June 1, 2016

52616retirementREV640Are you looking forward to retirement, or does the thought of planning for your future keep you awake at night? As part of our Total Rewards program, Texas Children’s has partnered with Fidelity Investments, our 403(b) administrator, to create various retirement services and resources that can help you kick start or fuel your retirement planning.

Take advantage of these ingredients and develop your own recipe for retirement success!

Ingredient 1: Enroll in Texas Children’s 403(b) savings plan
Don’t miss out on our 50 percent match of the first 6 percent of your pre-tax per paycheck contribution. You can enroll anytime by contacting Fidelity at 800-343-0860 or online at www.fidelity.com/atwork.

Ingredient 2: Attend a retirement seminar in June
Learn how to navigate the retirement process with this 30-minute seminar so that you can establish financial goals for your future, learn tips on how to build a plan, and much more. The seminars will be hosted at multiple locations throughout our Texas Children’s campuses in June. Click here for dates, times and locations. Register today online or call 800-642-7131. Space is limited, register today to reserve a seat.

Ingredient 3: Schedule a one-on-one session with a retirement consultant
Use this opportunity to have a personal discussion about your retirement and learn how to build a plan that fits your future needs. Sessions are currently available at Main and West Campuses through the year. Space is limited, click here to register.

Ingredient 4: Participate in this online workshop – Thrive: Financial Wellness
Attend this series of online workshops at Fidelity at your own time and pace. These sessions focus on how you can save for your future, along with the tools and resources you can use to become a more educated investor. Click here to register.

This recipe yields your path to retirement success.

If you have any retirement-related questions, contact Fidelity at 800-343-0860 or visit them online at www.fidelity.com/atwork.

May 25, 2016

Learn more about our Texas Children’s people by following us on our social media channels.

 

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52616employeehealth640Texas Children’s is committed to supporting you in achieving your optimal health and well-being. Since opening in 2012, our on-site Employee Medical Clinic* on Main Campus has strived to support your personal health needs and offer you convenient access to excellent health care services.

Recently, the Employee Medical Clinic launched the following five new well-being programs at no cost to Texas Children’s employees.

Live Well with Diabetes
The program features individual sessions with a certified diabetes educator and registered dietitian. During your sessions, you will work together to develop a customized nutrition and physical activity plan, discuss the role of medications, and develop stress management techniques.

Healthy Heart
The program features individual sessions with a registered dietitian who will teach you how to improve your heart health through your nutrition, stress management and much more.

Lighten Up for Life
The program features pre-and post-program body composition measurements and individual sessions for health coaching, nutrition and physical activity.

Health Coaching
Our registered health coach will help you apply your personal strengths to achieve sustainable behavior changes such as improving your sleep and gaining better work-life balance.

Nutrition Consultation
This program will teach you about optimal nutrition, how to manage portion sizes and provide answers to your nutrition questions.

To learn more about these exciting new programs, visit the Employee Medical Clinic website on Connect.

*The Employee Medical Clinic delivers many services including urgent care for personal illness and injury, care management for chronic conditions, counseling to help employees adopt the healthiest possible lifestyle and preventive care which includes your annual physical/wellness check. The clinic is comprised of a full-time primary care physician, a nurse practitioner, nurses and mid-level provider, a wellness coordinator and a health coach. Click here to meet the Employee Medical Clinic Providers.

The Employee Medical Clinic is located on Main Campus in 5 Tower by the yellow elevators in the Abercrombie Building. Our business hours are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

May 24, 2016

Dressed in their favorite Houston Texans gear and toting some of their most prized Texans paraphernalia, about 250 Texas Children’s employees recently attended an exclusive autograph and photograph session with two Houston Texans players at NRG Stadium.

One by one, the employees filed into the Chairman’s Club overlooking the football field and munched on popcorn while they awaited their chance to meet Charles James II, the Texans cornerback who rose to a fan favorite in last season’s Hard Knocks on HBO; and Devon Still, defensive end and recipient of the Jimmy V Perseverance Award for his daughter, Leah’s, courageous fight against cancer.

“I am super excited to have this opportunity to come and meet some of the players,” one employee said as she waited to get a Texans banner signed by James and Still. “I love Texas Children’s; there are so many benefits to working here.”

In addition to the football players, employees also got the opportunity to meet and take pictures with two Texans cheerleaders.

“I’m so glad I work at Texas Children’s Hospital and that we are partners with the Texans,” another employee said. “It’s awesome!”

Texas Children’s entered a partnership with the Houston Texans more than a year ago to inspire children to lead healthier, more active lives. The two organizations have since reached thousands of Houston-area children through camps, school programs, special hospital appearances and other events that combine fun with education.

The partnership also includes involvement from players, cheerleaders and TORO in the community and at hospital events hosted by the Texans and Texas Children’s Hospital. Texas Children’s and the Houston Texans will continue identifying ways to grow the partnership and extend its reach even further within the local and regional communities.

Texas Children’s sponsored the recent autograph and photograph session to better educate employees about the partnership. All employees were given the chance to win a chance to participate in the session by submitting their definition of leadership. We used the leadership definition submissions to randomly select participants for the event. We will share some of the leadership definitions soon on Mr. Wallace’s On the Mark blog.

