November 7, 2018

Over the past several weeks, the Corporate Communications team has had Houston Texans-related giveaways to promote leadership challenges on Mark Wallace’s blog and to highlight the Caught You Caring patient experience program. If you’ve missed out on previous chances to win Texans football game tickets, here’s one more shot.

We want to connect with you on our employee Instagram channel. Our @oneamazingteam Instagram feed is where we share news for and about Texas Children’s employees. This week, we’re giving away our last three pairs of Texans football game tickets to our @oneamazingteam Instagram followers and commenters. Here’s how you could win:

1. Follow our Instagram page @oneamazingteam.
2. Like the “question of the day” post.
3. Comment with your best response.

There will be a different question every day this week, and you are welcome to comment on every single post! Next week, the Corporate Communications team will randomly select three of our @oneamazingteam Instagram followers from the comments to receive a pair of Texans tickets to the December 9 football game against the Indianapolis Colts. Winners also will receive two tickets to the Houston Texans Churrascos Club located inside the Houston Methodist Training Center. Make sure you check your inbox for a direct message from us letting you know if you are a winner.

To qualify, you must be a Texas Children’s employee at the time of the event. So make sure you follow us, and comment. Every comment is another entry into the drawing.

Click here to view our Instagram page.

November 6, 2018

On Friday, November 9, Texas Children’s will celebrate the legacy of Dr. William T. Shearer, an internationally respected leader, clinician, investigator and mentor in pediatric immunology and HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Shearer was the founder and former chief of the Allergy and Immunology Service at Texas Children’s Hospital and served as a leader of this section for 34 years. Shearer also served as a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine for 40 years.

Shearer is recognized as a legend in the field of allergy and immunology. One of the things he is best known for was providing innovative care to Texas Children’s most famous patient – David “The Bubble Boy” Vetter – which led to numerous revolutionary immunologic discoveries.

In memory of Shearer’s life and notable accomplishments, employees and staff are invited to attend a memorial service this Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the first-floor conference room at Feigin Tower.

The ceremony will include several tributes from Shearer’s colleagues at Texas Children’s and Baylor, including remarks from Carol Ann Demaret, the mother of David Vetter. A special video tribute also will be presented to honor the late Shearer who passed away last month at the age of 81. After the memorial service, there will be a reception and tour of the William T. Shearer Center for Human Immunobiology at Feigin Tower.

Click here for more details on the memorial service.

Please note: The Feigin driveway will be closed to traffic during the memorial service. Employees are encouraged to use the second-floor bridge to access Feigin Tower.

A team of Texas Children’s surgeons, anesthesiologists and perioperative staff recently traveled to Malawi and Uganda to provide surgical care for children with cancer and congenital anomalies as part of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers’ Global HOPE program. This was one of the first coordinated trips under the new Division of Global Surgery.

Dr. Jed Nuchtern, chief of Global Surgery, Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria, pediatric surgeon and Trauma medical director, Dr. Titi Aina, pediatric anesthesiologist, and operating room nurse Anita Hadley worked alongside local surgical teams to provide much-needed surgical care for area children, many of whom had been waiting months for experienced doctors and nurses who could treat their conditions. The team helped complete more than 30 operations, including 10 nephrectomies for Wilm’s tumor, the most common form of pediatric kidney cancer, effectively providing a cure for these children.

“I am so proud to be able to share the talents of our surgical teams by going abroad,” said Nuchtern. “Not only are we able to treat these children who are in great need of surgery, but we are also able to educate the doctors and surgical teams from these countries. The collaborative efforts of Surgery, Anesthesia and the Cancer Center continue, as future trips have already been planned, and we will add to our traveling surgical teams as the Division of Global Surgery grows.”

The Division of Global Surgery, created this past August, expands Texas Children’s ability to help children and women across the globe in low-resource countries and offers pediatric surgery education by providing hands-on instruction and necessary supplies. To build capacity, preliminary Global Surgery efforts are focused on surgical care for pediatric cancer patients and leverage resources, infrastructure and successful global medical programs already in place in sub-Saharan. These include Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) Network, Global HOPE and existing efforts by Texas Children’s Department of Ob/Gyn. Long-term goals for the division include a surgical facility for women and children in Lilongwe, Malawi; expansion of care capacity in Central America; and, ultimately, recognition for Texas Children’s as a leader in global surgical outreach.

This year, fall festivals and Halloween events across the Texas Children’s system were bigger, better and spookier than ever.

The festivities began on October 24 with West Campus’ annual Fall Festival. In the first floor lobby, patients and their families were welcomed by enthusiastic Child Life specialists, along with volunteers who led various games and arts and craft activities.

Watch the video and view the photo gallery below to get a glimpse of the fun everyone had at these unforgettable events.


