March 22, 2016

32316RudolphAwards640Melissa Carbajal (center), program director, congratulates Dr. John Hoover (left) and Dr. Tiffany Stafford (right), the 21st annual Arnold J. Rudolph Memorial Grand Rounds award recipients. The award recognizes third-year fellows in neonatal-perinatal medicine for outstanding teaching, patient care, scientific inquiry and professional integrity.

March 15, 2016

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Ryley Hoffman is considered somewhat of a miracle. The 17-year-old found herself in the fight for her life back in October 2015 after being run over by a pickup truck as she watched planes near George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

“At first, I just felt something go over me but I wasn’t sure what was happening and then I realized it,” said Ryley Hoffman during an interview with ABC-13. “I don’t remember too much after that except for being scared.”

After being rushed to a nearby emergency room, Ryley was transferred to Texas Children’s Hospital because of the severity of her injuries, which included a lacerated liver and kidney, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung.

Ryley spent 74 straight days at Texas Children’s enduring 10 surgeries, several stays in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and intense rehabilitation sessions. A total of 24 different services were involved in her care.

Now, Ryley is doing outpatient rehabilitation and continues to meet with the hospital’s trauma team for follow-up visits. She is expected to make a full recovery.

“Every single service here has touched Ryley in some way because of her injuries,” said Cassandra Mueller, one of several physician assistants who cared for the teenager. “Everyone – including Ryley – worked hard to make her recovery a success.”

Mueller’s colleague, physician assistant Brian Whitaker, agreed and called Ryley a fighter and an absolute joy to work with.

“Seeing how far Ryley has come justifies everything we do,” Whitaker said. “She could hardly walk when she came in here and now she’s moving around easily.”

Ryley’s mother, Robin Hoffman, said everyone involved in her daughter’s care was amazingly dedicated, attentive and professional.

“You can’t find the level of care she received anywhere except for Texas Children’s Hospital,” Hoffman said. “We became so accustomed to the hospital we feel it’s our home away from home.”

Surgeon-in-Chief Charles D. Fraser Jr. said Ryley’s situation is a perfect example of the multidisciplinary approach we take at Texas Children’s each and every day.

“Our team is committed to working together to treat the whole child, not just an injury or condition,” he said.

Watch the full ABC-13 interview with Ryley here.

Read a blog written by Ryley here.

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From the implementation of eco-friendly programs to reduce medical waste, enhance energy conservation and promote recycling practices, environmental sustainability at Texas Children’s touches all areas of operations within the hospital.

As the nation celebrates Earth Day next month, Texas Children’s Green Team is doing its part to reduce our organization’s environmental footprint. Over the last year, the Green Team has successfully engaged employees and staff around several collaborative initiatives to help Texas Children’s go green.

Below is a brief summary of some of these Green Team accomplishments:

Reduce medical waste – The conversion to reusable sharps containers at Main and West campuses in 2015 reduced medical waste by 15 percent. Since making the switch, the hospital has saved approximately 80,000 pounds of waste annually. Texas Children’s was spending $250,000 annually on traditional sharps containers plus disposal fees and now it expects to save $150,000 each year. The goal for 2016 is to reduce regulated medical waste by another 10 to 20 percent.

Maximize recycling – The Green Team installed more than 100 recycling bins at Main and West campuses in January 2016. Since the program’s implementation, 21,000 pounds of recyclable materials have been collected. These include aluminum cans, cardboard, non-confidential office paper, plastic bottles, newspapers, magazines and phone books. This year’s goals include standardizing office supplies to include more recycled options, optimizing the use of the toner recycle program and bolstering cardboard recycling education.

Save energy and reduce costs – Texas Children’s has reduced energy consumption by implementing a number of equipment upgrades while continually working with staff to build a culture of energy conservation system-wide.

