March 13, 2018

It is prom season and The Child Life Department wants all Texas Children’s teens to be able to experience a night of glitz, glam, and guaranteed fun. They are hosting the first hospital-wide prom on Friday, May 11 from 7 to 10 p.m., and they need your help to pull this event off!

In order to make sure all patients have prom attire, Child Life will be collecting formal wear from Texas Children’s employees from now until Monday, May 7.

Men’s and women’s formal wear in all sizes will be accepted and must be dry cleaned before being donated. Please be sure to submit the dry cleaning receipt along with the items.

Prom is open to inpatient and outpatient kids ages 13 and up, and includes a plus one for anyone over 13 as well.

The 16th floor of West Tower will be available the day of prom for patients to get dressed to impress. Professional stylists will be available to perfect their hair and makeup, and accessories will also be provided to add the finishing touches to the patient’s ensemble.

Child Life is also working with The Glass Slipper Foundation to provide formal wear for all inpatient and outpatient kids.

The Glass Slipper Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was inspired by an adolescent who resided in a Residential Treatment Facility. The foundation is an entity of, Vessels Interceding Sowing Into Our Nation (VISION Inc.), which is an organization that supports the physical, emotional, and social needs of at-risk adolescent females.

Inpatient and outpatient children will be able to attend a shopping day to pick out their prom attire.

The outpatient shopping day will be held Saturday, April 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Fifth Ward Multi Service Center, located at 4014 Market Street, Houston, Texas 77020.

The inpatient shopping day will be held here at Texas Children’s Hospital on the 16th floor of West Tower Thursday, May 10. An exact time of day will be announced soon.

Prom will be held in the third floor conference rooms in Mark A. Wallace Tower. This year’s prom theme is Hollywood Nights. There will be dancing, food, pictures, and more!

Donations will be accepted in the Texas Children’s Hospital Volunteer Services office.

February 27, 2018

More than 528 employees and staff with a total 10,150 combined years of Texas Children’s service were honored last week at our 30th Annual Employee Recognition Celebration.

On February 20, veteran employees poured into the Bayou City Event Center just before noon, to celebrate the core of Texas Children’s past, present and future. The event recognized our long-time honorees and award recipients for their continued commitment to the mission of Texas Children’s.

“This is one of my favorite events,” said Human Resources Senior Vice President Linda Aldred. ”I love being here with you, I love chatting it up with you, and I particularly love celebrating you.”

Lavish decorations filled the large ballroom, and a delectable three-course meal was served. Entertainment included music from the past 40 years, but the crowd favorite was a photo booth that broke the ice as everyone took pictures, mixed and mingled.

Our very own ukulele choir kicked off the program, grabbing the crowd’s attention as they sang their original song, The Texas Children’s Way. Texas Children’s Board of Trustees member Willie Alexander, and Radiologist-in-Chief Dr. George Bisset delivered inspiring speeches and congratulated each employee as he or she crossed the stage to receive recognition for15 to 45 years of service.

In addition to long-time honorees, the ceremony recognized recipients of the Best of the West, Mark A. Wallace Catalyst Leadership, Smiles and Super Star awards.

“You’ve turned our values into actions,” Aldred said, driving home how much employees contribute to Texas Children’s success of being the top children’s hospital in Texas and one of the best in the country. “A lot of organizations have values, but they don’t make them the core of who they are. All of you have done this for us.”

When asked, employees’ collective perception of Texas Children’s culture is simply unity. Many agree with Texas Children’s current longest working employee of 45 years, Dorothy Botley, who said her job is her “home away from home.”

“I’ve worked in many departments, and it’s all the same,” Botley said. “It’s like being in a family, because everybody looks out for everybody.”

The annual event was a day to celebrate accomplishments and honor those who have carried out the values and the mission of Texas Children’s to ensure we meet the health care needs of our patients and their families.

“Your infinite passion will always have our infinite gratitude,” Aldred said as she brought the program to a close. “We will never take that for granted and will always take the time to recognize and celebrate it. So with that said, I plan on seeing you all back in 5 years!”

Congratulations to all of this year’s honorees!

February 20, 2018

On February 9, more than 350 guests joined event chairs Sidney Faust, Judi McGee, Elsie Eckert and Scott Basinger for the 10th annual Celebration of Champions fashion show and luncheon at the River Oaks Country Club.

The event featured a fashion show with pediatric cancer survivors from Texas Children’s Cancer Center walking the runway with this year’s Community Champions, a group of notable Houstonians who do so much to help children battling cancer and make the community a better place.

More than your typical fashion show, it was a “look at me now” moment for children who have seen some dark days early in their lives in their fight with cancer. View a gallery of photos from the event below.

