February 28, 2017

On February 23, Texas Children’s therapy dog, Elsa, celebrated her second birthday with a party thrown by patients and staff in The Zone at West Tower. To commemorate her special day, Elsa donned a colorful tutu, party hat and a birthday bandana. As you’ll see, she loved being the center of attention.

Elsa spent time greeting patients and guests, playing with her new toys, and after the children sang her a “Happy birthday” song, it didn’t take long for her to devour a dog-friendly peanut butter birthday cake.

The party also included an area where children decorated cookies and engaged in arts and crafts.

Texas Children’s wishes Elsa a very happy birthday!

January 4, 2017

1517elsa640On December 21, Texas Children’s employees and staff got a chance to relax and de-stress by stopping by The Auxiliary Bridge to pet Elsa, Texas Children’s fun-loving pet therapy dog.

While Elsa spends a lot of quality time providing therapy to patients during their hospital stay, she is also making a positive impact on employees and staff, and everyone else she comes in contact with.

“Elsa is kind, gentle and full of love,” said Texas Children’s Chaplain Johnna Faber. “I had been dealing with some difficult issues for parents and patients that day, and being with Elsa took all of the tension and stress away from my thoughts for a few moments.”

Petting a kind animal has been known to relieve stress and help people feel more relaxed and optimistic, which was palpable from the many smiles and laughter Elsa brought to employees. Besides petting Elsa, staff also got a chance to take a selfie with the hospital’s beloved therapy dog.

Texas Children’s Health and Wellness team organized this event which was part of the 21 Days of Happiness Challenge that focuses on incorporating positive behaviors to increase happiness and life satisfaction.

December 6, 2016

12716bellowsconstructioncrewmeetselsa640Whether you’re walking the halls of the hospital at main campus or glancing outside the window, you may have noticed a new addition to the Pediatric Tower construction site – an 8-foot cardboard cutout of Elsa!

Elsa is Texas Children’s new therapy dog. She has been seeing patients across the inpatient population since October and provides goal-oriented therapeutic interventions. The positive response to her arrival has been overwhelming. Since Elsa is unable to see all patients, Child Life recently launched a fun project for patients, families and staff so they can interact with Elsa in other ways.

An 8-foot replica of Elsa wearing a construction hat can be found in a different location every week in the Pediatric Tower. The Bellows construction team is joining in on the fun and they are moving Elsa each week to allow patients, family and staff to enjoy the weekly game of “Where’s Elsa?”.

There are interactive activities to engage patients and families who find Elsa and a weekly event in the Zone on the 16th floor of West Tower for patients and families to have fun searching for Elsa. For those patients who are on isolation, there are specialized activities to ensure they are able to participate in the game too.

Join in on the fun and see if you can find Elsa this week! Engage your patients and families to find Elsa too!

And as always, Elsa is ready to greet you when she sees you in the hall and continues to be incredibly excited to be a part of the Texas Children’s team.

November 1, 2016

As Madisyn Thompson sat in her hospital room at West Tower, all she could think about was her surgery the next day. Her mind swept through a flood of conflicting emotions and thoughts until she got a surprise visit from a furry visitor.

“I was so happy to see her and interact with her,” Madisyn said, as she combed her fingers through the soft fur behind Elsa’s ears. “She made my day because she is really lovable and sweet.”

Madisyn is one of several Texas Children’s patients already benefitting from the hospital’s new facility dog program that launched this month. The program uses animal-assisted therapy to improve the emotional well-being of pediatric patients by reducing their anxiety, perception of pain and fear of hospitalization.

“We knew having a facility dog here full time, Monday to Friday, would allow us to really target that patient population who could really benefit and show enhanced outcomes through work with a therapy dog,” said Mary Tietjens, assistant director of Child Life and Social Work.

Elsa and her handler Sarah Herbek begin their shift bright and early around 8 a.m. After Herbek reviews the consults for the day, she and Elsa begin seeing patients in West Tower from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break in between patient visits.

“We provide goal-oriented therapeutic interventions to patients who have been hospitalized due to a traumatic event such as victims of abuse or patients who have chronic pain,” said Herbek, a Child Life specialist and animal-assisted therapy coordinator. “We also work alongside physical and occupational therapists to provide a little bit of encouragement and motivation to patients who are rebuilding their motor skills or who need to ambulate after surgery.”

For Madisyn, spending a few minutes with Elsa helps her focus less on her illness and more on the unconditional love and comfort that a therapy dog provides.