  • Installed LED lamps in all Pavilion for Women elevators
  • Replaced 5,500 50-watt spot lamps with 7-watt LED lamps to reduce energy
  • Reduced chilled water consumption for A/C use by 20 percent to optimize better temperature control throughout the buildings
  • Reduced steam consumption by 25 percent by adjusting the heating water temperatures from 180 degrees Fahrenheit to 130 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Turned off bridge lights when enough natural light is coming through
  • Used the building automation system to turn off lighting and HVAC for unoccupied areas
  • Renegotiated electricity contract resulting in a cost savings of $670,000
  • Texas Children’s has saved more than $10 million in energy costs since 2008

Green transportation – In 2015, the Green Team unveiled Texas Children’s fleet of 12 shuttle buses equipped with an environmentally-friendly fueling system. Instead of using diesel, all shuttles are fueled by propane. Switching to this much cleaner-burning gas reduced our carbon footprint by 70 percent and makes Texas Children’s the first hospital in the Texas Medical Center to offer completely green-friendly shuttle service.

Save the date – Texas Children’s Earth Day Celebration

On Friday, April 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Green Team will host two celebrations on Earth Day – one on The Auxiliary Bridge at Main Campus and one at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus.

Dozens of vendors will be available to provide eco-friendly, cost-saving tips to employees including how to become more energy efficient, tips on eating green, as well as ways to reduce waste and recycle more.

Two tree planting events are slated for Earth Day. West Campus President Chanda Cashen Chacón and Vice President Matt Schaefer will plant a tree at West Campus and Executive Vice President John Nickens will plant one at Main Campus thanks to the generous donations from Trees for Houston.

Stay tuned to Connect for more details about Texas Children’s Earth Day celebrations. Also, if you’d like to reach out to the Green Team with your green ideas, email teamgreen@texaschildrens.org.

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As Texas Children’s continues to expand our facilities and services to advance health care for children and women around the world, it is of the utmost importance for us to identify, recruit, engage and retain the best talent. To keep up with this expansive growth, Talent Acquisition is launching national recruitment strategies and investing in new and advanced technology. On Monday, April 18, Texas Children’s will be going live with a new applicant tracking system (ATS).

“These are exciting times for Texas Children’s as we are in the midst of unprecedented growth for the organization,” said Matt Perkins, assistant vice president of Talent Acquisition. “We need to continue to grow our community of team members who will unite, energize and inspire Texas Children’s with their infinite passion to deliver on our important mission.”

Powered by iCims, this ATS provides us with new technology, which works with PeopleSoft to enhance our current recruitment processes and experiences for both external and internal candidates, our hiring leaders as well as new hires.

“There are many features that will help us throughout the recruitment process in a more thoughtful approach that reflects Texas Children’s thought leadership as a premium health care employer,” Perkins said. “There are also social media components that will further engage prospective candidates.”

Learn more about Texas Children’s new ATS by clicking here.

As part of the transition to this new system, five online webinars will be available to Hiring Leaders from Tuesday, March 29 to Thursday, March 31. Hiring Leaders will receive a separate communication from HR Communications with details about these training sessions and how to register.

31616KristinaWilson175Kristina Wilson, a senior speech-language pathologist and clinical researcher on the Cleft Palate Team at Texas Children’s Hospital, was recently elected to the Executive Council of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA), an international non-profit medical society of health care professionals who treat and/or perform research on oral cleft and craniofacial conditions.

In her role on the council, Wilson will help guide the 2,500-member organization in its efforts to foster communication and cooperation among professionals from all specialties involved in the treatment of children and adults with cleft lip, cleft palate, and craniofacial anomalies.

For more than 65 years, their goal has been to provide optimal care for this group of patients and their families. Because of the diverse needs of these patients, and the required services of many different specialists, interdisciplinary cooperation and team care is essential to the patients served.

Wilson has been providing such care for the past decade with the Cleft Palate Team at Texas Children’s Hospital. In addition to her role with the hospital, she holds a faculty appointment at Baylor College of Medicine in the Division of Plastic Surgery. She also is the assistant coordinator of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Special Interest Group 5 – Craniofacial and Velopharyngeal Disorders.