In addition to showcasing the latest fashion trends from Saks Fifth Avenue and Dillard’s, the event also featured a special appearance by the honorary event chairs Jeff Bagwell and Mary Lou Retton. Bagwell and Retton kicked off the event with the lighting of the Torch of Hope and later took the runway alongside patient champions.

Since its inception, the event has raised more than $1.5 million for the Long Term Cancer Survivor Program at Texas Children’s Cancer Center, which monitors patients for delayed side effects and complications caused by previous cancer therapies. Not every pediatric cancer treatment center continues to care for its patients into adulthood however, caregivers at Texas Children’s Cancer Center recognize that health concerns for childhood cancer patients do not end when their cancer treatment is successfully completed.

The program currently has 25,000 long-term pediatric cancer survivors nationwide enrolled in Passport for Care®, an online resource guide developed at Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine that provides individualized health care information to guide physicians’ care for late risks and effects from childhood cancer treatment. It has developed an international reputation as a leader in the field and has attracted a world-renowned faculty involved in local, national and international research that benefits today’s pediatric cancer patients and future survivors.

The event’s Community Champions included Jeff and Rachel Bagwell, Mary Lou Retton, Dr. David Poplack, Lisa McCoy, Linda and Mark Evans, Winell and Doug Herron, Kristy and Chris Bradshaw, Christie and Billy McCartney, Kathi and Bill Rovere, Tena and Tyson Faust, Hannah and Cal McNair, Penny and John Butler, Mary and John Eads, Diane and John Riley, Courtney and Christopher Sarofim. Among the event’s other medically-minded supporters were Flo Crady, Emily Crosswell, Bo Butler, Scott Butler, Megan Cushing, Bethany Hibbetts, Caroline Walter, Joanna and Brad Marks, Lisa and Mike O’Leary, Carmen and Butch Mach.

February 14, 2018

Two-month-old Finley Sloan got a special visit from her interventional cardiologist Dr. Aimee Liou last week when she walked into her room on the 15th floor of the Heart Center carrying a tiny red knit hat.

Liou, a self-taught knitter, made the hat herself in honor of National Heart Awareness Month and chose to give it to Finley, who has been a patient at Texas Children’s since she was born. The hat fit the little girl’s head perfectly.

“I am thrilled to be able to serve patients in this capacity,” Liou said. “To be able to show them kindness, compassion and warmth on top of giving them the best possible clinical care is really special.”

In addition to Liou, several other Texas Children’s staff and friends of the Heart Center crafted hats for patients in recognition of Heart Month, a time focused on heart health and the seriousness of cardiovascular disease, which claims the life of one person every 38 seconds in America.

Congenital heart defects are the most common form of cardiovascular disease in children and are the top congenital abnormality. Affecting one out of every 1,000 newborns, more than 35,000 babies in the United States are born with congenital heart defects each year.

To shine a light on these statistics and the work done at Texas Children’s to prevent and treat heart disease, almost 50 hats in various shades of red and pink have been handed out this month to patients of all ages at the Heart Center. Pediatric Cardiologist Dr. Judith Becker made close to 30 of the hats.

A long-time knitter and crocheter, Becker stopped her craft in the early 2000s because of carpal tunnel syndrome. She had corrective surgery in 2010 but was not motivated to pick up her needles again until this year when she learned about the effort to knit hats for patients at the Heart Center to highlight Heart Month.

“It was a great reason to get started again, and I had a great time,” Becker said. “It’s always nice to be able to do something extra for our patients.”

The patients who received the hats were extremely appreciative of the generous gesture. Finley and 8-year-old Stephanie Villafuerte, were all smiles after donning their new festive attire, and may others expressed their gratitude.

Both Liou and Becker said they hope the knitting circle continues to generate hats for patients treated at the Heart Center.

“I would like to see this continue,” Liou said. “It’s a great way to demonstrate our family-centered care.”

Interested in knitting a hat? Contact Laura Higgins at ext. 6-1981 or llhiggin@texaschildrens.org.

For more information on our Heart Center, click here.

February 6, 2018

When a patient is admitted to Texas Children’s Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, we not only want them to receive the best possible medical care, but also feel comfortable and supported during their stay whether that means receiving help from one of our child life specialists, learning more about their health care team or simply finding out how to park and where to grab a bite to eat.

All of this information and more can be found in a new 20-page guide to Texas Children’s Hospital. Titled “Your Guide to Texas Children’s Hospital, the book is being placed in every inpatient room by Environmental Services as they prepare the rooms for patients and their families. The guides also can be found online at https://www.texaschildrens.org/yourguide and via the Texas Children’s Wayfinding App, which is available for Android and iPhones. For more information about the app, click here.

