April 13, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for all of us. We’ve been asked to step outside our comfort zones more than once, and we will most likely be asked to do so again before this event comes to an end. We want you to know that you are not alone and that if you find yourself feeling stressed about the situation, there are recourses available that can help support your mental, physical and spiritual needs.

Here’s how you can access many of those tools:

Stress Management

Click here for a comprehensive list of stress management resources provided by our Employee Health, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Well-Being teams.

Cigna also has the following tools to help you manage anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic:
Managing anxiety
Coping with the fear of coronavirus
Self-care strategies

Relaxation techniques

Breathing: practicing deep breathing can help your body to feel more relaxed and refreshed in stressful moments. Check this article for a step-by-step deep breathing exercise.
Visualization: this technique helps expand our ability to rest and relax by focusing our minds on more calming and serene images. For a 15-minute guided imagery, please check this video.
Meditation: Meditation has great benefits for stress management and can be practiced in many ways. Check the steps for a 5-minute meditation to get started.

Eating healthy
  • Regulate blood sugar with protein and fiber at meals and snacks. Regulating blood sugar with give your body the nutrients when stress may arise and strengthen your immune system.
  • Consume fruits and vegetables at every meal. Your body needs a variety of vitamins and minerals to support your overall health. When the weather starts to change and people around you are starting to get sick, it is important to boost your immune system with vitamins and minerals like vitamin c, zinc, vitamin E, and vitamin A. Try to fill your plate with a variety of colors of fruits and vegetables along with protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
  • Add garlic and ginger into your food. They do not fight the flu or coronavirus, but they do boost your immune system and may help lower blood pressure and slow down hardening of the arteries. Ginger is another food item that you may turn to after getting sick. Ginger decreases inflammation, which can help reduce sore throats and other inflammatory illnesses.
  • Here are more tips on how to keep your immune system healthy.

Tired of cooking? You can access Mom’s Meals® through the Healthy Rewards program. Mom’s Meals® provides nutritionally balanced, refrigerated and ready-to-eat meals direct to your home, the home of an aging parent or any address nationwide. Place your order at 877-347-3438 or online at momsmeals.com/Cigna.

Get moving

Twenty minutes of daily exercise has been proven to boost the immune system. Movement produces with blood cells that kill bacteria and viruses.
Here are some exercises that you can perform at home.

Texas Children’s Employee Health and Wellness Strengthen and Tone instructor, Anna, is offering live classes on her personal Instagram account @Annahaulina on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. Our Barre instructor, Alissa, will be offering class on Wednesdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Please email her at Alissa.ann@hotmail.com with Barre Class in the subject line and she will send you a Zoom link to participate.

  • Define is offering free workouts from Bounce, Barre, Yoga, Beat (Dance Cardio), Mind and Prenatal.
  • Camp Gladiator has just announced their Hustle from Home series of workouts, where anyone can have access to digital workouts, Facebook live workouts and at-home printable workouts.
  • Peloton is offering a free 90-day trial for their workout library of strength, yoga, meditation, boot camp, cycling, and running classes.
  • YouTube can always be accessed for a variety of excellent at-home workouts.

Stay calm and informed
Make sure that you are getting your information from a creditable source. Stay up to date with Texas Children’s COVID-19 communications. Click here to view the Connect COVID-19 page and here to visit our external COVID-19 Resources webpage.

Get plenty of sleep
More sleep does not prevent you from getting sick, however not getting enough could adversely affect your immune system. Without sufficient sleep, your body makes fewer cytokines, a type of protein that targets infection and inflammation, effectively creating an immune response. Experts recommend getting 7-9 hours of sleep a night.

Finding courage

The following passage was written by Texas Children’s Chaplain James Denham. His words are adaptations from a prayer written by American theologian Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. and sentiments made by pediatric chaplain Gloria Kroeze.

We are people of accomplishment. We invent, we create, we build, we discover, we train, we break records, we teach, we support, we nurture, we help. We do all of these things, but now we come stunned, because in spite of all we can do, we don’t know what to do. We are scared. We are scared by what we fear may happen. We are scared by something that we cannot understand. We are scared by something that we cannot see — a microscopically small virus. This virus has altered our present lives, it has shut down our schools, it has cancelled our plans, it has emptied our schedules and it has separated us. It has consumed our thoughts, our conversations, social media, the news and our prayers. We live in a world of many unknowns and we struggle to keep up with what is going on. We do know that we don’t want to get sick. We do know that we can’t get near each other as we’d like.

