September 9, 2015

72915Drdavidroth175Urology services at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus have been extended to meet the needs of patients in Houston and its surrounding area.

Beginning in July, the Texas Children’s Urology Department started holding clinics from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the second Monday of the month and from 8 a.m. to noon on the fourth Saturday of the month. An advanced practice provider, registered nurse, medical assistant and ambulatory service representative help patients with pediatric urological needs. As always, a faculty urologist is available at all times if needed.

“We would like to expand this project if it proves to meet the needs of our patients,” said Dr. David Roth, chief of urology. “Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for children to get the urologic care they need by offering alternatives to the traditional Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours.”

West Campus President Chanda Cashen Chacón said she appreciates Roth’s initiative and support of the expansion.

“This is a great option for our patients and their families,” she said.

Roth is chief of urology at Texas Children’s. His team members offer the most advanced surgical care for routine urological needs as well as genitourinary problems related to congenital birth defects, kidney stones, undescended testes, inguinal hernias and a range of other medical conditions.

They have special expertise in minimally invasive, laparoscopic surgical techniques, including extremely delicate procedures in newborns and infants, anorectal malformations, urological conditions caused by neurological problems, such as spina bifida, and management of stone disease.

September 2, 2015

9315SIUinside640Texas Children’s veteran nurse Sondra Morris recently was chosen to lead the Special Response Team’s nursing unit.

Nurses will make up a significant portion of the specially-trained portion of the team, which will be called to action if the soon-to-be-complete Special Isolation Unit at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus is activated. The eight-bed unit is designed for children with highly contagious infectious diseases. Similar to the four other biocontainment units in the country, the one at Texas Children’s will be one of the only in the United States designated just for children.

“Sondra is the best person for this job for many reasons, one of the main ones being she has led nursing teams in the Intensive Care Unit and the Emergency Center,” said Shannon McCord, director of patient services at West Campus. “She has skill and expertise in working with the unexpected.”

Morris joined Texas Children’s 20 years ago as a graduate nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). During her time with the PICU, Morris worked as a transport nurse and later became a nurse manger.

As the Kangaroo Crew was becoming its own department, Morris transitioned to the nurse manager for that team. She spent five years there and completed her Master’s of Science in Nursing Management before moving to the Emergency Center as the assistant clinical director.

Last year when Morris learned about the creation of the Special Isolation Unit, she said she applied for the nursing leader position because she thought “it would be a unique, challenging and innovative unit that would be full of new opportunities, one of which would be building a unique nursing team that will take care of highly infectious patients, such as those with Ebola, MERS or other highly infectious pathogens.”

To date, at least 40 nurses across the Texas Children’s system have volunteered to be part of the nursing unit on the Special Response Team. The unit will work with a group of physicians, medical technologists and environmental service technicians if the Special Isolation Unit is activated.

There will be three to six nurses assigned to a patient based on the acuity of the case. Some nurses will be by the bedside while others will be observing, documenting and helping other team members donn and doff personal protective equipment.

Recruitment of all positions is ongoing. To learn more about joining the Special Response Team, click here.

“I already am impressed by the team’s dedication and passion for learning and for their willingness to care for this vulnerable patient population,” Morris said. “While I hope to rarely activate the SIU team, I am confident these patients will be in the best place to receive the best care possible.”

The decision to build a special isolation unit came last year after an unprecedented Ebola outbreak, resulting in the realization that we must be prepared to handle emerging infections as an institution. This new unit, which is scheduled to open in October, will incorporate all of the latest scientific and technological approaches to biocontainment, including negative air pressure, laminar air flow, high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration, separate ventilation, anterooms, biosafety cabinets, a point-of-care laboratory, special security access, autoclaves and incinerators. There will be two levels of protection from airborne particles, as well as a comprehensive waste management plan, among other safety features.

