December 12, 2017

On December 8, Texas Children’s posted the 2017 Pension Plan deposit into the account of eligible employees. To see how much your pension plan has grown, log into your Mercer account. For new users, you may register by clicking on “Get Started.” On the Mercer website, you will also find useful tools to help you view your balance, estimate your future pension plan balance and verify/update your beneficiary information.

This pension plan is designed to provide a foundation for your retirement and is fully funded by Texas Children’s. You are automatically enrolled in the plan on April 1 or October 1 once you reach 21 years of age and have worked 1,000 hours or more during the 12 consecutive months after your initial date of hire. Contributions are vested according to the schedule shown in the image above.

To learn more about Texas Children’s Pension Plan, visit our Benefits website or call 800-752-8230 to speak with a Mercer representative.

Texas Children’s 403(b) Savings Plan

The IRS has increased the retirement contribution limits for 2018. The maximum amount an employee can contribute to their Texas Children’s 403(b) Savings Plan during 2018 is $18,500. Employees turning age 50 or over can contribute an additional $6,000 during 2018.

Texas Children’s matches 50 percent on the first 6 percent of your pre-tax contributions per pay period, to a maximum of $8,250 for 2018. Employer contributions are vested according to the schedule shown in the image above.

If you are not already enrolled in the 403(b) savings plan or not contributing at least 6 percent, you should consider doing so now. To update your contribution elections or to enroll, please visit the Fidelity NetBenefits to access your online account. If you are registering online for the first time, please click on “Register as a new user” in the log in area.

To learn more about Texas Children’s 403(b) Savings Plan, visit our Benefits website or call 800-343-0860 to speak with a Fidelity representative.

The holidays are approaching, and with that comes the gift-giving season! In your role at Texas Children’s, you might have encountered situations where patients, Health Plan members, or vendors want to give you gifts to express their gratitude. And you’ve probably thought to yourself, can I accept the gift? Depending on your job, accepting a gift may interfere with your professional responsibilities, and could trigger violations of certain laws or ethical rules. So what is appropriate? Below are some FAQs to ensure you and your staff are appropriately handling gifts among Texas Children’s workforce members, patients, Health Plan members, and vendors.

Patients and Health Plan members

Can I accept cash or cash equivalents from a patient, Health Plan member, or their family?

No. Never accept cash or cash equivalents (including gift cards) from patients or Health Plan Members. Even a $5 gift card to Starbucks is not appropriate.

What other gifts can I not accept from a patient, Health Plan member, or their family?

It is not appropriate to accept high dollar value gifts such as expensive pens, jewelry, electronics, tickets to sporting events or concerts, or other extravagant items.

What can I accept from a patient, Health Plan member, or their family?

Gifts with nominal value are acceptable if they are infrequent and do not create an obligation on your part. Examples include food, flowers, and balloons. These types of gifts should be shared with your co-workers.

Can I give a gift to a patient, Health Plan Member, or their family?

Yes, you can give nominal gifts, valued under $15 per item, or $75 annually per patient or Health Plan member.

Never give cash, cash equivalents (including gift cards), or high dollar value gifts.

How can I politely decline a gift without offending a patient, Health Plan member, or their family?

  • Always express gratitude, even when you cannot accept the gift.
  • Clarify that Texas Children’s does not generally allow you to accept gifts.
  • Stress that you do not want other patients or Health Plan members to feel like they have to give gifts.
  • In the rare circumstances where return of a gift is not possible, the gift must be delivered to the Office of Philanthropy, who will use it for the benefit of patients and families.
Vendors

Can I accept cash or cash equivalents from a vendor?

No. Never accept cash or cash equivalents (including gift cards) from vendors.

What other gifts can I not accept from a vendors?

It is not appropriate to accept gifts from vendors that may influence or appear to influence their decision-making on behalf of Texas Children’s.

What can I accept from a vendor?

Gifts with nominal value are acceptable if they are infrequent, of nominal value and do not create an obligation on your part. Examples include food, flowers, and balloons. These types of gifts should be shared with your co-workers.

Unsolicited offers of entertainment or social events (e.g. attendance at a sporting or cultural event, participating in a sporting activity) as long as long as they are infrequent, do not improperly influence behavior, and will not influence any part of a decision making process.

