May 1, 2018

Hand hygiene is key in keeping our kids healthy and on the road to a speedy recovery here at Texas Children’s. That’s why on Saturday, May 5 – World Hand Hygiene Day – leaders are asking providers to take a close look at whether they are cleaning their hands frequently and properly.

“Practicing hand hygiene is a simple yet effective way to prevent infections,” said Director of Quality and Safety Elaine Whaley. “Cleaning your hands can prevent the spread of germs, including those that are resistant to antibiotics and are becoming difficult, if not impossible, to treat.”

On average, health care providers across the nation clean their hands less than half of the times they should, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a result, about one in 25 hospital patients, on any given day, has at least one health care-associated infection.

At Texas Children’s, we strive for a hand-hygiene compliance rate of 95 percent or higher. So far this fiscal year, we have an average compliance rate of 88 percent. Compliance is measured by “secret” shoppers to determine how many opportunities to perform hand hygiene are met and how many opportunities are missed.

“Practicing good hand hygiene is the right thing to do for our patients and their families,” said Dr. Judith Campbell with Infectious Disease. “It reduces the transmission of organisms and infections while they are receiving our care.”

Learn more about how and when to properly wash your hands by clicking on the infographic above, and stay tuned for more information about competitions and additional educational opportunities for front line clinical workers for whom this information is so important.

This year’s Patient Experience Week celebration lived up to its theme, “A Magical Experience,” as patients and their families participated in fun and engaging activities at Texas Children’s Hospital Medical Center Campus, Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.

Patient Experience Week was held from April 23 to 27. New this year, the Patient Experience Team launched the Compassion Challenge. Each day during Patient Experience Week, employees and staff across the organization completed a challenge that focused on the concepts of compassion, communication and connectedness. Completed Compassion Challenge forms are due Tuesday, May 1, to patientexperience@texaschildrens.org to be eligible for the prize drawing of Houston Dynamo tickets.

The week began with an inspiring speech from Houston business owner and community leader Jim McIngvale, also known as Mattress Mack. In front of a packed auditorium in the Abercrombie Building, McIngvale shared his insight about the importance of serving others and how he builds his business on these core values.

“Helping people is what I was put on this earth to do. It is what we all were made to do,” said McIngvale. “No one helps children like Texas Children’s Hospital. It is beyond amazing how you do it.”

The week also included a speech from Kelly Fuhlman from the Disney Institute who shared the magic behind the customer experience created at Disney parks and resort locations throughout the world.

Hundreds of people attended patient and family experience events across Texas Children’s three campuses. The events provided many fun children’s movie themed activities along with sweet treats and photo booths.

“These kids go through so much every day, and when we have an opportunity to make them laugh and smile, it’s exciting,” said Nazish Ahmad, West Campus Ambulatory Clinic manager. “Especially as leaders, we don’t normally have that face-to-face interaction all the time, so to be in such a fun environment and make the kiddos smile just makes the day.”

Caught You Caring (CYC) Awards ceremonies were also held at the Medical Center Campus, West Campus and The Woodlands Campus to recognize our 2018 recipients who have gone above and beyond to show compassion to our patients, families and co-workers.

The CYC program’s idea was brought to life after a physician read a heartfelt letter written by the mother of one of our patients. She described the care and compassion her whole family received during her son’s admission. Since then, CYC was conceptualized, piloted in our surgery areas in 2015, and has been launched system-wide with more than 6,000 CYC cards received. CYC boxes are located throughout all campuses so that anyone can recognize a staff member or a colleague.

A panel of judges scored each nomination to select the top employees and this year’s winners received a CYC award, a T-shirt, and the highlight of the ceremony – tickets to an upcoming Houston Texans event.

Texas Children’s Hospital Medical Center Campus:
Hilda Andrade, Lead Tech for Environmental Services
Yaneth Arrue, Unit Support Assistant in Abercrombie
Shatovia Cerf, Patient Care Assistant on 14 West Tower
Krista Miller, Staff Nurse in Labor and Delivery
Sandy Rodriguez, Front Office Specialist in Partners in OB/GYN at the Pavilion for Women
Erick Talamantes, Surgery Patient Liaison in West Tower

Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus:
Rosy Alvarado, Ambulatory Services Representative in the Urology clinic
Melissa Starner, Staff Nurse for West Campus 5th floor inpatient

Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands:
Lisa Carr, Staff Nurse in the Woodlands Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
Melanie Johnson, Ambulatory Services Representative in the Neurophysiology department

Overall, the Patient Experience events were a success at reminding employees, patients and families that care at Texas Children’s goes beyond the bedside. It has to do with how we treat our patients and their families from the moment they call to schedule an appointment with us to the point they leave our care.

Texas Children’s Hospital is committed to creating the best possible experience for our patients and their families. A significant part of this experience, that perhaps at times goes unnoticed, is our linen services. Linen forms an integral part of the services we provide – from clinical visits, to emergency visits or long stays.