It will be fully equipped to care for any infant or child with a serious communicable disease, with all of the measures available to assure safety of the health care team, other patients and their families. A point-of-care biosafety level 3 laboratory will enable the care team to monitor the progress of patients and perform rapid detection methods to identify unusual pathogens. Housed at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, the unit is anticipated to have capacity for eight patients, all in private rooms.

This specialized unit will be led by Dr. Gordon Schutze, who will serve as medical director, as well as Dr. Judith Campbell and Dr. Amy Arrington, who will be the unit’s associate medical directors. The Special Response Team will staff the unit and will be trained in infection control, hospital epidemiology and management of infectious diseases in the critical care setting. The staff will maintain their certification through participation in ongoing educational activities.

When the Special Isolation Unit isn’t activated, it will be used as a new acute care unit for West Campus. Morris is assistant clinical director of 5 West when the Special Isolation Unit isn’t being used.

September 1, 2015

bench-and-beside-Header2Bench and Bedside is a digest of the previous month’s stories about the clinical and academic activities of our physicians and scientists. We welcome your submissions and feedback.

August 4

Department of Urology to present 12 papers at international conference

The Department of Urology will be well represented at the 26th Congress of the European Society for Paediatric Urology this October in Prague. Twelve of the department’s abstracts were chosen for posters, most with presentations.

August 4

Zoghbi receives seven-year Javits award to advance ataxia research

Dr. Huda Zoghbi, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and the director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) at Texas Children’s, has been awarded a Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for her “distinguished record of substantial contributions in the field of neurological science.”

9115tcpanniv300August 4

Texas Children’s Pediatrics celebrates 20 years of providing primary care

Twenty years ago today, Texas Children’s launched what is now the largest pediatric network in the nation with more than 200 board-certified pediatricians and 50 practices throughout the greater Houston community. Each year, the group sees 400,000 patients and completes more than a million visits.

9115chagas300August 4

Grant funds first therapeutic vaccine for Chagas disease in humans

The Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development have received a $1.8 million grant to accelerate development of the first therapeutic vaccine for Chagas disease in humans. The vaccine is in a development program under the direction of Drs. Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Bottazzi. Chagas disease impacts people throughout Texas, and Texas Children’s is leading the way in vaccine development.

9115woodlandsurgentcare300August 18

Texas Children’s opens urgent care center in The Woodlands

Texas Children’s has expanded its urgent care network, adding a location in The Woodlands next door to the community’s children’s museum on West Panther Creek Drive.

 

 

August 18

Texas Children’s Hospital is a sponsor for the 2015 Be The Match Walk-Run

Be The Match Walk-Run is a fundraising event that helps patients find a bone marrow, stem cell, or cord donor and receive a life-saving transplant. Each year the Texas Children’s Bone Marrow Transplant Program has a group of patients, employees and their families who walk or run in support of this life saving research. You and your family are invited to join us as we support and raise awareness for the Be The Match registry.

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Join the NRI, Baylor team for the 2015 Walk Now for Autism Speaks

Ready to lace up to support a worthy cause? The Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine invite you to join their team for the 2015 Walk Now for Autism Speaks.

August 18, 2015

Flanked by a group of former Texas Children’s Hospital patients and hundreds of supporters, Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark A. Wallace looked on as a 7-foot-tall Mexican White Oak tree was hoisted to the top of what will soon be Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.

“Go, go, go!” Wallace and the children cheered until the tree with was in place. “We did it!”

The tree hoisting was the highlight of an August 14 tree topping ceremony at the site of Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands. The milestone event marked the halfway point in the construction of the hospital, which will open its doors in 2017.

Adorned with promises made by Texas Children’s employees to The Woodlands community, the tree will remain atop the unfinished hospital for a week before being planted on facility grounds.

“All of you who are here today are here because you share our commitment, our promise, to provide the very best care when and where our families need it most,” Wallace said. “That is why we are topping out The Woodlands campus with this very special tree.”