Can I accept gifts from vendors that are involved in a bid/award process?

No. If a vendor is involved in a Request for Proposal, Request for Information, or Request for Quote, you may not accept any gift or meal, regardless of its value.

Colleagues

Can I give or accept a gift from a co-worker?

Yes, you can exchange gifts with your colleagues, as long as you paid for the gift yourself. You may not use Texas Children’s funds (e.g. eReimbursement, ProCard) for gifts for colleagues.

If you have a question about giving or receiving gifts, please contact Compliance and Privacy (ext. 4-2085 or compliance@texaschildrens.org).

November 14, 2017

As we wrap up our Caught You Caring series on Connect, we share one more inspiring story of a Texas Children’s employee who demonstrates what it means to go above and beyond for her patients and their families.

For nearly eight years, Amanda Riddle has found it her life’s passion to take care of sick children. As a neurology nurse in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, she makes sure her patients have the best possible experience during their hospital stay as many of them are sometimes here for several months on the unit.

“I nominated Amanda for the Caught You Caring award because she truly embodies a caregiver,” said Elizabeth Davis, patient care manager in Neurology. “She lives the values and demonstrates true advocacy and empathy for patients, families and staff. She always greets patients and their families to see if they are having a great experience during their hospital stay, and she is willing to support her colleagues when they need a helping hand.”

Recently, Amanda noticed that one of the floor’s newer nurses was struggling with her current patient load. Amanda rushed in to help by performing blood draws and handling lab work so that her colleague could focus on her other patients with more urgent needs.

Her colleagues on the unit describe Amanda as a coworker who has a “passion for the work that she does which is impossible to miss. Whenever Amanda is on the unit, she will not let you be in the trenches alone.”

Launched in 2015, Texas Children’s Caught You Caring program is a systemwide program that recognizes employees for going above and beyond to provide compassion and kindness in the care of a patient, family or co-worker. Recently, Riddle was among more than a dozen employees who received a pair of tickets to watch the Houston Texans Play 60 game on October 1, after being recognized for his acts of kindness through this program.

Texas Children’s wants to continue to recognize those who take great pride in the work they do and encourages patients, families and employees to catch someone who is making a difference.

To nominate a colleague, Caught You Caring boxes and cards can be found across the Texas Children’s hospital system for patients and families to fill out. Employees can fill out a staff recognition.

For the past four weeks, Connect featured a series of Caught You Caring videos spotlighting several of our employees who have gone above and beyond their role in the care of our patients and their families.

In case you missed it, click on the links below to view the rest of the series.

Heather Eppleheimer
Joyce Enochs
Keith Thomas
Donald Wilkins

On November 9, Texas Children’s dedicated the Merle C. Donigan Play Garden during a special ribbon cutting ceremony attended by more than 50 people including Texas Children’s leadership and staff, members of the Building and Grounds Committee of the Board of Trustees, The Auxiliary to Texas Children’s Hospital, and our external construction and design partners who helped make this vision a reality for our patients and their families.

Located outside the Abercrombie Building, a beautifully hand-painted mural greets visitors as they enter the Merle C. Donigan Play Garden which was meticulously designed to create a comfortable retreat where patients and families could get away from the stress of treatment or caring for a loved one in the hospital.

The play garden features a colorful display of child-friendly play pieces, musical instruments and plenty of shade structures, benches and lush landscape for optimal relaxation. The design of the play space allows patients – whether ambulatory or confined to a wheelchair – to easily access all of the amenities offered in the play garden.

Guest speakers at the dedication ceremony included Texas Children’s Senior Vice President Tabitha Rice, Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre, Donigan family friend Betty Lunsford, and patient family Desiree Bradley, whose daughter, Deonc, had been treated at Texas Children’s neonatal intensive care unit for seven months.

When Bradley delivered her daughter, she wasn’t sure how long her little girl would survive due to an extremely rare genetic disorder called Jarcho-Levin Syndrome, which affects the spine, ribs and respiratory system. Ten years later, however, Deonc, is a happy, thriving young girl who visits Texas Children’s often where she sees 13 different specialists for her condition. Bradley thanked the staff at Texas Children’s and everyone who was involved in the play garden project which will benefit our patients and their families for many years to come.

