October 14, 2014

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When Mark A. Wallace gave his initial presentation to the executive council and board 25 years ago, he said his goal was for Texas Children’s to be the preeminent pediatric health care institution in the world.

Today, Texas Children’s is consistently ranked the best children’s hospital in Texas, and among the top in the nation. The organization has grown exponentially during the past two and a half decades and has garnered widespread recognition for its expertise and breakthroughs in pediatric and women’s health.

All of this and more has been accomplished under Wallace’s visionary leadership, a characteristic Texas Children’s chief executive officer says influences and determines outcomes, not some of the time, but all of the time.

To commemorate Wallace’s service to the organization, Texas Children’s Board of Trustees created the Mark A. Wallace Catalyst Leadership Award five years ago. The award recognizes incredible leaders across the organization and offers them various career-enhancing opportunities.

This year, in honor of Wallace’s 25-year anniversary with Texas Children’s, the board of trustees – with the support of a one million dollar endowment from the Texas Children’s Hospital Foundation – took it a step further and established the Mark A. Wallace Leadership University at Texas Children’s. The university will recognize Wallace’s legacy of leadership and his passion for developing the next generation of health care leaders.

“I was totally surprised,” Wallace said of the board’s announcement. “I had no idea the board was contemplating giving me anything, much less something as significant and personal to me as the catalyst leadership university.”

Wallace said he is thrilled the university will be an educational and leadership development forum for future leaders at Texas Children’s.

“Leadership has been one of the hallmarks and most significant characteristics of the 25 years I have had the privilege of working at Texas Children’s,” Wallace said. “I think the board and the rest of the organization recognizes the profound impact that leadership has had on the quality, service, safety and accessibility we offer to all of the patients and families we take care of.”

During the next year, Wallace said he and a group of people across the organization will hammer out the details of exactly how the university will operate.

What he knows for sure is that the university will be directed toward achieving corporate goals and focused on corporate capabilities as well as the need of the individual learners. It also will be for everyone here at Texas Children’s.

“It will be for people at all levels who are interested in leadership and leadership development,” Wallace said, pointing out that one of his 10 maximums of leadership is that leadership applies to everyone. “There will be many people involved from across the entire Texas Children’s campus.”

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The flu can place a heavy burden on the health and well-being of children and their families. That burden can be especially heavy for those whose immune systems already are compromised.

“In hematology and oncology, we have a large number of patients who are immunocompromised,” said Dr. David Poplack, director of the Texas Children’s Cancer Center. “That means they are at a much greater risk of suffering an infection.”

If that infection is the flu, it could mean an extended hospital stay, the worsening of chronic health problems or, in some situations, even death.

To best protect our immunocompromised patients from influenza, those patients, their families and the health care workers who treat them should get a flu vaccine.

In addition to people with compromised immune systems, people who have the following medical conditions also are at high risk of developing flu-related complications:

  • Asthma
  • Chronic lung disease
  • Heat disease
  • Blood disorders
  • Endocrine disorders
  • Kidney disorders
  • Liver disorders
  • Metabolic disorders

“Because we treat so many people with these types of conditions here at Texas Children’s,” Poplack said. “We must have all of our employees and anyone who comes in contact with these patients immunized with the flu vaccine.”

About 5,500 Texas Children’s employees already have gotten their flu vaccine. Now it’s your turn to be part of the solution and help yourself as well as our high risk patients.

Employee Health is administering free seasonal influenza vaccinations to all Texas Children’s employees, Baylor College of Medicine employees working in Texas Children’s facilities, Texas Children’s medical staff and volunteers. Leaders from Texas Children’s Pediatrics, Texas Children’s Health Centers and The Center for Women and Children will inform their staff about seasonal flu vaccination details.

Click here to view vaccination schedules for both Main and West Campuses. Employee Health strongly encourages you to get your vaccine at one of the times listed on the schedule. If you are unable to do so, please schedule an appointment to get the flu vaccine at the Employee Health Clinic after October 1.

And, remember, getting an annual flu shot is part of Texas Children’s P3 incentive plan, which is an important component of the total rewards you receive at Texas Children’s Hospital. As part of P3 , we are striving for at least 90 percent of our staff to get vaccinated by Monday, December 1. As of October13, almost 65 percent of employees had gotten a flu shot.

Watch the newest “I am Texas Children’s” video featuring employee Rachael Walker in West Campus – Child Life.

