January 31, 2017

2117FOXsportspregame640When 60 million people tune in to watch the professional football championship game this Sunday, Texas Children’s patients will take center stage right before the on-the-field action during FOX Sports’ pregame show.

The segment highlighting Texas Children’s will focus on a very special football-themed party with Houston Texans defensive end, Devon Still. The party, held in December, was a treat for Cancer Center patients and their families. Devon’s daughter, Leah, who is now in remission following a battle with neuroblastoma, also joined the football-themed fun. The group, gathered at the Cancer Center, played football with Devon, made jewelry with Leah and received signed copies of the book  “I am Leah Strong.” The pair also spent time talking with patients in their rooms.

As the father of a child who battled cancer, Devon shares a unique perspective with the families. He offered words of encouragement and let the families know they are not alone in their fight, encouraging words for which one mother was especially grateful.

“We had the honor and privilege of meeting Leah [and Devon] tonight at Texas Children’s, and we also met more fighters and parents of cancer patients,” she said. “Once again, I am deeply moved, and my emotions rise to see the grave and harsh realities of childhood cancer. Being back on the ninth floor is the most humbling experience. I continually pray for a cure for all cancer.”

To watch the segment tune in to FOX this Sunday, February 5 beginning at 1 p.m.

2117meyermarketinside640Texas Children’s employees have a new place to grab breakfast, lunch, a snack, coffee or even a bite for dinner. The Meyer Market on the first floor of the Meyer Building opened January 24 and offers hundreds of fresh food options in a retail space built just for you.

Managed by Canteen, one of the nation’s leading vending machine service companies, the new noshing nook is a self-checkout market stocked with a full range of merchandise, including snacks, beverages, fresh and frozen food, ice cream and coffee from well-known venders such as Panera Bread, My Fit Foods, Hint Water and Oh Snap! pickling company.

Stored on racks and in coolers, the market’s merchandise can be purchased at a cashier-free kiosk similar to a self-checkout line at a grocery store. You can buy items with a credit or debit card, or you can set up a personal account, which gives you access to the payment system via your thumbprint, account card, mobile phone or user name. Click here to set up an account.

The Meyer Market is accessible with badge access from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. The extended hours were put into place to accommodate our workforce of professionals with varying schedules.

“We are very excited to offer this new, innovative and healthy eating option to Texas Children’s,” said Senior Vice President Tabitha Rice. “We hope everyone enjoys the wide variety of merchandise at The Meyer Market and the extended hours of service.”

For more information about Canteen and the type of market that recently opened in the Meyer Building, click here.

2117heartmarathoninside640When Jack Guyre was born, he was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot, which changes the normal flow of blood through the heart. Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles Fraser Jr. repaired the defect when Jack was 9 months old. Following a relatively healthy childhood combined with monitoring by Texas Children’s cardiologists, Dr. Henri Justino placed a stent via catheter in Jack’s heart in 2014.

Jack, now 12, isn’t restricted in his activity, and he is not on any medication. He visits Texas Children’s once a year for a check-up and enjoys playing competitive soccer. With the approval of his cardiologist, Dr. Daniel Penny, Texas Children’s cardiology chief, Jack set out to accomplish a bucket list goal – completing the 2017 Aramco Houston Half Marathon.

On January 15, in a sea thousands, Jack crossed the finish line alongside his mom and dad with an impressive time of 2:44:25. Though he will likely need to undergo heart surgery again in the future, his parents and doctors couldn’t be prouder.

“Jack has overcome challenges that none of us, thankfully, have had to face,” Penny said. “And he’s come through those with great spirit and determination.”

Click here to watch Channel 11 KHOU’s story about Jack’s extraordinary accomplishment.

2117crititicalcare640The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) held its 46th Annual Congress on January 21 to 25 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The SCCM is the largest and best attended annual meeting of the specialty of critical care.

This year, the Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital’s section of Critical Care Medicine had an outstanding presence at the meeting with 28 presentations from our faculty and fellows. Highlights from our section included Junior Faculty members Barbara-Jo Achuff and Tessy Thomas, who received Star Research awards. Other highlights included research snapshot presentations from Intensive Care Unit (ICU) fellows Dalia Bashir, Nirica Borges, Melanie Kitagawa, Erin Kritz, Sonia Labarinas, Andrea Ontaneda and Chinu Onyearugbulem, and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit nurse Jenny Tcharmtchi.

“This has been a fantastic year for us at the SCCM,” said Texas Children’s Chief of Critical Care Dr. Lara Shekerdemian. “We are so proud of our ICU team for representing our section and Texas Children’s Hospital and for all that they are doing to advance the field.”

2117DrGreeley175Dr. Christopher Greeley, chief of the new section of Public Health Pediatrics at Texas Children’s, has been awarded a 2017 Texas Medical Center Health Policy Institute grant from the TMC Foundation to study the medical and mental health care needs of children in foster care in Texas.

As part of this multi-center study in collaboration with Texas Children’s Chief Quality Officer Dr. Angelo Giardino, Greeley and his colleagues will perform a systematic review of the current knowledge of medical and mental health implications to children in foster care and identify the obstacles and successes these children have in receiving medical and mental care in Greater Houston. Following an analysis of this data, the team will develop national policy and practice recommendations to ensure children within the foster care system in Texas receive high quality medical and mental health care.

