verify the level of care provided to patients meets the Maternal Levels of Care classifications as defined in the Texas Administrative Code. Completing the designation process is a requirement to receive Medicaid reimbursement for obstetrical care by August 31, 2020.

“This designation is the fruit of the work we perform daily. It is recognition by the Department of State Health Services of Texas Children’s commitment and investment to maternal health,” said Dr. Nan Ybarra, director of nursing for inpatient services at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. “With over 6,200 deliveries annually, we are committed to serving women in our community and partnering with community hospitals to strengthen their maternal care processes and programs – our singular goal is to improve outcomes for pregnant women across Texas and beyond.”

Texas Children’s announced in January it opened one of the nation’s few intensive care units dedicated solely to obstetrical critical care. It is the only four-bed maternal ICU in the country staffed 24/7 by both pulmonary critical care and maternal-fetal care teams embedded in a hospital’s labor and delivery unit. This maternal ICU offers a specialized, private space for high-risk expectant and postpartum mothers with conditions such as sepsis, peripartum bleeding, placenta accreta, maternal heart disease and other serious conditions.

The hospital also has a nationally known placenta accreta spectrum program, where a team of experts provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary care for women with this potentially life-threatening pregnancy complication that occurs in approximately 1 in 1,000 to 2,000 pregnancies.

Additionally, in 2017, Texas Children’s obstetrics service partnered with the hospital’s Kangaroo Crew to create the Maternal Transport Service, further bolstering its reputation as a primary referral site for patients with high-risk pregnancies. The team, consisting of a Kangaroo Crew nurse, labor and delivery nurse, respiratory therapist, and EMT, can provide specialty care to mothers while enroute to the Pavilion for Women, helping the hospital’s community partners transport their sickest patients for the most optimal outcomes for mothers and babies.

“It’s crucial for women, especially those experiencing a high-risk pregnancy, to be educated about the level of obstetrical care available in the facility in which they plan to deliver,” said Dr. Michael Belfort, obstetrician/gynecologist-in-chief at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women.