“We really loved seeing how much all of the patients enjoyed the event,” Child Life Specialist Jessica Felder said. “It was very evident that the volunteers enjoyed seeing the excitement on the children’s faces. It was really a rewarding feeling knowing that we planned an event that touched the hearts of so many individuals.”

Several businesses and community groups including Chick-fil-A, Wood Group, Gymboree, Gym Station, and the Katy Police and Fire Department, participated by setting up games such as bowling, bean bag throwing and guess the fall spice, as well as a museum-style display of Making a Mark artwork.

On October 31, hundreds of tiny witches, ghouls, fairies, super heroes, princesses and more turned out for a fiendishly good time along the Auxiliary and Miracle Bridges for the 2018 Halloween Celebration at Texas Children’s main campus.

The haunted hullabaloo was a party of monstrous proportions, as dozens of amazing Texas Children’s employees from across all departments, service lines and divisions lined the walkways to make Halloween special for our patients and their families. They went all out with unbelievable costumes, decorations and booths with fun activities, such as pumpkin painting and dinosaur dancing, and plenty of games, prizes and candy.

Attendance at the second Fall Festival at our campus in The Woodlands surpassed the previous two years. Texas Children’s newest campus brought together over 400 patients, family members and people from the community, as well as representatives from several corporate sponsors, including Clariant Oil Services, Microsoft The Woodlands, Junior League The Woodlands, The Woodlands Fire Department, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Insurance, PurePoint Financial, Soccer Shots, and Aon, as well as characters from “Performing with a Purpose.”

Kids and their families had plenty of activities to keep them entertained, like bowling, beanbag tosses, arts and crafts, music, and various foods and candy. Spirit of Halloween costume store was also present to provide costumes to kids who didn’t have one. The Fall Festival committee presented a plaque to the vendors, thanking them for being a part of the festival. The event ended with employees from Language Services and Guest Services winning a very competitive employee costume contest.

Other entities across the system also had their own celebrations. In conjunction with the One Step Closer Foundation and Texas Children’s Social Work Department, Texas Children’s Complex Care Clinic hosted the first annual Complex Care Costume Party. This event was created to provide the clinic’s medically complex patients an opportunity to celebrate the fall season in a festive and familiar environment. Patients and their siblings played games, participated in art projects and danced to a DJ!

Also, the babies in the level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at The Woodlands campus got a surprise Halloween visit from “Batman”, while dressed up in costumes, some of which were made by Texas Children’s Child Life team for its tiniest patients. Families had the opportunity to have their photos taken with their child and Batman (a longtime Texas Children’s Hospital volunteer) at the bedside by FirstMemories Texas, who made the special visit possible. FirstMemories Texas is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to teaching families whose infants are in the NICU and CVICU at Texas Children’s Hospital how to celebrate, honor and tell their children’s stories through photography and album making.

“We really love giving patients and their families a fun event to participate in every year. Having these special fall events provides the medical staff an opportunity to interact with children strictly for joy and entertainment,” Child Life Specialist Hannah Early said. “This is just as enjoyable for the staff as it is for the families that participate. Getting the chance to watch our patients just be kids is so wonderful.”

As part of National Genetic Counselor Awareness Day on November 8, Texas Children’s recognizes the crucial role our genetic counselors play every day for our patients and their families. In fact, genetic counselor was named one of the “25 Amazing Healthcare Support Jobs” and one of the “100 Best Jobs” in 2017 by U.S. News and World Report.

The demand for genetic counselors continues to grow with the increase in our understanding of the genetic contributions to disease. As a liaison between the physician and patient, genetic counselors are an important part of the health care team. Specially trained in the areas of basic science, medical genetics, psychology and epidemiology, genetic counselors work closely with our physicians from various pediatric subspecialties to evaluate a family’s risk of an inherited medical condition, decide what genetic tests to order, and interpret and use the test results to provide guidance to patients and their families. With over 30 genetic counselors at Texas Children’s alone spread across many subspecialties, genetic counselors play a unique role that illustrates the importance of genetics in all areas of medicine.

“Since genetics is a very fast-paced and rapidly evolving field, we have to stay up to date with current genetic research and testing to provide patients with the most accurate information and best care possible,” said Andi Lewis, a Texas Children’s pediatric genetic counselor in the general genetics, neurofibromatosis, and cardiovascular genetics clinics.

Genetic counseling can be a very time-intensive process with a new patient appointment typically ranging from 45 to 60 minutes. Much preparation occurs prior to the appointment, which involves gathering a patient’s medical records and history, drawing the family tree or pedigree, and researching various possible diagnoses and recommendations for genetic testing options for the family.