In these moments, it is our courage that grounds us. Courage is not a lack of fear, or a lack of uncertainty. It is an unwavering trust even when we aren’t sure. It is being tireless even though we also feel tired. Courage is hope no matter how challenging a situation looks. Ryder Carroll once wrote, “No matter how bleak or menacing a situation may appear, it does not entirely own us. It can’t take away our freedom to respond, our power to take action.” In our case, while our world is full of unknowns, we stand in a place of courage, ready to act in the face of it, and we do it together.

May we find blessing from one another, through the help we offer, the support we give, the laughter we share, the listening we give. We may not know what to do, but we know who we are. People of compassion, kindness, strength, and endurance. People who rise with courage to face even the unknowns and the heartaches.

From that which is sacred to us, we ask for help. Source of hope, quiet our fears. Source of peace, calm our spirits. Source of strength keep us going. Source of healing, provide enough to heal. Bless those who care for the sick and have been even before COVID — and protect their families. Bless those who are sick in the midst of all this chaos. Bless family members who are able to be with the sick. Bless those who are separated from those they love. Bless those who are hopeful for healing. Bless those who are trying to be hopeful. Bless those who are making decisions and protocols that will affect many. May your hands, your hearts, and your work be blessed by your Source and by each other.

April 7, 2020

Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre provides an update on the evolving COVID-19 situation and highlights three areas that are being frequently addressed: PPE, testing and operations. Read more

April 1, 2020

In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Texas Children’s remains dedicated to ensuring we are a source of information and expertise.

When COVID-19 first appeared in the Greater Houston area, Texas Children’s immediately began to prepare for what was later categorized as a pandemic. In early March, our leadership activated a modified incident command structure, convening teams for Planning, Logistics and Operations at the Medical Center Campus, West Campus, The Woodlands Campus and at the Health Plan. This positioned us to respond quickly and agilely as the global health issue evolved.

We also immediately launched targeted outreach to our Texas Children’s patient families. In early March, we emailed about 400,000 current Texas Children’s patient families to answer common questions, ease uncertainty, and introduce our information-rich COVID-19 website that launched on March 13.

“Our overall goal for the website was to create a central location for our patients to gather information during this difficult time, and provide the community-at-large with resources, expert sources, system updates, and any additional information about COVID-19,” said Brand Marketing Specialist Elisa Lange. “We also want the community to know that we are open and prepared to continue providing quality care for any patient who needs us.”

The website includes the latest updates, available resources, frequently asked questions, and detailed videos from providers across our system, sharing specialty-specific information and general guidance about caring for at-risk patient populations during this pandemic. There also is information about Texas Children’s preparations and ongoing response to global events, and guidance for talking to children about COVID-19 and its impacts. The videos have been shared across all of our social media channels and continue to be sought by online visitors.

“One of the best ways to connect with our patients and families daily has been through social media,” said Christy Warring, director of External Communications and Digital Marketing. “It has been a lifeline for patients as our teams continue to post tips, resources and Texas Children’s updates. Followers are even able to reach out to us on on social media platforms with questions and comments.”

In addition to online information, we began sending COVID-19-related texts and emails to our patients to keep them updated about appointments, visitation at our facilities and eHealth options, like phone and video consults.

eHealth has been an important channel for patient care and communication during this time, but this strategy was already in motion to broaden access for our families. We have worked to expand and enhance eHealth services for several months to make it easier and more convenient for patients to connect with a Texas Children’s provider without leaving home. Given the current climate, it’s a welcome option for our families. Just in the month of March, we had more than 1,500 video visits and nearly 7,000 phone visits.

The system’s proactive outreach extends to Texas Children’s Health Plan members as well. We are promoting access to Anywhere Care, which allows members to receive care via video visits, and Health Plan members also receive updates via direct mail, social media, texts and email.

But one of the most effective ways to reach our members and their families has been through community partnerships. The Health Plan recently partnered with Aldine Independent School district and Gallery Furniture to disseminate information about COVID-19 and how to stop the spread of the disease.