“You have done an outstanding job to make this an accessible space for all of the children, all of the patients and their families at Texas Children’s,” Bradley said. “When you enter the play garden, it’s not just about Deonc Bradley. It’s about mom and dad, the siblings, and meeting the needs of the entire family. When I am having a rough day, this is a nice space for me and my children to take a break and relax for a few minutes.”

In addition to feedback from our medical staff, employees and from our patients and families, Texas Children’s Facilities Planning and Development team collaborated with external project partners – W.S. Bellows, RVI Planning + Landscape Architecture, Smith Seckman & Reid, Walter P. Moore and muralist Sebastein Boileau – to bring this project to fruition for our patient families.

The new Abercrombie play garden was named in memory of the late Merle C. Donigan, a long-time Texas Children’s volunteer and Auxiliary member who graciously donated funds which were used to honor her legacy and support this renovation project. While she and her husband never had children of their own, they both delighted in being able to make a child smile.

“As former owners of a sandwich/candy shop in downtown Houston, the Donigans retired from business in the 1950s and thereafter, Merle brought her business acumen and love of children to volunteer at Texas Children’s,” Lunsford said. “This play garden is a symbol of Merle’s love of children and gives us the opportunity to celebrate the legacy she left us.”

To learn more about the Merle C. Donigan Play Garden, click here to watch the video.

October 31, 2017

Halloween came early for several patients, families and employees across Texas Children’s and will continue throughout the week with various spooktacular events filled with fun.

At West Campus, the festivities began on October 26 with the campus’ annual Fall Festival. Dressed in their Halloween best, employees handed out goodies and played games with patients during the multi-hour long party sponsored by Child Life. A similar festival is being held on Halloween at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.

The festivities continued at West Campus and in The Woodlands when members of Texas Window Cleaning Co., Inc. dressed up as super heroes and cleaned both of the hospital’s windows while waving to children inside. The company has been cleaning the windows at West Campus since 2011. This was their first year in The Woodlands.

Ghosts, goblins and ghouls also were out in full force on The Auxiliary Bridge for the annual Halloween on the Bridge event at Texas Children’s Hospital Main Campus, at the Spirit of Halloween and a new Kids Haunted House held in the Child Life Zone, and other areas across the organization.

View the photo gallery below to get a glimpse of the fun everyone had at these unforgettable events.

At Texas Children’s, we are committed to leading tirelessly in maintaining an ethical workplace. Every day, we hold each other accountable to the highest standards of integrity and ethical behavior.

To recognize and promote the importance of integrity and ethics at Texas Children’s, we will be celebrating National Corporate Compliance and Ethics Week during the week of November 6 – 10.

During the week, the Compliance and Privacy Office will be hosting a series of awareness events throughout the organization. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet members of the Compliance and Privacy Office, learn more about what we do, play games and win prizes. For a complete schedule of events, click here.

Thank you for your continued support of our Compliance and Privacy programs. If you have any questions, please contact the Compliance and Privacy Office at ext. 4-2085 or compliance@texaschildrens.org.

The Texas Children’s Hospital Ukulele Choir cheered on our Houston Astros in the best way they know how, with the help of some very special patients!

Led by the Music Therapy Department and made up of Texas Children’s staff members, the choir led patients and staff from the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit in a rousing rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in support of the Astros’ appearance at the championship game.

The patients played and sang along with the choir demonstrating not only their enthusiasm for the Astros, but also the great strides they have made in their recovery at Texas Children’s.

Established in 2014, Texas Children’s Ukulele Choir is rooted in self-care and respite for staff members who work hard and endure much for our patients and families. It provides an opportunity for members to create positive moments and relationships within their work environment and outside of their immediate department. Since the choir is led by the hospital’s music therapists, patients and staff benefit from this form of therapeutic intervention intended to bolster positive moods and mindsets.

Once a month, the Ukulele Choir performs on inpatient units, high traffic areas of the hospital, as well as staff meetings and events. The choir also provides live environmental music throughout the hospital. Since its inception three years ago, the choir has grown from three to more than 30 staff members representing different areas of the hospital including Information Services, Nursing, Pharmacy and Child Life.