Whether delivering good or difficult news to patients and their families, empowering them with the knowledge to make an informed decision lies at the heart of genetic counseling.

“With genetics being a growing component of many other subspecialties, there is a huge demand for genetic counselors to work within all areas of medicine so that we can help our patients and families understand the potential impact that genetics can play in their lives while supporting them throughout the process,” said Pilar Magoulas, pediatric genetic counselor at Texas Children’s and chief of the Division of Genetic Counseling at Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics.

Texas is proud to have over 100 genetic counselors with nearly 40 genetic counselors at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine alone. There are 37 genetic counseling graduate training programs across the United States and Canada. Baylor and the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics along with the School of Health Professions developed a genetic counseling training program and enrolled its first class of 8 students this fall.

For more information about Texas Children’s genetic counselors, click here. For more information on the genetic counseling profession, click here. For more information about the genetic counseling training program, click here.

October 29, 2018

Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus recently received their largest book donation to date. The Cypress area of the Goddard Schools donated 15,000 books to the hospital library.

The Goddard Schools are a well-known early childhood education institutional system that uses the most current, academically endorsed teaching methods to ensure that the students enjoy learning while simultaneously receiving the skills they need for long-term success in school and in life.

“I work in the Child Life Department and we want to be able to use any resources and tools that can bring relaxation, or just a sense of normalcy to patients and families when they are in the hospital,” Library Coordinator, Brian Ballard said. “The Goddard Schools are preparing children all the time with knowledge, so they understand that something as small as donating these books can relieve stress, and be a useful distraction for patients while they are in the hospital or just visiting a doctor’s office.”

Since the donation is such a large amount, the books will be dispersed throughout the organization. The Medical Center Campus, West Campus, and the Woodlands Campus all have libraries that offers books, board games, puzzles and movies for patients and their families to enjoy. The library also houses medical and parenting resources, paperback fiction, magazines, foreign language books, computers and a fax machine.

The hospital libraries are monumental to our Child Life Department. Texas Children’s has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the Houston Pi Beta Phi alumnae organization and shares a mutual commitment to literacy and education. The first Pi Beta Phi Patient/Family Library opened in 1984 at Texas Children’s Hospital, and in 2011, the Pi Beta Phi Patient/Family Library opened at the West Campus.

The library has also expanded to include Book Nooks, to provide books for patients and families in waiting rooms across the Texas Children’s Hospital system.

The importance of the library, for Ballard, goes back to his childhood as he remembers what it is like to be in and out of a children’s hospital.

“I don’t remember it feeling like I was in the hospital, I remember the activity rooms and the things that were going on in the hospital,” Ballard said. “So hopefully the library or these Book Nooks are going to be instilled in these patients as well, and they remember Texas Children’s Hospital as a positive experience, and the library as a large part of providing that to them and their families.”

Currently, there are more than 150 Pi Beta Phi Book Nooks located at Texas Children’s medical center campus, the West Campus, Texas Children’s Health Centers, Texas Children’s Urgent Care facilities, the Centers for Children and Women and in all the Texas Children’s Pediatrics practices throughout the Houston area.

Click here to learn more about Texas Children’s Hospital’s library. To donate, contact Brian Ballard at bsballar@texaschildrens.org.

This year, we have an amazing and comprehensive benefits line-up with many of your favorite oldies, as well as new and upcoming acts. Select the benefits that rock for you and your family!

Stay in Tune

Be sure to visit the Texas Children’s Benefits website, your 24/7 backstage pass to all of the latest benefits options, including rates and much more.

Stop by and jam with our Benefits band members at one of our many Annual Enrollment tour stops throughout Texas Children’s campuses, beginning Monday, October 29. Don’t miss the:

Benefits & Well-Being Concert
Tuesday, October 30
7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Pavilion for Women, Floor 4

Meet and Greet – The Woodlands
Wednesday, October 31
1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Main Lobby

Meet and Greet – West Campus
Friday, November 2
10 a.m. to noon
Floor 1 Corridor

For additional personalized support, take advantage of Cigna One Guide®, a 24/7 concierge service center dedicated to Texas Children’s employees at 800-342-6664.

If you do not make any elections during Annual Enrollment, you will be enrolled based on last year’s elections, with the exception of FSAs. To participate in either the Healthcare or Dependent Care FSA in 2019, you must make an election during Annual Enrollment.
Please note, benefits changes after Annual Enrollment are not permitted under federal regulations, except for life events and job status changes. Otherwise, the next opportunity for you to change your benefits elections is the 2020 Annual Enrollment.

Stay up-to-date on important benefits reminders and activities all year by texting “TCHBenefits” to 88202. Standard carrier message and data rates may apply.

Thank you for participating in Annual Enrollment!