Following the tree-topping ceremony, guests took shelter from the almost three-digit temperatures under a cooling tent, sipped lemonade and nibbled ice cream and popcorn. Some event goers got a tour of the construction site. The tours were led by Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands team members and crew from Tellespen Builders, the company that is leading the construction project.

“You coming out today means you join in our excitement about a project that will bring children the best pediatric hospital right to their community,” Tellespen CEO Howard Tellespen Jr. told the crowd. “You have helped fulfill our legacy of being part of something bigger than ourselves.”

Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands President Michelle Riley-Brown and Chief Medical Director Dr. Charles Hankins shared their excitement about what’s to come for the hospital and The Woodlands community during a BBQ lunch at tables set up on what will be the first floor of the hospital.

“At Texas Children’s, we are not only committed to meeting the needs of patients and families we serve, but we are committed to doing that in a way that works for them,” Riley-Brown said. “For so many, this means providing care close to home; that’s exactly why we are building Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.”

The hospital will serve children and families in the Woodlands, Kingwood, Conroe, Spring, Magnolia, Humble, Huntsville and beyond, and will build on a decade’s worth of relationships Texas Children’s has built in the community through our primary and sub-specialty care at Texas Children’s Pediatrics locations and the Texas Children’s Health Center The Woodlands.

The hospital will complete that picture, offering services in more than 20 areas of specialty care at a facility with 32 acute care beds, four operating rooms, 10 radiology rooms with 2 MRI’s, an emergency center with 22 patient rooms, a helipad, 1,000 free parking spaces and, by the end of 2017, an intensive care unit with 12 beds. Opening in 2016, the hospital also will include an outpatient facility with 74 exam rooms, 23 subspecialty clinics and a Texas Children’s Pediatrics Primary Care Clinic.

Hankins said he and The Woodlands team already have hired several top-notch physicians in hematology-oncology, endocrinology, neurology, otolaryngology and sports medicine, and that they are continuing to recruit the best and the brightest from across the world to serve patients at The Woodlands campus.

“As a resident of The Woodlands, you will have your very own community hospital right here in your own backyard,” he said. “Patients at The Woodlands campus will receive the same high quality care as those at Main Campus without having to drive more than 30 miles.”

81915woodlandsurgentcare640Texas Children’s has expanded its urgent care network, adding a location in The Woodlands next door to the community’s children’s museum on West Panther Creek Drive.

The new facility is the third urgent care center to open during the past year. The other two centers are in the Cinco Ranch and Memorial areas and already have served more than 20,000 children and adults up to age 18.

“Our urgent care centers were created to respond to the growing need for expert pediatric urgent care,” said Texas Children’s Pediatrics Vice President Lou Fragoso. “The result is a clinical system that provides outstanding customer service through high-quality, efficient and affordable care – right in our patients’ neighborhoods.”

Open weekday evenings and weekends, the centers are staffed by board-certified pediatricians and are equipped to diagnose and treat common pediatric illnesses and injuries. If a patient’s illness or injury requires a higher level of care, our staff is able to stabilize and transfer that patient to an appropriate pediatric hospital.

“Our efficient processes allow us to register, diagnose, treat and discharge a child in less than one hour for a majority of patients,” Fragoso said. “By the time a child is discharged, their prescription will have been sent to the pharmacy and a summary of the visit sent to their pediatrician.”

Texas Children’s will continue to grow its urgent care network in the Houston area with more locations opening in the upcoming year.

For more information about Texas Children’s Urgent Care, go to http://www.texaschildrens.org/urgent care. You also can join the network’s Facebook page to receive the latest news and updates.

August 14, 2015

81415transplant624Texas Children’s Hospital Transplant Services team is hosting the 2015 Pediatric Transplant Symposium at Texas Children’s Hospital.

The conference will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, September 4, at the Texas Children’s Hospital Pavilion for Women fourth-floor conference center. Lunch will be provided.