Stay tuned for more opportunities to get to know our partner and Go Texans!

May 18, 2016

51816nursesweek640It’s hard to contain the celebration of nursing to just one week at Texas Children’s. Every day there are inspirational stories that demonstrate how our nurses go above and beyond to advance patient care and enhance patient experience and outcomes.

Besides the exceptional, around-the-clock care they provide our patients, one distinct attribute that patient families admire the most about our nurses – their compassion.

Their endless compassion, comfort and support can be seen and felt across the entire organization. A nurse clutching the hands of a parent who just received tough news about their child. A nurse standing by the patient’s bedside whose family can’t be there during treatments. A nurse exchanging family time during holidays and weekends to spend time with families in the hospital. A nurse calming a mother’s fear as she prepares to give birth to her first child. As you can see, nurses leave a lasting impression on every patient and they are at the core of the experience patients have while in our care.

As we saluted nurses across the country, from May 6 to May 12, Texas Children’s celebrated our amazing team of more than 3,000 nurses. This video spotlight celebrates our nurses’ successes, accomplishments and the daily contributions they make to our patients and families at Texas Children’s.

Nurses Week activities

The theme for Nurses Week this year was Culture of Safety: It Begins with You. Texas Children’s Nursing Retention Council organized several activities that centered on health and wellness to remind our nurses how important it is to take care of themselves so they can provide the best and safest care to their patients.

Activities included educational presentations, Bike to Work Day, blessing of the hands, a Fiesta Friday bar and photo booth, massages, yoga, a healthy cooking demo and cake deliveries.

On May 10, Nursing leadership hosted the Nursing Excellence Awards luncheon honoring eight recipients for their commitment to improving nursing care and patient outcomes.

The award honorees included:

  • Staff Nurse of the year: Leah Garza
  •  Preceptor of the year: Evelyn Barren
  •  Rookie of the year: Amy Aaronson
  •  Certified nurse of the year: Christopher Sturrock
  •  Leader of the year: Amanda Wollam
  •  Teams of the Year: Central Line Maintenance and Hygiene
  •  APRN of the year: Colleen Brand
  •  Friend of Nursing: Dr. Kevin Roy

View a photo gallery below of the awards luncheon and other activities.

The Houston Chronicle Salute to Nurses included Ann Demny from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Saeed Yacouby from Anesthesiology who were among the top 10 award recipients.

Click here for more on the Houston Chronicle Salute to Nurses honorees.

In addition to the two nurses honored in the top 10, 23 Texas Children’s nurses were recognized as being among the top 150 in the Greater Houston area.

Lindsay Broom
Lisa Davenport
Sheranda Fesler
Holly Gregersen
Stephanie Gruner
Diana Harter
Amy Hemingway
Kellie Kainer
Jason McMullen
Leilani Mijares
Mary Beth Murphy
Gigi Neidinger
Tanya Nelson
Jacqueline Newton
Jonathan Rangel
Guillermo Reyes
Leslie Santos
Aleida Stark
Lois Tracy
Sharon Wahl
Becky White
Amanda Wollam
Pamela Zimmerman

To learn more about Nursing at Texas Children’s, click here to view By the Numbers.

51816flowerdoorsinside175Texas Children’s first annual May Flowers fundraising drive is currently underway, and employees can be a part of making it a huge success!

Here’s the plan: Members of the Development Department are going to hang spring flowers on the doors of our patients’ rooms to brighten their days. Donors who give to Texas Children’s as part of the campaign can personalize the flowers with their names and locations to show our patients they are thinking of them and to help Texas Children’s continue to provide the very best care to children and families in the Houston area and beyond.

Here are two things that you can do to help:

  • Share on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Let your friends and family know they can join you in bringing some spring fun to our patients.
  • Send a flower by making a donation. Send a flower to one of our patients, and we’ll decorate their door with a personalized flower from you. texaschildrens.org/flowers.

These flowers will do more than bring some spring cheer inside our walls. More importantly, they will help Texas Children’s ensure that children in need of advanced critical, surgical and emergency care can always find it here when they need it the most.

We are well on our way to being able to decorate all our patients’ doors with colorful spring flowers that show them just how much people care. With your help, our hallways will soon be in full bloom!

The last day of the campaign is Friday, May 20. Flowers will be hung in early June and stay up through the end of the month.

To personalize one with your name, give today: texaschildrens.org/flowers.

May 10, 2016

51116TCHCoupon640Between now and Saturday, May 28, Texas Children’s employees can get 20 percent off items at the Houston Texans’ official team store, the Go Texan Store, at NRG Stadium. Employees are getting this exciting offer/opportunity since we are the Houston Texans Official Children’s Hospital.

The offer is valid on all in-store items except for sale items, publications, customizations, jerseys and other special items.

Click here or above to print out your coupon, which must be shown at time of purchase.

The Go Texan Store is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Shoppers can park in the Blue Lot 18, which is accessible for free from Gate 9 at the intersection of Kirby and Westridge. Fans can find everything from new Nike jerseys and fresh New Era/47 Brand hats to miscellaneous team memorabilia, women’s apparel and accessories, youth merchandise, tailgating necessities, and much more.

Enjoy and Go Texans!