“I’ve worked at Texas Children’s for almost 10 years. What makes it a great place to work are the people, the services we provide and the stellar reputation that we have in the community.”

Check out her video, and find out how you and your coworkers can be featured in the “I Am Texas Children’s” section on Connect.

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They say everything’s bigger in Texas and we definitely represented our state well at the national nursing Magnet® conference in Dallas last week. More than 7,000 nurses and nursing executives from top hospitals came to celebrate Magnet Recognition® and gathered to share evidence-based practices. Amongst them were a group of 52 Texas Children’s nurses and nurse leaders. It was an honor to represent the incredible nursing team at Texas Children’s and a truly inspirational experience.

This year’s conference was my third and I had the great pleasure of presenting along with my colleague Jackie Ward, RN Asst. Vice President of Nursing. Our presentation, “A framework for leadership development and succession planning” was amongst four podium presentations and three poster presentations by nurses and leaders from Texas Children’s. This was our chance to shine and present to the other hospitals what our nursing team has been doing to improve outcomes and reach for excellence in nursing care. It was amazing to see so many hospitals that are striving for nursing excellence in one place. There were nurses from all over the world focused on improving outcomes and achieving Magnet® status. We also had a specific pediatric session where all the pediatric hospitals came together to discuss how to achieve positive outcomes within pediatric subspecialties.

During the conference, talk of Ebola was rampant, as Dallas is the site for treating an Ebola patient. I toured Children’s Medical Center Dallas Hospital, and was asked screening questions related to international travel. During the conference, we discussed our plans for Ebola screening, and Texas Children’s is right in line with other hospitals in preparations.

The theme of this year’s conference, “think big, go magnet,” went hand-in-hand with our state’s larger than life mentality. It was an opportunity to share great ideas and be inspired to do big things to improve patient care through nursing. We were especially proud to represent Texas Children’s as our own neonatologist and star of TLC’s The Little Couple, Dr. Jennifer Arnold kicked off the conference as the keynote speaker. Dr. Arnold gave an inspirational talk highlighting the strong partnerships between nursing and physicians in planning and coordinating patient care.

It wasn’t all business at this conference. One of my favorite moments of the trip was a pizza night for Texas Children’s nursing staff where we got to kick back, relax and have some fun getting to know the other nurses better. After a week away from the hospital, I am happy and excited to bring back everything I learned to share with the rest of my team and really put best practices to use here. The Magnet® conference is a chance to be reminded of how important of a role you play in the patients’ lives. You walk away proud to be a nurse, inspired to do great things, and pumped about the Magnet program®.

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By Laurel Laviolette

As the donation coordinator for the Mother’s Milk Bank at Texas Children’s, I am grateful to the generous mothers who donate their excess breast milk to our Milk Bank to ensure critically-ill infants in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) receive the nutrition they need to get stronger and stay healthy.

infant2As a mother of three, I breast-fed my babies because I knew it was the right thing to do. Not only does human milk contain essential vitamins and nutrients, it’s also packed with disease-fighting antibodies that protect your baby from illness. Donating your excess breast milk is one of the best gifts you can give to infants in need.

What motivates you? Maybe you know someone who received donor breast milk and you want to pay it forward. Perhaps, your baby prefers her milk straight from the tap and you have a deep-freezer full of milk you stored to go back to work. As a lactating mother, you are in a unique stage of life and in an excellent position to impact your family’s and community’s health. In addition to providing ideal nutrition for your own baby, you can also set aside some of your extra milk for premature and critically ill infants in our NICU. Every mom who donates milk will make a lifelong impact on many babies and their families.