Any health care professional with an interest in the care of transplant patients and those who currently care for transplant patients, are encouraged to attend. The topics discussed at the conference will be great for:

  • Faculty, fellows, residents and trainees involved in the care of transplant patients
  • Primary care physicians caring for transplant patients outside the inpatient hospital setting
  • Nurses and other health care professionals
  • Transplant multidisciplinary team members (PT/OT, dietitians, social workers, pharmacists, child life, staff nurses, surgical team, ambulatory care)

Attendees will learn more about:

  • Transplant ethics
  • Medical issues in transplantation
  • Cutting edge advancements in thoracic & abdominal transplantation
  • Transplant regulatory implications/compliance/readiness

Please register for the conference at: http://texaschildrens.org/transplant2015/ and see the website for specific continuing education information and registration details.

Contact Melissa Nugent, clinical educator for Transplant Services, at msnugent@texaschildrens.org with questions.

August 10, 2015

bench-and-beside-Header1Bench and Bedside is a digest of the previous month’s stories about the clinical and academic activities of our physicians and scientists. We welcome your subsmissions and feedback.

July 7

Texas Children’s Hospital launches pediatric Thyroid Tumor Program

Texas Children’s Hospital recently formed a new pediatric Thyroid Tumor Program dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of children and young adults with thyroid tumors, cancer and diseases. Read more

81015RADIOLOGYREADINGROOM300July 7

Radiology expansion promotes environment of collaboration

New and improved office space for the Department of Pediatric Radiology brings together all radiologists in one large reading room and houses the department’s offices in one centralized location. The expansion also provides space for daily morning huddles. These changes help ensure the hospital’s imaging services are available for patients in a timely manner. Read more

July 14

Dr. Susan Blaney elected chair of CPRIT Advisory Committee on childhood cancers

Dr. Susan Blaney, deputy director of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers, was recently elected to serve as chair of the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Advisory Committee on Childhood Cancers (ACCC). Blaney, who has been a member of the committee for three years, will serve a two-year term. Read more

81015TheWoodlandsHealthCenter300July 14

Health Center staff prepares for transition to community hospital setting

With the opening of the outpatient and subspecialty building at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands just 15 months away, steps are being taken to ensure the transition for staff, patients and their families is seamless. One such step was taken June 25 and 26 when staff and leaders at the Woodlands Health Center and staff and leaders at the West Campus Outpatient and Subspecialty Building met and discussed what it’s like to go from working at a small community health center to a community hospital. Read more

81015HeartFailure300July 14

Texas Children’s opens first-of-its-kind pediatric Heart Failure Intensive Care Unit

Texas Children’s Heart Center and the section of Critical Care Medicine cut the ribbon July 6 on a new, first-of-its-kind pediatric Heart Failure Intensive Care Unit. This highly-specialized 12-bed unit focuses on the treatment of children with heart failure, as well as those requiring intensive care before and after heart transplant. Read more

July 14

Young investigator given research boost from national grant

Dr. Rikhia Chakraborty is a young scientist with a distinct goal – to find the causes that potentially lead to Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), a rare cancer mainly affecting pediatric patients, and determine the best way to prevent and treat the disease. Chakraborty’s research was recently recognized by Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation with a Young Investigator Grant worth $100,000. Read more

81015Mata300July 14

Hour-long documentary on Mata conjoined twins to air on Discovery Life Channel

An hour-long documentary on the formerly conjoined Mata twins aired on the Discovery Life Channel on July 16 . The program spotlighted Texas Children’s Hospital’s efforts leading up to and after the historic surgery that separated Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata. Read more

81015surgeryFraser300July 14

Department of Surgery makes great strides 2010-2015

During his annual state of the department meeting, Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr. highlighted the impressive efforts within the Department of Surgery. Read more

 

 

July 20

A new community hospital partnership allows patients to deliver at CHI St. Luke’s Health – The Vintage Hospital

Pregnant members of Texas Children’s Health Plan – The Center for Children and Women Greenspoint location recently received some big news. They can now deliver their babies at CHI St. Luke’s Health – The Vintage Hospital located in Northwest Houston. Read more

