October 5, 2016

active-shooter-exerciseTexas Children’s emergency response plan will be put to the test during a comprehensive mass casualty exercise this Friday.

Our Emergency Management team is working with the Houston Police Department SWAT team and Houston Fire Department emergency medical services to coordinate a full-scale active shooter exercise with students and staff at Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions.

“Every day we hear reports in our own community of incidents that can result in a significant number of patients arriving at Texas Children’s requiring critical care,” said Risk Management Director Melissa Murrah. “Whether the issue is an active shooter – which is all over the media today – a chemical release or severe weather, it is essential that we are prepared to respond in support of our community.”

The nearly six-hour exercise will involve mock shootings, an improvised explosive device and a hostage situation. The intent is to observe the agencies’ emergency response, to refine the collective response and to help us be better prepared to treat those harmed in a real incident. In addition, Texas Children’s Emergency Management is hoping to test our mass casualty incident plan, emergency communications, incident command structure and patient flow.

About 400 DeBakey High School staff, students and parents will be involved in the exercise, which will begin with a safety briefing to prepare students. The exercise will be activated at 9 a.m. on the campus with an active shooter incident. Students will be triaged initially on site at the high school, and about 50 of them will arrive at Texas Children’s Emergency Center around 11:20 a.m. with mock life-threatening injuries like gunshot wounds, crushing injuries, blast and shrapnel injuries and psychological trauma.

When the students arrive at Texas Children’s, they will be mostly contained to the Emergency Center and Rapid Treatment Areas on the first floor of West Tower so as not to impact care and treatment of our actual patients. Injured students will be in full moulage, which is a detailed application of make-up that simulates wounds.

“Two essential elements of good performance are training and exercise,” said Emergency Management Manager Aaron Freedkin. “Training provides the foundation, and exercises test that foundation. To ensure our training is tested, we must practice as closely as possible to reality. Whether through use of realistic make-up for patients in a mass casualty incident or donning personal protective equipment for decontamination exercises, training efforts pay off when a real incident occurs.”

More than 20 Texas Children’s operations, clinical and logistics teams will be involved in Friday’s exercise, including Emergency Medicine, Trauma Services, Respiratory Therapy, Diagnostic Imaging, Pathology, Child Life, Security, Marketing/PR and others. This is the first exercise of its kind and scope that Texas Children’s has coordinated, but the current climate makes it critical that the organization be prepared.

“Given the risks we face along the Texas Gulf Coast, we spend significant time preparing Texas Children’s in hurricane response and preparedness,” said Emergency Management Assistant Director James Mitchell. “Yet, the reality is that we face a wide range of hazards that are manifesting more frequently than ever before.

“Severe weather and flooding, as we experienced repeatedly this spring, increasing occurrence of active shooter incidents and acts of terrorism all require our planning and preparation. As such, we are dedicated to testing our system in innovative and realistic ways across a variety of scenarios throughout the year.”

October 4, 2016

10516devonstillvisit640The Houston Texans Devon Still and TORO recently paid a special visit to Texas Children’s Hospital in honor of National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and in celebration of the hospital’s title game on October 2 vs. the Tennessee Titans.

During their hour-long stay, Still and TORO visited with patients who are battling cancer. The duo also signed autographs and brought smiles to the faces of families on the hospital’s inpatient cancer unit. The event wrapped up with Still reading the children’s book he wrote along with his 6-year-old daughter, Leah Still. Titled “I Am Leah Strong,” the book is about Leah’s fight with pediatric cancer.

Leah was diagnosed with neuroblastoma stage 4 cancer two years ago. Since then, she has undergone surgery to remove her cancerous tumor and surrounding lymph nodes. Doctors deemed Leah cancer-free this year.

Leah’s father has been one of her biggest supporters during her recovery, spending weeks sleeping next to her in the hospital while she was literally fighting for her life. Today, Still shares his family’s experience with others who are going through similar situations in an effort to comfort them and give them hope.

His visit to Texas Children’s Hospital was no exception. Patients and their family members laughed and cried while Still took the time to read to and visit with them.

Still’s visit was the result of Texas Children’s partnership with the Houston Texans. Texas Children’s teamed up with the professional football team earlier this year to inspire children to lead healthier, more active lives through camps, programs and events all year long. For more details about the hospital’s partnership with the Texans click here.

You can read more about “I Am Leah Strong” here.

10516badpants640On September 22, nurses from Texas Children’s Newborn Center were recognized for their hard work and dedication at the annual Bad Pants Day celebration at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women.

Nurses traded in their scrubs for creative, yet cringe-worthy pants that probably wouldn’t get the nod of approval from Giorgio Armani or Gianni Versace: orange and yellow striped pants, polka dot pants and red slacks with stitched pom poms.

For nurses at Texas Children’s Newborn Center, Bad Pants Day was more than just dressing up in whacky attire. It was their day to shine and know how much they are appreciated for their efforts to enhance the outcomes of critically-ill infants in our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Rebecca Schiff, assistant clinical nursing director in the Newborn Center, and her husband, Mike, shared their NICU journey when their twins, Jonah and Elliot, were born 24 weeks premature. They expressed their gratitude to the doctors, nurses and staff who took such great care of them.

“I am reminded of what the doctors and nurses in this room gave to me and to my family,” Mike said. “These people invest themselves into such a heavy burden daily, as a matter of routine. While today is about fun, about celebrating contributions and paying tribute, we should honor these heroes not just for the rewards of their heroism, but the burden of that heroism on their capable but often weary shoulders. Each of us owe and readily give our thanks to them.”