Children from representative sites across Greater Houston will be recruited for this study. These include children currently in foster care from the CPS clinic and community and Texas Children’s clinical sites as well as those children who have aged out or transitioned out of the foster care system. In addition to recruiting from these clinical sites, Greeley and his team will collaborate with community organizations that work with foster children to arrange focus group interviews of children and adolescents. Semi-structured interviews will also be conducted with current and past foster parents, and medical and mental health providers who provide care to foster children across Greater Houston.

“Our study will provide insight on what gaps currently exist in data regarding children in foster care, both at the level of clinical care and more broadly, for payers and policy makers,” said Greeley, the study’s principal investigator. “Our findings will help influence clinical policies regarding the implementation of care models for children in foster care and refine CPS policies so that services can better align with the needs of this population. Also, by providing data on the mental health care needs of this population, we hope our work will help improve Texas Medicaid reimbursement rates to enhance access to care.”

Besides Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine, other institutions participating in this study include researchers from the University of Texas at Houston and Rice University.

12517hearthealthy640There are several numbers we all know by heart: our phone numbers, dates of birth, debit and credit card PINs, and social security numbers. But do you know the most critical numbers for your heart health? That knowledge could save your life.

The Employee Medical Clinic will help you learn that information if you don’t already know if by offering heart education and blood pressure checks at no cost to employees. We encourage you to come and learn the most critical numbers in your life.

Date: Friday, February 3
Time: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Main Campus location: Pavilion for Women, Fresh Bistro (entrance)
West Campus location: DOTS Kitchen (corridor)

In celebration of Go Red for Women, employees are encouraged to wear red on this day to raise awareness for heart disease.

Complimentary Heart Healthy Sweet
Texas Children’s is partnering with Morrison Chefs to offer heart healthy meal options in celebration of Go Red for Women. With the purchase of a heart healthy meal you will receive a complimentary heart healthy sweet* during lunchtime at the Pavilion for Women Fresh Bistro and West Campus DOTS Kitchen.

Healthy Heart Program
Year-round, the Employee Medical Clinic offers a Healthy Heart Program at no cost for employees. The program features three individual sessions with a registered dietitian who will work with you to improve your blood pressure and/or cholesterol through healthy lifestyle modifications including nutrition, physical activity, stress management and blood pressure monitoring. Click here to learn more.

For more information about the Healthy Heart Program or to make an appointment, please call ext. 4-2424.
*Free heart healthy sweet with purchase, while supplies last, to Texas Children’s badge holders wearing red.

January 27, 2017

12717emmansuperbowl640Although this year’s Super Bowl is more than a week away, the festivities that will bring droves of people to the Houston area have begun. Multiple events across the city are scheduled throughout the week and will culminate with the big game on Sunday, February 5 at NRG Stadium.

Overall, the Houston Visitor’s Center predicts nearly 1 million people will visit the Houston area during the week leading up to the Super Bowl. This influx of people will affect traffic and will require heightened security measures.

To prepare for this large event, Texas Children’s is committed to maintaining a high level of preparedness so that we are ready to adequately respond in the event of an emergency.

Training

Over the past few months Texas Children’s employees have conducted a large scale, multi-agency Mass Casualty Incident exercise, decontamination exercises at Main and West campuses, and created and tested a Family Reception Center Plan in anticipation of the upcoming big game.

Incident Command

Further, throughout Super Bowl week, we have set up the rooms where our Incident Command and Operations Command Centers operate out of so that they we are prepared to respond quickly and efficiently should any threats materialize.

Increased staffing

To support our preparedness efforts, many teams including Emergency Center Nursing, Patient and Family Services and the Kangaroo Crew have special staffing plans in place over the game day weekend. Other teams have created special on-call rotations of team members specifically prepared to respond over Super Bowl weekend.

Parking

The upcoming Super Bowl events scheduled throughout the next week are expected to increase traffic congestion and parking demand throughout the city as well as in the Texas Medical Center. Please allow additional travel time for your commute to and from work during this time. Also, please park in your assigned location to ensure adequate parking is available in our visitor garages for our patients, families and visitors.

Texas Children’s will work with Texas Medical Center to limit parking access in our visitor garages to hospital patients, families, visitors, and after-hours employees.

  • Pavilion for Women after-hours employees can continue to park in the PFW/Garage 21 as usual.
  • There will be an access change for the non-Pavilion employees who use Clinical Care/Garage 16 for after-hours weekend parking for Super Bowl weekend only.  These employees will be allowed to enter the garage from Friday, February 3, at 6 p.m. through Monday, February 6, at 2 a.m. (Current after-hours programming restricts entrance after 4 p.m. on Sundays.)
  • All after-hours employees should exit the visitor garages by no later than 8 a.m. on Monday to ensure parking is available for our patients and families.
  • After-hours employees also have the option to park in Garage 19, the Meyer North and Meyer South lots and ride the rail to campus.
  • During the week before the event Texas Children’s Hospital Shuttle Services may experience some delays due to the increased traffic in the area. The Texas Children’s Hospital Shuttle Services will be following its normal schedule and will not operate.
Emergency Notification System

Please ensure you have updated your personal contact information in MOLI so that you receive all emergency notifications. Click here for detailed instructions on how to sign up and here to learn more about how to respond to a notification when you receive one.

General safety

Because there will be more people in the Houston area, particularly around the Medical Center and downtown, there is a possibility that there will be more people coming to and from our Main Campus buildings. Therefore, we all need to be mindful of surroundings and report anything out of the ordinary to our security team at ext. 4-5400.

Texas Children’s maintains a high level of emergency preparedness at all times, but as you can see extra steps are planned next week to increase our level of preparedness in response to the scope and scale of the event.

If you have any questions, please contact Emergency Management at ext. 4-1237.