Milk Bank checklist for donating breast milk

  • Always label your milk with the date (month/day/year) and time it was expressed. Most moms are doing this as a matter of habit. This small routine will make the rules that follow much easier to follow.
  • We can only accept milk with one pumping per container. Please do not store a container in the refrigerator and add to the container over multiple pumpings. The main reasons are to avoid excess bacterial growth that can occur along with increased chance of rancidity of the milk.
  • Keep a calendar of dates you or your baby have been sick with colds, fevers, viruses etc. We are unable to accept milk pumped while you or your baby is sick. If you can make a note on the calendar, it will help you to know which dates you need to exclude from your donation.
  • Make a note on a calendar or on your milk storage container of any days you take over the counter or prescription drugs (medicines for allergies, colds, stomach upset, etc.). Most medicines that are considered safe for breastfeeding are not permitted for milk donation. Our Milk Bank has a “washout period” for every medication or supplement, which refers to an amount of time after you take the drug before it is okay to save milk for donation again. Making a note of the day you took the medicine will make it easy for you to separate that milk out when it is time to send in your donation. Since your milk will be fed to very fragile infants, it is crucial to report all medicines and supplements you have taken while storing milk.
  • We cannot accept milk pumped while moms are taking herbal supplements, including teas and preparations intended to increase milk supply, such as fenugreek. Sometimes herbal preparations hide in prenatal vitamins, too. Therefore, if you think you might want to donate milk, read the ingredients carefully on your prenatal vitamins. You can also check with the milk donation coordinator to know if your vitamin is allowed for milk donation.

If you have extra milk, you can apply to be a Texas Children’s Hospital milk donor at www.texaschildrens.org/milk. Click on “Become a Donor.” We are so thankful to all of the moms who give our babies such a special gift.

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Dr. Larry Hollier, Jr., chief of Plastic Surgery at Texas Children’s, was recently appointed chairman of Smile Train’s medical advisory board. Smile Train is the largest cleft charity in the world with a mission of identifying teams of physicians and healthcare providers worldwide who are capable of performing surgery on children with cleft lip and palate problems.

In his role as chairman of the organization’s medical advisory board, Dr. Hollier supervises a group of physicians and healthcare providers from countries around the world to ensure Smile Train provides the safest care for these children.

Dr. Hollier has been on numerous trips sponsored by Smile Train to Haiti, both before and after the earthquake in 2010. With the help of other local organizations, he also has traveled to Southeast Asia, Central America and Africa to care for children with cleft deformities and serious burn injuries. Texas Children’s plastic surgeons Dr. Laura Monson traveled to Egypt and Dr. Edward Buchanan traveled to Tanzania to treat these children as well.

Cleft deformities and serious burn injuries often are left untreated in less developed countries, leading to a lifetime of disfigurement. Smile Train tries to help resolve some of these issues and is involved in 87 countries with 2,100 partner surgeons in more than 1,100 hospitals. The organization’s team of physicians and healthcare providers have treated more than 1 million patients since Smile Train was created a decade ago. This year they already have cared for more than 120,000 children.

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Dr. Silke Paust, an assistant professor of human immunobiology at Baylor College of Medicine, recently won the prestigious “Women and Diversity Paper of the Year” award from the Society for Leukocyte Biology.

Her award-winning study titled, “Critical role for the chemokine receptor CXCR6 in NK cell-mediated antigen-specific memory of haptens and viruses” explores the long-lived immunological memory of natural killer cells in the liver and their potential to help scientists develop targeted vaccines to treat infection and disease.

“Natural killer cells have an immunological memory that allows for rapid and enhanced responses when the body is re-invaded by the same pathogen,” said Paust, the lead author of the study. “In order for the immune system to remember an antigen-specific vaccine, it’s important to have some aspect of the immune system that persists for a long period of time.”

Natural killer cells, a subset of white blood cells that target cancer cells and a wide variety of infectious microbes, binds to their target and deliver a lethal burst of toxins that puncture holes in the membrane of infected cells, killing them instantly.

In their study, Paust and her colleagues injected laboratory mice with influenza and HIV vaccines to test whether natural killer cells in the liver remembered previous antigen-specific vaccinations. They found that specific subsets of natural killer cells found in the mouse liver developed long-lived and highly specific memory to a variety of antigens, which is critical to mediating a sufficient and protective immune response of protection.

When our bodies are exposed to a virus or other foreign invader, the immune system activates many immune cells to fight off infection. After the threat has passed, most of the cells die, however, memory natural killer cells remain in the body, similarly to memory T and B cells. When encountered by the same antigen again, memory immune cells respond rapidly resulting in a more powerful immune response.

Through Paust’s research, an additional cell type that can now be targeted for vaccination has been identified. “Natural killer cells are attractive targets for therapeutic intervention for the prevention and treatment of human disease, such as cancers and viral infection,” said Paust.

Paust will present her research at the 2014 Society for Leukocyte Biology and the International Endotoxin and Innate Immunity Society Joint Conference which will be held October 23 – 25 in Salt Lake City, Utah.