Several NICU patient families attended the celebration including NICU Vice President Judy Swanson, NICU Nursing Director Heather Cherry and Rob Cooksey and Les Fox from the Bad Pants Committee. Several members from the local media served as judges for the Bad Pants fashion show. The contest winners from first to fourth place were Sara Somers, Stephanie Lopez, Jessica Gomes and Judy Swanson.

Bad Pants Day also marked the official kick off for the 19th annual Bad Pants Open scheduled for Thursday, October 20. Proceeds from the golf tournament will support Texas Children’s Newborn Center. Click here to register.

10516qualityday640On September 16, more than 50 projects were featured at the 2016 Texas Children’s Quality Day event, “Leading Tirelessly, Always Improving: Celebrating Quality, Safety, and Process Improvement Innovations at Texas Children’s and Advanced Quality Improvement (AQI) 14 Graduation.”

Held at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women Conference Center, this special day was organized by the Quality Education Team and other Texas Children’s quality leaders. The event included presentations on exciting improvement initiatives implemented by the graduates of the AQI 14 class and showcased the many improvement projects/programs developed by staff and leaders across the organization.

“I am truly amazed and inspired to work with such a talented organization,” said Dana Danaher, director of Quality Education, Collaboratives and Advocacy at Texas Children’s. “I am privileged to facilitate building ongoing improvement capability for long-term sustainability.”

Chief Quality Officer Angelo Giardino kicked off the event with an inspirational keynote to the audience of more than 80 attendees. In recognition of the Daily Operational Briefing (DOB), a culture-changing safety practice adopted by Texas Children’s in November 2015, he presented a special quality award to Dr. Lane Donnelly, Dr. Joan Shook and recently retired Texas Children’s COO Randy Wright for their leadership in supporting the implementation of the DOB.

Following this motivational opening, the recent graduates of the AQI program presented their projects. Examples of some of the improvements discussed included:

  • MyChart activation
  • Discharge readiness
  • Improving isolation compliance
  • Postpartum depression screening
  • Reduction of medication re-dispenses

With more than 400 AQI graduates trained over the seven years that Texas Children’s has offered this valuable education, Giardino says Texas Children’s has great capacity to continue leading tirelessly to improve quality.

“The privilege of getting this training comes with a responsibility to use this new knowledge and the skills to do quality improvements to make things better for the women and children that we seek to serve,” Giardino said.

10416chroniclephilanthropyad250Texas 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.

Click here to visit the Promise website.

September 27, 2016

92816fallforum640Community members attending the recent Forum Luncheon on September 21 got to meet the top surgical leaders at Texas Children’s Hospital and learn about the incredible ways they are making history in pediatric surgery and about their vision for the future of the hospital’s surgical enterprise.

Following lunch and remarks from President and CEO Mark A. Wallace about the steady and rapid growth of Texas Children’s – including the Department of Surgery – Senior Vice President Mallory Caldwell moderated a panel discussion between: Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser, Jr., Chief of Otolaryngology Dr. Ellis Arjmand, Chief of Plastic Surgery Dr. Larry Hollier and Chief of Neurosurgery Dr. Howard Weiner.

Caldwell focused on questions that highlighted why Texas Children’s Department of Surgery is bigger, better, faster and stronger than any in the nation and how the core mission of the department is to have the depth and breadth of expertise to deliver a surgical solution for every child in need of one.

Topics discussed include: the importance of outcomes measurement and how we have approached this work at Texas Children’s; the fact that Texas Children’s expertise is in treating common illnesses as well as complex, rare conditions; the strength and unique value in the department’s many multi-disciplinary teams; and our ability to recruit the best and brightest as we continue to grow and strengthen our team.

“When I came down here and learned about what is going on at Texas Children’s and the future trajectory of the organization, I knew I had to be here,” said Weiner, who recently joined Texas Children’s from New York University where he led a world-renowned neurosurgery program. “The leadership, the can-do attitude and the drive to grow as a world class institution providing high quality, attentive care to all children is very exciting.”

When Texas Children’s Hospital opened its doors in 1954, it did so with the one and only pediatric surgeon in the city of Houston. Today, Texas Children’s Hospital, now more than 90 surgeons strong, is one of the first two hospitals in the U.S. to be verified as a Level I Children’s Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons.

Our surgeons have performed more than 350 heart transplants, making the heart transplant program one of the most experienced and active programs in the nation. We launched the first of its kind MRI-guided laser ablation surgery for epilepsy treatment, and we recently separated one of the most complicated cases of conjoined twins.

“Every time we have expanded it has been successful because we’ve done it for the right reasons,” Fraser said. “We are filling a specific need.”

The need for quality pediatric surgical care continues to grow and is a factor that convinced hospital leadership and its board of directors to add 19 floors to Pediatric Tower E near the Pavilion for Women. Much of the added space will house our expanded intensive care units and surgical facilities.

When Pediatric Tower E is complete, it will have 640,000 additional square feet of space, 130 beds for pediatric and cardiovascular intensive care, new operating rooms with the latest technology and a new and expanded Heart Center, including the outpatient clinic, cardiovascular operating rooms and catheterization labs.

Ultimately, Wallace said, the expansion will allow Texas Children’s Hospital to continue to provide the best possible family-centered care and best outcomes for the nation’s sickest children who come to us for help.

92716chroniclediabetesad250Texas 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.