“We are here to inform our members and providers about COVID-19 overall and doing all we can to make sure they are getting the most up-to-date information from us,” Warring said. “Our goal is to ensure they know how to get help through our call centers, telemedicine, and most importantly that we are here to help them if they need to call on us.”

On his blog this week, Mark Wallace shares an inspiring Brene Brown podcast and reminds us all to fill in the gap for each other in the days and weeks to come. Read more

March 31, 2020

For many Texas Children’s employees, gone are the days of the morning commute.

Our efforts to fight COVID-19 through the practice of social distancing has required more than 1,000 staffers – and counting – to work from home. But what does it take to make this work?

Teresa Tonthat, assistant vice president for Information Services, says there are multiple factors to consider. Her department has spent the past few weeks ensuring that employees who are asked to work remotely can do so in a seamless way.

This includes assessing the current technologies, equipment requirements, and available network capacity to effectively support these employees; all while continuing to serve our patients and caregivers.

The good news is that we now have a well-defined plan in place.

Be prepared for bumps in the road, this is GLOBAL.

However, digital technology is never 100 percent available – even on the best days.

“As millions of people and organizations shift to remote working, our internet networks will be tested. We are experiencing a mass human behavior change across the globe,” Tonthat said. “The internet’s infrastructure will be strained and will be felt in the networks inside employee’s homes, and the internet services (i.e., Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon) that these networks rely on.”

Many remote workers will share the same internet connections throughout the day with household members. Household members could be using data-intensive applications and that surge in internet access could strain home networks.

Overall, as entities around the globe are moving to remote work environments to promote social distancing, local commercial and residential internet and telecommunication infrastructures (i.e., WebEx, Zoom, Teams, Video, etc.) are seeing increased traffic load. While our cloud telecommunication vendors are doing their best to increase capacity to mitigate availability issues, our local internet service providers may also experience issues with the high demand…
Just last week, virtual cloud platform vendors such as WebEx and Teams reported infrastructure capacity issues. Many organizations across the nation felt the disruption to virtual online meetings. And this is just the beginning.

How to stay as productive as possible
  • Call your internet service provider to make sure you have enough bandwidth to support your work responsibilities.
  • Consider all the people in your home who will need internet. Under normal conditions, a basic plan may do the trick. However, it’s important to keep in mind additional users such as other adults who may be working from home or children who may now be enrolled in online schooling.
  • Communicate with your manager if you are having trouble. You can’t work remotely if your internet isn’t working. Let your manager know if you are experiencing trouble so that arrangements can be made for you to come into the office and work in an way that adheres to social distancing guidelines.
  • Limit calls to the HelpDesk. Texas Children’s IS Help Desk can support system related connectivity issues, but cannot support issues related to your home internet provider.

For additional questions, please contact your manager or supervisor for support and guidance.

Elex Sanchez draws on his more than 25 years in the hospitality industry to bring the same level of customer service, attention to detail and visitor experience standards to our pediatric patients and their families.

Sanchez and his team start every shift with a huddle to discuss the day’s tasks and calisthenics to warm up for the physical demands of the job. Members of the team include floor care techs, unit support assistance, recycling techs, and lead techs who manage small, tactical groups like operating room (OR) technicians focused on daily terminal cleans in the OR. A terminal clean is a very deep, detailed cleaning process with special disinfectants requiring a certain amount of “kill time” to work properly.

Right now, as the spread of a global pandemic is knocking on our doors, the Environmental Services team is working hard to keep it at bay. This Texas Children’s team is well stocked and has proactively worked with vendors to secure a surplus of cleaning supplies, as an additional layer of readiness should it become difficulty to procure such items in the future.

Texas Children’s Environmental Services also employs five ultra violet light disinfection systems for ORs, isolation units or any other potentially contaminated areas in the hospital. First, the techs clean the room and then bring in the robot system to shine ultraviolet light from multiple, flexible arms. The whole process takes about 50 minutes. Texas Children’s has had five systems in place for about six months, and is in the process of procuring seven more units.

The team has also increased cleaning schedules and now completes 12 cleanings per day over three shifts in public spaces and restrooms, and also completes four to six cleaning rounds in lobbies and waiting rooms.

“We call ourselves ‘warriors for infection control.’ Essentially, we are infection control and our teams are on the front lines every day ensuring our patients and staff have a safe, sanitized and sparkling clean environment,” said Sanchez.