June 10, 2014

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Dr. Daniel Penny, chief of Cardiology at Texas Children’s Hospital and section head and professor of Pediatrics-Cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine, was recently presented the 2014 University College Cork (UCC) Medical School Medal. The award ceremony took place at Penny’s alma mater in Ireland on May 28.

The award, established in 2001, was created to honor those who have made exceptional contributions to medicine and society. Penny was chosen as this year’s recipient based on his sustained and excellent track record in pediatrics and pediatric cardiology; in leadership and expertise at an international level in academic medicine; in his support and inspiration for generations of medical students and trainees; and his work in establishing links between UCC and Texas Children’s.

“I am truly honored to receive this year’s UCC Medical School Medal,” said Penny. “It is a privilege to have the opportunity to have worked, and continue to work, in hospitals throughout my career which are leading the way in improving the health and well-being of children and families across the globe.”

Penny was born in Cork, Ireland, where he completed his medical degree at University College Cork, The National University of Ireland. He trained and practiced at top pediatric institutions, such as The Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, where he served as chief of Cardiology before joining Texas Children’s. Penny also is a founding director of the Australia and New Zealand Children’s Heart Research Centre, a collaborative network for multicenter research across Australia and New Zealand. His research bridges cardiac physiology and clinical studies of congenital heart disease. In 2010 he was awarded his involvement in developing a Cardiovascular Institute in Hue City, Central Vietnam, for which he received the “For People’s Health” Award from the Vietnamese government.

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It’s surgery day. You park your car, arrive at the hospital, but you’re not exactly sure where to go. Navigating the hallways and buildings of a large hospital campus can add an extra layer of anxiety to an already stressful experience for patients and their families.

“We want to create a positive experience for every single patient who walks through our doors,” said Mallory Caldwell, senior vice president of Administration at Texas Children’s. “We’re always searching for innovative approaches to ensure the delivery of superior customer service to our patients and their families.”

As part of a newly launched 4-month pilot program that started May 26, Texas Children’s Facilities Planning and Development department has designed wayfinding signs to improve navigation to the surgical suites at the Clinical Care Center (CCC) and West Tower, as well as contribute to a positive arrival experience for surgery patients.

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You’ve probably noticed the colorful, kid-friendly animal signage posted inside and outside the elevators, lobby, hallways and connecting bridges at the CCC and West Tower. The fishes, frogs and dragon flies direct patients easily to specific check-in locations for different operating room suites:

  • Fish = West Tower, Third Floor
  • Frog = Clinical Care Center, Seventh Floor
  • Dragon Fly = West Tower, 17th Floor

“To accommodate our diverse patient population, the animal signs are intended to reduce language barrier issues that arise with traditional verbiage signage when translation is often required,” said Doug Fowler, graphics program manager at Texas Children’s Facilities Planning and Development. “Patients simply follow the animal symbols to get to their respective check-in location for surgery.”

During the summer, Texas Children’s sees approximately 100 patients for surgery every weekday. The pilot is focused on those patients that arrive very early in the morning for the “first case,” as they are most in need of additional support upon arrival.

Equipped with copies of the surgery schedule, volunteers in blue vests will greet patients immediately upon arrival and will direct them to their proper surgical check-in locations. Patients are given an all new pre-surgery packet.

“We want our patients to arrive at their check-in location easily, and we encourage all Texas Children’s employees to be part of this collaborative process by becoming familiar with the signage and what it stands for,” says Dr. Larry Hollier, chief of Plastic Surgery at Texas Children’s.

The pilot program, along with feedback received from the patient experience surveys, will help us identify which areas need to be fine-tuned.

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FFirst, it was the construction of Texas Children’s new pediatric community hospital in The Woodlands slated to open in 2017. Now, a new David Clinic will be built at The Woodlands campus, which means children affected by immune deficiencies will receive world class care and diagnosis in their own community.

On June 4, David Elementary School presented Texas Children’s with a donation of more than $38,000 raised by students and families that will be used to construct the new facility.

The facility will serve as an extension of the already established David Center at Texas Children’s main campus, which provides care and research for primary immune deficiencies, which are inborn diseases of the immune system that make children susceptible to auto immunity and infectious diseases.

“With the growing city of Houston and Texas Children’s Hospital facilities, it makes sense to put an extension of the David Center in David’s own community and in our new hospital in The Woodlands to increase awareness and provide greater access to patient care and treatment,” said Dr. Jordan Orange, chief of Immunology, Allergy and Rheumatology at Texas Children’s.

The David Clinic and the David Center are named in honor of David Vetter, the Texas Children’s Hospital patient from the 1970s known as the “Bubble Boy,” who suffered from Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID), which required him to live in a plastic bubble to protect him from germs and bacteria.

“This rare illness that David succumbed to affects about 1 in 50,000 babies,” said Dr. Orange. “Due to remarkable advances in immunology research and treatment, this immune deficiency is almost 100 percent curable if identified within the first three months of life.”

Since December 2012, every baby born in Texas is screened for SCID to ensure prompt diagnosis and best outcomes.

Besides the generous gift from David Elementary School, which is also named after Vetter, the school hosted David’s Dream Run last month. This annual event has raised more than $350,000 since its inception and all proceeds support The David Center and its research. All funds from the run through 2016 will support construction of the David Clinic in The Woodlands.

To learn more about David, visit the artifacts exhibit on the third floor of the Feigin Center in the Allergy and Immunology department. The David Center Wall on the ninth floor of the Clinical Care Center features a collection of photos highlighting David’s long-term association with Texas Children’s.

Watch the newest “I am Texas Children’s” video featuring employee Susan Fernandez in West Campus Emergency Center. “I knew this would be an awesome place to work,” Susan said. “Everyone is so kind and generous, especially to the children.”

