October 18, 2016

101816chronsurgeryad250Texas Children’s is the honored sponsor for every Tuesday’s “Houston Legends” series. We will showcase the legendary care Texas Children’s has provided since 1954, and focus on milestone moments in our unique history. Also, a complementary website offers a more detailed look at our past, our story and our breakthroughs.

On the right is the Texas Children’s ad that is featured in this week’s Chronicle. Click the ad to visit our companion website at texaschildrens.org/legendarycare. The website will change weekly to complement the newspaper ad, which will be published in section A of the Chronicle on Tuesdays for the next several weeks. We also will spotlight this special feature weekly on Connect, so stay tuned to learn and share our rich history.

101916toss640On October 6, more than 500 guests donned their boots and Texas-chic apparel at Houston Polo Club for the 4th annual Toss for Texas Children’s Heart Center. The tailgate meets Great Gatsby-themed event under the stars raised $180,000 for Texas Children’s Heart Center, which is ranked Number 2 in cardiology and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report.

The bean bag tournament featured light bites and cocktails by A Fare Extraordinaire and a special performance by country music singer, Gary P. Nunn. The event was chaired by Staci & John Donovan and Brooke & Scott Hutson, both of whom have children who received expert care from Texas Children’s Heart Center. The “Toss” trophy was presented at a special awards ceremony to conclude the evening’s festivities.

12016HoustonMarathon640Want to achieve a personal fitness goal and help preserve the mission of Texas Children’s Hospital? Runners can still enter the sold out 2017 marathon and half marathon races through the Chevron Houston Marathon’s Run for a Reason charity program.

Texas Children’s Hospital is an official charity for the Houston Marathon and Half Marathon, taking place on Sunday, January 15, 2017. The Run for a Reason program is a way for runners to run the race of their choice with a guaranteed entry – on behalf of a charity.

Running for Texas Children’s Hospital is not just about the race, it’s a promise to our patients. By signing up to run and fundraise on behalf of Texas Children’s Hospital, your donations will directly impact the lives of countless children. Your race will become the race for our patients who are too sick – sometimes too sick even to play outside. Your support will allow us to expand our care to even more children who need our help.

Make your promise and join the Texas Children’s Running Team today!

1. Fundraise to Run
A fundraising entry is a way for runners to secure a guaranteed entry to the race of their choice while fundraising for Texas Children’s Hospital.

The minimum fundraising milestone to receive the guaranteed entry for the full marathon is $750 and for the half marathon is $500. Please complete this form and email it to Eileen Condit in the Office of Development at runforareason@texaschildrens.org to sign up and secure your registration.

Donations will be received through February 2017. These donations can come from friends, family and employer matching programs.

2. Support the Team
To support the Texas Children’s running team with a donation, please visit our fundraising page.

Questions?
Please contact Eileen Condit at Ext. 4-6823 or runforareason@texaschildrens.org.

October 11, 2016

101216modinside640When Leanne O’Brien glances down at her healthy 18-month-old twins, Remy and Ronan, she knows their lives are nothing short of a miracle. Born nearly 28 weeks premature as a result of severe preeclampsia, her twins spent the first four and a half months of their young lives at Texas Children’s Newborn Center.

“As soon as they were born, the NICU team took care of our babies who each weighed between two and three pounds,” said O’Brien, assistant director of IS Customer Service at Texas Children’s. “They immediately went to NICU 3, then we went to NICU 4 for PDA closures to treat a congenital heart defect and then to NICU 2 until our babies were well enough to come home.”

At the time, O’Brien didn’t know much about the causes and complications of infant prematurity. After her family’s NICU journey, she decided to do something she’d never done before – participate in the March for Babies Walk with her husband and their twins, and her mom and sister on behalf of Texas Children’s to support other NICU families who have encountered similarly challenging situations.

“I wanted to use my voice and share my testimony to help pregnant women and families wherever and however I can,” O’Brien said. “Participating in the walk was a pretty emotional day for me. I thought about all of what my family and my kids went through and how blessed we are to be here today. But I also thought about the families and babies who are currently fighting and all the babies who lost their fight.”

With the generous support from O’Brien and other Texas Children’s employees and their families, Texas Children’s was recently honored as the top corporate team in Houston to raise nearly $180,000 in total funds for the March of Dimes based on corporate sponsorship and employee and team fundraising.

“Of the Top 50 participating teams, we are thrilled to see Texas Children’s Hospital take the number one spot in Houston for the first time,” said Darcie Wells, executive director of the March of Dimes Foundation of Greater Houston. “We thank Texas Children’s leaders and employees for their incredible efforts for moms and babies.”

Several months prior to the March for Babies walk, departments and units from across the organization formed their own teams to help raise money and rally support around this worthy cause. Teams hosted barbecues, designed and sold t-shirts, held bake sales, arranged bike tours and even paid to give their leaders a pie in the face to raise money and awareness. Each of the 63 teams raised an average of $1,476, all of which helped Texas Children’s exceed this year’s fundraising goal of $120,000.

“Since 1984, Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine have received more than $16 million from the March of Dimes to support research to prevent birth defects and prematurity,” said Cris Daskevich, senior vice president at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. “Our long-term partnership has helped significantly improve outcomes and quality of life for some of our most fragile babies – giving hope to patients and families when there once was none.”