81015HH300July 21

Texas Children’s conference empowers HH patients, families

On July 11, Texas Children’s Hospital and Hope for Hypothalamic Hamartomas hosted an educational conference to empower patients and their families affected by a rare and often devastating brain condition. Hypothalamic Hamartoma (HH) is a noncancerous tumor of the hypothalamus that causes uncontrollable seizures, early puberty, hormonal imbalances and cognitive and behavioral problems. Read more

81015epileptologist300July 21

World renowned epileptologist, colleagues visit Texas Children’s Hospital

World renowned epileptologist Dr. Helen Cross and two of her colleagues visited Texas Children’s July 9 and July 10 to get more information on the Medtronic Visualase system, which uses real-time MRI-guided thermal imaging and laser technology to destroy lesions in the brain that cause epilepsy and uncontrollable seizures. Read more

81015WCSIU300July 21

Leaders prepare for opening of special isolation unit

Clinicians recently participated in a detailed simulation to prepare for the soon-to-be-open special isolation unit. The state-of-the-art facility will open its doors in October and a Special Response Team will stand ready to receive children suspected of having a highly contagious disease. Read more

81015Ethanbell300July 21

End-of-treatment bell brings hope for cancer patients

Patients at the Texas Children Cancer and Hematology Centers now can ring a bell in both the inpatient and outpatient units at the end of their treatment. Listen to a song Purple Songs Can Fly artist and cancer survivor Christian Spear wrote and dedicated to patients entering a new phase of their lives with the ringing of the end-of-treatment bell. Read more

July 21

ICD-10: Let’s reach 100 percent educational compliance by September 1

On October 1, Texas Children’s and other hospitals around the nation will convert to the federally-mandated ICD-10 coding system to better report patients’ diagnoses and inpatient procedures. To ensure we are ready systemwide for this transition, employees must complete their required online education and training by September 1. You can access your assigned e-learning module here. Read more

July 28

Texas Children’s Auxiliary awards given to Gargollo and Rosenfeld

The Texas Children’s Hospital Auxiliary awarded urologist Dr. Patricio Gargollo the Denton A. Cooley Fellowship in Surgical Innovation Award and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Rosenfeld the Outcomes Fellowship Award for 2015. Each award totals $75,000. This is the fourth year the Department of Surgery has received funding from the Texas Children’s Auxiliary. Read more

July 28

NRI study: Insufficient energy production by mitochondria can lead to neural degeneration

In a fascinating study recently published in PLOS Biology, Dr. Hugo Bellen, Manish Jaiswal and their colleagues at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s found that insufficient energy production by the mitochondria can cause photoreceptor neurons in the retina to degenerate. Read more

July 28

Fraser celebrates 20 years with Texas Children’s Hospital Heart Center

Thanks to the vision of legendary heart surgeon Dr. Denton H. Cooley and the leadership of Texas Children’s Hospital Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr ., the Texas Children’s Hospital Heart Center is one of the most active pediatric heart programs in the United States, setting a record with 32 heart transplants in 2014 and consistently treating the most complex heart issues every day. Read more

81015cancer300July 28

Texas Children’s expands crucial care to cancer and hematology patients in developing countries

Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center physicians are crossing the globe to provide care for children suffering from cancer and blood disorders. Watch a video to see how the care they provide continues to reach new populations. Read more

July 28

Zarutskie’s arrival, expertise complements patient care at Family Fertility Center

Dr. Paul Zarutskie recently joined the Family Fertility Center at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. With more than 30 years in the field of reproductive medicine, Zarutskie combines his expertise and compassionate approach to patient care to help infertile couples achieve their dream of starting a family. Read more

August 14

Transplant Services team to host pediatric transplant symposium

Texas Children’s Hospital Transplant Services team is hosting the 2015 Pediatric Transplant Symposium at Texas Children’s Hospital. Learn how to register for this conference. Read more