Effective Friday, May 4, Texas Children’s will partner with a new linen vendor, Texas Textile Services. With more than fifteen years of experience and a state-of-the-art facility, Texas Textile has worked with various prestigious health care organizations throughout the Houston area.

Contact Linen Services at LinenServices@TexasChildrens.org or at ext. 4-5000, option 4, with questions regarding linen, scrubs, or ScrubEx machines.

April 19, 2018

On April 18, Olympian Kristin Armstrong and Scott Schnitzspahn, vice president of Elite Athletics, USA Cycling, met with employees and visited with patients during a tour of Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands. Armstrong, a three-time gold medalist, and Schnitzspahn brought smiles to many of the patient’s faces and were enjoyed by the many employees and leaders who got to meet them.

Armstrong is the winner of the women’s individual time trial in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in China, Armstrong completed one of the biggest achievements of her career by winning the gold medal in the women’s road time trial competition. Finishing in under 35 minutes, Armstrong was 25 seconds ahead of silver medalist Emma Pooley from Great Britain and with Karin Thurig from Switzerland, who took the bronze.

Armstrong successfully defended her Olympic title in the individual time trial at the 2012 Olympics in London and became the oldest rider to win an Olympic time trial, finishing 35th in the women’s road race.

In August 2016, Armstrong made history again at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janerio after coming out of retirement to win the gold medal in the women’s individual time trial and becoming the first rider ever to win three gold medals in the same discipline. She also became the oldest female cyclist to win an Olympic medal.

In September 2017 Armstrong joined USA Cycling as Endurance Performance Director.

April 17, 2018

The hospital’s canine crew now has a male pup joining the team. He has officially been added to the roster as a part of Texas Children’s Pawsitive Play Program that uses animal-assisted therapy to enhance the emotional well-being of pediatric patients by reducing their anxiety, perception of pain and fear of hospitalization.

Pinto is a two-and-a-half-year-old golden retriever who was generously funded through a gift from The Auxiliary to Texas Children’s Hospital, a volunteer led organization that has been providing compassion to patients and their families for over 60 years.

He will be working in Acute Care, including units like Inpatient Rehab, the Emergency Center, and others around the hospital.

Like Elsa and Bailey, Pinto will offer distraction and motivation to patients undergoing certain medical procedures, along with his trusted handler. Shelby Bonnet is a Texas Children’s child life specialist who collaborates with medical teams and physical and occupational therapists to visit with five to ten patients each day who are having a particularly difficult time during their hospitalization. She is looking forward to expanding her role, and transitioning into being the newest therapy dog handler.

“I have been able to see the great work that Sarah and Adair (other therapy dog handlers) have done with Bailey and Elsa,” Bonnet said. “I am really excited to incorporate Pinto into helping patients and families around the hospital.”

As a child life specialist, who worked in the Emergency Center, Bonnet is no stranger to creating a comfortable atmosphere for children in a difficult environment, and Pinto is able to connect with patients in ways that no one else can.

Recently, Pinto took a small tour around the hospital to become more acclimated with patients and his co-workers. Just like any other employee, he was greeted by his fellow co-workers with the warmest welcome, encouragement, and motivation to uphold Texas Children’s mission of creating a healthier future for children and women throughout our global community.

“I expect a lot of promoting some normalization in the hospital,” Bonnet said. “I really hope that Pinto is able to help decrease anxiety, and to be an encouragement during procedures.”

Pinto is a bit larger and a shade or two darker than Bailey and Elsa, so it will be easy to spot him around the hospital. He is still adapting to being in this environment, but feel free to greet him and show that he has all of the love and support from his Texas Children’s family.

Shaquille O’Neal made a special visit to Texas Children’s Cancer Center April 9 prior to being honored at the Marriott Marquis Houston for the 13th annual An Evening with a Legend.

During the one-on-one room visits, O’Neal enjoyed shooting hoops, playing games and talking with patients about their cancer journeys. As someone who has had such a unique and successful journey on and off the court, O’Neal offered words of encouragement and let the families know they are not alone.

Later that evening, the 7-foot-1-inch tall NBA legend was honored at the annual An Evening with a Legend event benefiting Texas Children’s Cancer Center.

Nearly 500 guests enjoyed the unforgettable evening kicked off by University of Houston cheerleaders rallied and followed by a beautiful seated dinner, exciting “Slam Dunk” paddle raise and an intimate conversation with O’Neal.

Moderated by NBC’s American Ninja Warrior host Matt Iseman, guests were given an inside look at how O’Neal achieved incredible basketball accolades, as well as his success and unique journey off the court. His larger-than-life personality and powerful athleticism have made him a household name and legend in both sports and entertainment. His individual accomplishments include seven MVP awards, two scoring titles, 15 All-Star game selections and much more. O’Neal is one of only three players in history to win NBA MVP, All-Star game MVP and Finals MVP in the same year. He led his teams to four NBA Finals championships during his career and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.

Co-chaired by Julie Bergen and Kathy Zay, the event raised more than $700,000 for Texas Children’s Cancer Center. Monica and Kevin King and Stephanie and Brad Tucker served as honorary chairs for the event.

