Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Texas Children’s leaders have been working tirelessly to keep us informed about COVID-19 and the organization’s response to this historic and unprecedented event.
From timely global e-mail communications to implementing various precautionary measures – including employee/patient screening, employee/patient testing algorithms, quarantine and masking protocols, and social distancing – our COVID-19 response has focused on protecting the health and safety of our patients, employees and staff while ensuring Texas Children’s facilities have sufficient resources to support patient care and operations.
“Our preparation for COVID-19 began back in January when we started screening all patients arriving for appointments,” said Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre. “We activated our Incident Command Center on March 12. This was a critical step in our response to this rapidly evolving health situation, as our command structure provides the support that is necessary to not only manage operations today, but also to proactively forecast needs and plan accordingly for the future.”
The Incident Command structure consists of eight subcommand centers. These include Logistics, Operations, Planning, Finance/Human Resources, and four other subcommand centers that cover Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, Texas Children’s Pediatrics and Urgent Care, and Texas Children’s Health Plan. Each of these teams provide guidance for the organization’s response to COVID-19.
The Incident Command Center is co-chaired by Andre, Interim Physician-in-Chief and Pathologist-in-Chief Dr. James Versalovic and Executive Vice President Mark Mullarkey. This team works closely with our eight large subcommand centers dealing with a variety of issues related to supplies, remote access, visitor and patient screening, patient placement, shuttle service, dining services, adult care services, community services and response, and a command focused primarily on supporting our employees and staff.
In collaboration with our partners from Infection Control, the Special Isolation Unit, Nursing, Pathology, Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Supply Chain, and other areas critical to system wide planning, the command centers also work with our Human Resources and Corporate Communications teams to ensure timely information is communicated to our employees and staff.
“We attend conference calls throughout the day with many leaders representing diverse areas of the organization to help us reassess and strategize our needs around COVID-19,” Mullarkey said. “The pandemic is a dynamic situation with rapidly changing information and new developments are constantly coming to light. As this situation unfolds, we have been adjusting our response protocols as needed and reporting out to system leadership via weekly Shared Leadership teleconferences.”
While ensuring the health and safety of our employees, patients and families remain the highest priority, communication and transparency have played a pivotal role in our response to COVID-19. As decisions are made in the Incident Command Center, employees and staff can always stay informed through global e-mail communications and by visiting Texas Children’s COVID-19 Resources webpage. Employees can also visit Texas Children’s Coronavirus Connect page for updated information.
Versalovic says the organization will continue to work together one day at a time to respond to the challenges ahead, and for as long as this pandemic lasts, we will come out of it stronger than ever.
“Texas Children’s is a sturdy and resilient organization,” Versalovic said. “While we have weathered many catastrophic storms together, we will get through this COVID-19 pandemic together. We are grateful to our entire team for leading tirelessly and for their strength and resilience they have shown every step of the way.”