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Did you know approximately 16 babies are born every day at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women? With each birth, every mother has memories of those first precious moments together. We want to hear about yours.

We will feature a new story each Friday on Texas Children’s Facebook page. If interested in submitting your own, please email PFWmarketing@texaschildrens.org and include the following:

  • A few photos of your first moments together (preferably candid)
  • A short description of the memories you have from those first moments

All submissions will be reviewed but not all guaranteed. This campaign is limited to only Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women patients. If your submission is chosen, someone from our Marketing team will reach out via email.

March 8, 2016

We did it!

Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women recently received the Baby Friendly Hospital (BFH) designation – an impressive milestone that demonstrates the value of teamwork and our nurses’ commitment to educating and supporting new mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding.

Launched by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund in 1991, the BFH Initiative encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for infant feeding and mother/baby bonding. Baby Friendly USA awards the designation to birthing hospitals that successfully implement the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.

“While achieving the baby friendly hospital designation was a lengthy four-phase process,” said Women’s Support Services Director Nancy Hurst, “this designation means that we are providing the highest level of care related to breastfeeding education, instruction and support for our patients.”

To meet the rigorous criteria for the BFH designation, the Pavilion for Women implemented numerous breastfeeding practices to ensure our nurses, obstetricians, and pediatricians are well trained to teach mothers how to breastfeed and maintain lactation, even when separated from their infants, which can occur when babies are confined in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for long-term care. Implementing these evidence-based practices required tremendous teamwork between and among departments and staff.

“We collaborated with leaders and staff from all areas of the Pavilion for Women including OB and Maternal Fetal Medicine clinics, labor and delivery, mother-baby units, perioperative services and women’s specialty unit,” Hurst said. “We also educated environmental services, volunteer services and other ancillary areas on what BHF is and what it means for our patients.”

Several evidence-based breastfeeding practices initiated at the Pavilion for Women include:

  • Helping mothers breastfeed within one hour of birth
  • Teaching mothers to respond to their infant’s early feeding cues rather than schedule feedings
  • Encouraging “rooming in” so mothers and infants can stay together 24 hours a day
  • Implementing immediate skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby following delivery
  • Standardizing prenatal education to educate women about the benefits of breastfeeding
  • Providing 20 hours of didactic and skills-based education and instruction to all nursing staff caring for mothers and babies at the Pavilion for Women
  • Feeding infants only breast milk and providing mothers with resources for lactation support prior to leaving the hospital
  • Promoting Breastfeeding Champions Program to inspire nurses to become role models for other nurses by reminding them why it is important to encourage women to breastfeed

“New mothers often times do not succeed in breastfeeding because there are no systems in place to support them,” said Prenatal Education Program Manager Anne Wright. “Since 88 percent of the mothers who deliver at the Pavilion for Women want to breastfeed, it’s important that we implement and sustain practices that ensure their success.”

After giving birth to two sets of twins at the Pavilion for Women, Elizabeth Shackouls recalls how incredibly supportive the nursing staff was in helping her overcome certain breastfeeding challenges after both pregnancies.

“The nurses helped me figure out latch issues and when I became discouraged, they assured me things would be easier with time and supported me through every feeding,” Shackouls said. “Even long after I was discharged, I continued to seek the nursing team’s advice on various issues and always felt like they were there for me no matter what. The renowned nursing staff and the exceptional care they provide patients are instrumental in setting Texas Children’s apart from other hospitals.”

Nurse Girija Babu, who is also a breastfeeding champion in her group, described the journey toward BFH designation as an “incredible” experience.

“By achieving this milestone, we’re ensuring our nursing mothers receive the support they need during and after their hospital stay,” Babu said. “We  are also grateful to our OB providers and anesthesia team for their continuous support in making sure newborns are placed skin to skin on the mother’s chest soon after birth.”

For more information about Baby Friendly USA, click here.