Are you ready to take on the Compassion Challenge? To celebrate Patient Experience Week beginning on Monday, April 23, Texas Children’s will launch the Compassion Challenge to engage staff around the hospital’s core values.

Each day during Patient Experience Week, employees and staff across the organization will complete a challenge that focuses on the concepts of compassion, communication and connectedness. Whether it’s greeting 10 people within the first two hours of your shift or helping patients and visitors navigate their way through our hospital campuses and facilities, these simple acts of compassion go a long way to show just how much you care.

“We are focusing our patient experience efforts around these behavioral philosophies to exemplify the core of Texas Children’s culture,” said Texas Children’s Director of Patient and Family Services, Katie Kalenda Daggett. “Hardwiring these principles into actions throughout the organization will demonstrate to our patients and their families that we put them first, all while working to create a healthier future for children and women.”

Employees and staff who complete each challenge during Patient Experience Week will be entered into a contest for a chance to win two tickets to an upcoming Houston Dynamos game. Click here to view the details of each challenge and for more information on how to participate in the Compassion Challenge.

The theme for Patient Experience Week is “A Magical Experience,” which is fitting following last month’s exciting announcement of Texas Children’s partnership with the Walt Disney Company on patient experience initiatives. This year’s theme describes what a patient’s stay should feel like at Texas Children’s. Every day our employees and staff work together to ensure our patients and families have the best experience possible every time they see us.

From April 23 to April 27, the Patient Experience team will kick off an exciting week filled with magic-themed activities, interactive events and educational opportunities at Texas Children’s Hospital Medical Center Campus, Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital Woodlands Campus.

Several events planned include Caught You Caring Awards ceremonies at all three campuses to recognize our 2018 recipients who have gone above and beyond to show compassion to our patients, families and co-workers.

In addition, you don’t want to miss these two inspiring speaker series talks:

  • Local business owner and community leader Jim McIngvale, also known as Mattress Mack, will speak about the importance of serving others and how he builds his business on these core values.
  • Walt Disney once said “You can dream, create, design the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.” Kelly Fuhlman from the Disney Institute shares the magic behind the customer experience created at Disney parks and resort locations throughout the world.

If you can’t attend the speaker series at the Medical Center Campus, video streaming will be available to other locations. Come out and celebrate the hard work that each of us does every day to make the patient experience an exceptional one at Texas Children’s.

There will be fun activities for patients and families as well including music, a photo booth, a magician, Disney characters, games and activities.

Click here to view the speaker series flyer.

PATIENT EXPERIENCE WEEK 2018 – A MAGICAL EXPERIENCE

Monday, April 23

Speaker Series: The Magic of Serving Others
Join us during Patient Experience Week as we learn about the importance of serving others from community leader and supporter Mattress Mack.

Where: Texas Children’s auditorium (Abercrombie Building – Medical Center Campus)
When: noon to 1 p.m.

Caught you Caring Awards Reception
Join us during Patient Experience Week as we celebrate employees and staff who have gone above and beyond to provide compassion to our patients, families and co-workers.

Where: Pavilion for Women Conference Rooms B and C (fourth floor)
When: 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Tuesday, April 24

Caught you Caring Awards Reception
Join us during Patient Experience Week as we celebrate employees and staff who have gone above and beyond to provide compassion to our patients, families and co-workers.

Where: West Campus Conference Room (WH-01A)
When: 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Patient and Family Celebration
Patients and families are invited to join us for “A Magical Experience” at one of our patient and family celebrations during Patient Experience Week. There will be music, a photo booth, Disney characters, games and activities.

Where: West Campus (first-floor lobby)
When: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Wednesday, April 25

Speaker Series: The Magic behind the Customer Experience
Walt Disney once said, “You can dream, create, design the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.” Kelly Fuhlman from the Disney Institute shares the business behind the magic created at Disney parks and resort locations throughout the world.

Where: Texas Children’s auditorium (Abercrombie Building, Medical Center Campus)
When: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Thursday, April 26

Patient and Family Celebration
Patients and families are invited to join us for “A Magical Experience” at one of our patient and family celebrations during Patient Experience Week. There will be music, a photo booth, magician, Disney characters, games and activities.

Where: The Auxiliary Bridge (Medical Center Campus)
When: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Friday, April 27

Caught you Caring Awards Reception
Join us during Patient Experience Week as we celebrate employees and staff who have gone above and beyond to provide compassion to our patients, families and co-workers.

Where: The Woodlands Conference Center (WL.0280.02)
When: 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Patient and Family Celebration
Patients and families are invited to join us for “A Magical Experience” at one of our patient and family celebrations during Patient Experience Week. There will be music, magician, Disney characters, games and activities.

Where: The Woodlands Hospital (first-floor lobby)
When: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Other activities throughout the week at the Pavilion for Women include:

Chair massages will be available for patients at the Pavilion for Women clinics. The massage therapist will rotate through the clinics throughout the week. Tea cart will also provide tea, cookies and a succulent to inpatients at Pavilion for Women.