O’Brien encourages everyone thinking about participating in next year’s walk to help support the March of Dimes. “It is such an amazing cause, and by donating or walking, you can help give every baby a fighting chance,” O’Brien said.

The March of Dimes will officially celebrate the Top 10 Teams at a citywide kickoff of its 2017 campaign on February 8, 2017.

Click here to watch the slideshow of the 2016 March for Babies Walk.

The Texas Children’s Hospital October 2 Kids Day game against the Tennessee Titans was a huge success with the Houston Texans raking in a victory while Texas Children’s employees attending the event enthusiastically cheered for their hometown football team.

Twenty-five employees who won a pair of tickets via the Employee Health and Wellness Go for the Gold challenge sat near the end zone whooping and hollering at each and every play. Another 50 employees – many of whom were recently selected as the 2017 Catalyst Award winners (to be officially announced later this month) – enjoyed the game from a suite also near the end zone.

The tickets to the game are one of the benefits of Texas Children’s Hospital being the official children’s hospital of the Houston Texans football team. Texas Children’s and the Texans launched a seven-year partnership last season to inspire children to lead healthier, more active lives.

“The experience all around was amazing,” said Cynthia Alegria, one of the Go for the Gold ticket winners and an administrative supervisor in the Pathology Department. “Because of the hospital’s generosity, I was able to spend some real quality time with my husband and enjoy some well-deserved down time.”

During the football game, the Texas Children’s logo could be seen on several screens throughout NRG Stadium. One shot was of a boy wearing one of the 20,000 pairs of eye blacks that were passed out to young fans as they walked into the game. The eye blacks sported the hospital’s logo. See photos from the game below.

“I saw the red Texas Children’s Hospital eye ‘stickers’ everywhere walking around the stadium and on the big screen,” said Executive Vice President Mark Mullarkey. “This was a fantastic way to reinforce our partnership with the Texans and what we are doing with the football team in the community.”

Mullarkey was the honorary coin toss captain and got to go out onto the field prior to the game with his family and with Infection Prevention and Control Department Medical Director Dr. Judith Campbell and her husband. The group stayed on the field and helped present $50,000 in PLAY 60 grants to six local schools: Southmore Intermediate (Pasadena ISD), Cornerstone Academy & Academy of Choice (Spring Branch ISD), J.C. Mitchell Elementary School (HISD), Attucks Middle School (HISD), Westbury High School (HISD) and Blackshear Elementary (HISD).

PLAY 60 is the National Football League’s campaign to encourage kids to be active for 60 minutes a day in order to help reverse the trend of childhood obesity. Nearly 80 local schools applied for the grants, which are worth up to $10,000, to help purchase the equipment they need to get kids moving throughout the school day and in after-school programs. Five of the schools selected for grants are Title I and all have demonstrated a commitment to getting kids active and on the path to developing healthy habits that will last a lifetime. In the four years of the program, the Texans have awarded $170,000 in PLAY 60 grants to local schools for PLAY 60 projects.

For more details about the hospital’s partnership with the Texans click here.

101316caremanagement640National Case Management Week is October 9-15, where we recognize the work of our entire Care Management team. This year’s theme for Case Management Week is “Case Management: We listen. We care. We lead.”

Texas Children’s Care Management team is comprised of care managers, access care managers, utilization review nurses, care management assistants, appeals and audit nurses, an educator, two physician advisors and leadership. There is representation at Main Campus, West Campus, and there will be a team for The Woodlands. With all campuses combined, Care Management is comprised of more than sixty staff members.

Each member of the team serves an important role in the care of Texas Children’s patients before, during and after their stay at Texas Children’s. From the beginning, access care managers work closely with the Emergency Center and Post Anesthesia Care Unit teams to make sure that each patient, upon admission to Texas Children’s Hospital, is in the correct level of care. Care from there is transitioned to the unit care managers who believe that discharge planning starts on admission, working to assess discharge needs and barriers early in the patient’s stay. They listen and collaborate daily in Care Progression Rounds, looking at the ongoing discharge needs of each patient. Using their knowledge of community resources and insurance, they assist the interdisciplinary team in coordination of complex patient discharges.

Other members of the team provide support for utilization review, appeals and denials. They advocate for the patients, which involves communicating with each patient’s insurance payer to ensure that the patient’s hospital stay is covered. Leading tirelessly, there are members of Care Management in the hospital around the clock working to meet patient needs. They help to ensure that each patient gets the best care, in the correct setting, for optimal patient outcomes.

Celebrate the contribution of the Texas Children’s Care Management team! Teams are located in A165 on Main Campus and 379.00 at West Campus.

101216chroniclepromisead250Texas Children’s is the honored sponsor for every Tuesday’s “Houston Legends” series. For more than 20 weeks, we will showcase the legendary care Texas Children’s has provided since 1954, and focus on milestone moments in our unique history. Also, a complementary website offers a more detailed look at our past, our story and our breakthroughs.

On the right is the Texas Children’s ad that is featured in this week’s Chronicle. Click the ad to visit our companion website at texaschildrens.org/legendarycare. The website will change weekly to complement the newspaper ad, which will be published in section A of the Chronicle on Tuesdays for the next several weeks. We also will spotlight this special feature weekly on Connect, so stay tuned to learn and share our rich history.

Click here to visit the Promise website.