“We are so pleased to be able to provide such a comprehensive resource to our patients and families,” said Director of Patient and Family Services Katie Kalenda-Daggett. “We want them to feel informed and empowered in their experience with us – and we want them to know that we are here to support them in any way we can.”

Available in English and Spanish, the guide includes information about the many patient and family services Texas children’s provides, as well as more details about the hospital.

Topics discussed in “Your Guide to Texas Children’s Hospital” include:

  • Important phone numbers
  • Your child’s health care team
  • Family support services
  • Tips for parents
  • Amenities and dining
  • Parking
  • Texas Children’s locations
  • Patients and family safety
  • Privacy
  • Patient rights and responsibilities
  • Billing
  • Donations

The guide also contains several phone numbers and tips on how to find additional information if needed and not included.

Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark A. Wallace says in the guide’s welcome letter that “Your Guide to Texas Children’s Hospital” is a good example of how we practice family-centered care, which is based on: dignity and respect, information sharing, participation and collaboration.

“You know your child best,” Wallace said. “That’s why you are an important member of your child’s health care team.”

Several guides have been used throughout Texas Children’s Hospital’s history. This edition began with Environmental Services and Sustainability Director Elex Sanchez and his former AQI team, and was published with the help of Marketing and Public Relations, Patient and Family Services, Guest Services, Translation Services, the Care First Advisory Group, Environmental Services and Facilities Operations. Guides for other Texas Children’s locations are in the works.

Supporting information such as local dining options and destinations and area attractions also can be found on the Marketing Connect site. Please feel free to download and print and use as needed.

If you have any feedback about the guide or supporting documents, please contact brand@texaschildrens.org.

The Mark A. Wallace New Employee Pep Rally was held at West Campus last week complete with giant foam fingers, pompoms, dance music, and of course, our President and CEO, Mark Wallace. The gathering gave nearly 100 new and recent hires a cheerful and uniquely spirited welcome to the Texas Children’s family.

The pep rally, modeled after the redesigned Texas Children’s Hi orientation that sends new employees back to school to learn about the organization and its special culture, is an opportunity for new employees to become better acquainted with the organization as a whole and meet executives and other leaders within a friendly and festive atmosphere.

The high-energy pep rally format replaces the more traditional new employee reception that Wallace has hosted for decades. All new employees invited to attend were part of the Texas Children’s Hi Class of 2017 with their mascot the “Armadillo.”

“You don’t work for me; I work for each and every one of you,” said Wallace, who personally introduced himself to every new employee attending the pep rally, trading jokes and posing for photos and selfies – complete with duck-faces.

Recalling the days when Texas Children’s consisted of just one, seven-story building with fewer than 300 registered nurses, Wallace discussed the growth the organization has experienced since he arrived in 1989 and the plans to expand even further by moving into Austin and opening the Legacy Tower in the Texas Medical Center. Having so many great employees dedicated to the Texas Children’s mission plays a key role in driving that progress, he said.

“This is not just a job. You can build a career here,” Wallace said. “Thank you for choosing us and allowing us to choose you for this partnership. You’re going to enjoy working at Texas Children’s Hospital.”

Jordan Nedbalek, an orthopedic technician at Specialty Care Bellaire, attended the West Campus pep rally with colleagues and radiology specialists Anjail Abdullah and Amanda Schell. All three said they especially enjoyed the themed decorations and the lighthearted, warm mood set by Wallace and the other leaders and staff volunteers at the event.

“At every point you’re always made to feel welcome,” Nedbalek said.

Many new hires at the pep rally agreed and said their Texas Children’s careers are already off to a good start. Few expected to ever meet Wallace or leaders like Executive Vice President Michelle Riley-Brown, given the size of the organization, and they appreciated their chance to make a more personal connection.

“When I met Mr. Wallace it was like I’d known him for years,” said Ina Gill, an ambulatory service representative who handles scheduling for the Sleep Center at West Campus. “The pep rally experience is fun. We know all this is for us, which makes a difference. I’m loving it at Texas Children’s and learning a lot. It already feels like family and I’m here to stay.”

February 1, 2018

Since we first opened our doors on February 1, 1954, Texas Children’s Hospital has grown by leaps and bounds.

From our three hospital campuses to our health centers, urgent care clinics, pediatric practices and specialty care clinics, Texas Children’s has grown into one of the largest and most comprehensive pediatric and women’s health care organizations in the nation. The opening of Texas Children’s Legacy Tower in 2018 and plans to expand the hospital’s pediatric and OB/GN services into Austin also will enhance the care and access we provide to our patients and their families.

As we celebrate our hospital’s 64th birthday, we asked employees and staff what their birthday wish is for Texas Children’s.