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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Many hospitals have Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), but not all NICUs are the same.

Texas Children’s Newborn Center is one of the only level IV NICUs in the Houston region that is able to provide babies with the highest level of care. In fact, many area hospitals with less advanced NICUs transfer infants to us when more experience and specialized care is required.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics differentiates between units by defining levels of care based on the complexity of medical conditions the facility is equipped to treat. We hope this will help you better understand the different levels of care in the NICU:

Level I: Regular nursery care available at most hospitals that deliver babies

Level II: Intensive care for sick and premature infants

Level III: Comprehensive care for more seriously ill newborns

Level IV: Major surgery, surgical repair of serious congenital heart and anomalies that require cardiopulmonary bypass and/or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for medical conditions. Level IV units include the capabilities of level III with additional capabilities and considerable experience in the care of the most complex and critically ill newborn infants and should have pediatric medical and pediatric surgical specialty consultants continuously available 24 hours a day.

Many area hospitals have level II or III NICUs, but are not equipped to provide the most advanced level of care some newborns need. Our combined level II and III NICUs offer specialty care for newborns. An additional level IV NICU located across the connecting bridge gives babies more extensive support and access to dozens of pediatric subspecialists.

Texas Children’s Newborn Center was recently ranked no. 2 in this year’s U.S. News & World Report survey, a gain from last year’s no. 17 ranking. As you know, U.S. News ranks the top 50 pediatric centers in 10 specialty areas, so being recognized within the top two is no small feat.

Our commitment to improving neonatal outcomes is really something to be proud of, and I am grateful that our diligent efforts are making a positive impact in the lives of so many babies.

For more information about Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women and our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, visit here and to take a video tour of our NICU, visit here.

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On 14 West Tower, there is a new four-bed unit designated solely for diabetes patients who visit our hospital’s inpatient units. It’s a small area that’s going to make a big difference, maybe even help save lives.

The plans for the unit began as part of Delivering On the Vision (DOTV), the hospital wide effort to impact patient care and outcomes. DOTV created a Care Process Team to combat Diabetic Ketoacidosis or DKA. DKA is a life-threatening condition that diabetics encounter which could affect morbidity and mortality. The team discussed the work processes and potential areas of focus for quality improvement, deciding that a diabetes center of excellence was vital in improving our patient care and outcomes for diabetic patients.

“The dedicated Diabetes Care Unit allows for highly specialized care by a cohesive, expert team in a location where care is brought to the patient,” said Rhonda Wolfe, who is leading the Care Process Team along with Dr. Rona Sonabend. “The impact of a highly trained, expert team will mean improved quality, decreased length of stay, better preparation for discharge and ultimately better outcomes for our patients and families.”

Bedside nurses received advanced training to enhance their expertise with this patient population. This team is able to provide focused, expert care, involving all disciplines and providing a care model that is accessible, regardless of time of day or day of the week.

The team continues to receive ongoing training and will prepare for higher acuity patient admissions to the Diabetes Care Unit this coming fall.

June 3, 2014

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Some children with autism appear to be developing normally when they are very young. They babble or even talk, make eye contact with their parents and crawl and walk on schedule. Then suddenly, these skills seem to vanish.

Described as developmental regression, this loss of language, motor or social skills occurs more often in Black and Hispanic children compared to White children, according to a study led by Dr. Adiaha Spinks-Franklin, associate director of the Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics at Texas Children’s Hospital.

“Lost skills are very difficult to recover and unfortunately, there is no way to prevent developmental regression,” said Spinks-Franklin. “What we know is important is helping children with autism learn to communicate better, develop improved social skills, engage in more functioning behaviors, participate in an appropriate school curriculum that addresses their unique needs and learn to function as independently as each child can.”

Spinks-Franklin and her team analyzed data on 1,353 preschool children with autism enrolled in the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network database between March 2008 and December 2011. The database includes demographic and medical information on each child enrolled at one of 17 locations across the United States and Canada. Information collected included whether parents reported that their child had lost skills.

Results showed that 27 percent of children experienced developmental regression according to their parents. Black children were twice as likely to have parent-reported regression compared to White children. Hispanic children were about 1.5 times more likely than White children to lose early skills according to their parents. This difference was apparent even when researchers controlled for primary caretaker’s education and the child’s insurance status.

“Each child with autism is a unique individual with their own strengths and challenges,” said Spinks-Franklin. “It is very important that all parents in all communities become aware of the early signs of autism – poor communication skills, impaired social skills and unusual behaviors and interests.”

According to Spinks-Franklin, the rates of Autism are the same among African American, Hispanic and White children. However, African American and Hispanic children are generally diagnosed with Autism at later ages than White children and have less access to much-needed educational, therapeutic and medical resources that are designed to help address the needs of children with Autism.

The study, which is an insightful exploration of racial disparities among children with Autism, is Spinks-Franklin’s latest step towards understanding how culture impacts child development. Her previous research experience includes studying the development of children in Senegal, West Africa, and studying the mental health impact of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on school-aged African American children in Houston, as well as exploring the racial identity development of school-aged African American and Latino children in the Houston area who participated in a reading intervention program.

“The earlier a child is diagnosed with Autism, the better chance they have to receive the help and interventions the child needs to function to the best of their ability,” said Spinks-Franklin. “One of my goals is to increase awareness of Autism in underserved communities in the Houston area in order for all children to have a better chance of obtaining the help they may need.”

If a parent reports that a child has lost a developmental skill, health care providers should address the parent’s concerns with appropriate screening and referrals. Texas Children’s staff should be aware that there are many community-based and school-based services available to support and help children who have Autism and their families.

Spinks-Franklin presented the study, titled “Racial Differences in Developmental Regression in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders” on May 6 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.