“It takes your mind off things and it distracts you from everything going on and the stress and all the feelings that go through your head when you have some spare time to sit and think,” Madisyn said.

Madisyn’s mother couldn’t agree more as she tearfully recalls the heart-warming moment when Elsa walked in to her daughter’s room.

“You see your child and you see the light going out of their eyes,” Jessica Thompson said. “When Elsa walked in, my daughter’s face lit up. She’s been excited about the whole experience.”

September 27, 2016

92816facilitydoginside350Starting on Monday, October 3, you’ll notice a new employee walking the halls of the hospital wearing a bright green vest emblazoned with the Texas Children’s badge. But she is not your typical employee – she is furry, has four legs and is just 1 1/2 years old.

Her name is Elsa and she is Texas Children’s new therapy dog. Just like any new employee, she will be spending the first few weeks getting acclimated to her new hospital surroundings with her handler before seeing patients in the West Tower.

Elsa is part of Texas Children’s new facility dog program that will officially launch next month. This program uses animal-assisted therapy to enhance the emotional well-being of pediatric patients by reducing their anxiety, perception of pain and fear of hospitalization.

“Our new therapy dog will provide goal-oriented therapeutic interventions to patients, families and staff,” said Mary Tietjens, assistant director of Child Life and Social Work at Texas Children’s. “She will be consulted to provide support to patients and families who may be having trouble coping with hospitalization, a new diagnosis or other traumatic experiences. Our dog also will provide distraction and motivation to patients undergoing certain medical procedures.”

Prior to coming to Texas Children’s, Elsa underwent extensive training with Canine Assistants, a non-profit in Atlanta, GA, that has matched more than 1,500 service dogs including individual and hospital placements. After demonstrating strong competencies geared toward working in a pediatric hospital environment, Elsa spent additional time training at Children’s Hospital of Atlanta working alongside her handler and pediatric patients.

“As Elsa’s handler, we participated in a week long training with Canine Assistants in Atlanta,” said Sarah Herbek, a child life specialist and animal assisted therapy coordinator at Texas Children’s. “I will work alongside the therapy dog and the medical team at Texas Children’s to provide a different focus from illnesses, symptoms, pain and medical treatments. My goal is to prioritize patients who are having a particularly difficult time during their hospitalization.”

The Child Life team has worked with Canine Assistants for the past year gathering benchmarking information and working on program development. Last December, the Development team and Child Life leadership presented the facility dog program to the Shackouls family who graciously decided to support this program.

“It is our hope that the support and love these therapy animals provide will help countless children in making their treatment and recovery journeys brighter,” said Bobby and Judy Shackouls. “We look forward to watching this program grow into something even bigger because every child, no matter their age, gender, background or health condition, deserves to feel the unconditional love and comfort these animals can provide throughout the healing process.”

Elsa will see patients full time starting the week of October 10. To ensure she always looks her best, she will be groomed weekly and her paws will be wiped down daily.

The therapy dog will provide therapeutic intervention to specific patients. A patient who is allergic to dogs will not be consulted and the dog will not go into patient rooms without first receiving verbal permission from a guardian and the medical team.

“We are so excited to finally bring this program to fruition at Texas Children’s Hospital,” Tietjens said. “This was a collaborative team effort and would not have been possible without the support of everyone who was involved.”

If you see Elsa at the hospital, be sure to greet her and make her feel welcome. And, albeit she’ll wag her tail vigorously to show her appreciation and excitement to be part of the Texas Children’s family.

June 14, 2016

61516RadioLollipop640Radio Lollipop is searching for volunteers who can bring energizing music to patient rooms through the volunteer-run radio station at Texas Children’s Hospital Main Campus.

Radio Lollipop broadcasts to all patient rooms from the Kids’ Own Studio located on the 16th floor of West Tower. Children can phone in song requests, sing along to the songs on the radio, tell jokes and serve as a guest DJ every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

For children who are not able to make it to the studio, volunteers visit them in their rooms where they do crafts, play games and participate in call-in contests to win prizes. Volunteers deliver prizes to the winning patients on their floors as well as patients who need an extra pick me up to brighten their evening.

“We depend entirely on our volunteers to keep our radio station up and running,” said Texas Children’s Child Life Activity Coordinator Leslie White. “In the past month, we had to cancel our Radio Lollipop services three times due to not having enough volunteers which means we missed out on visiting more than 500 patients. We hope to get an adequate amount of volunteers this year so we can continue providing this amazing program to our patients and families.”

As a completely volunteer-run program, Radio Lollipop is always looking for energetic, committed and dedicated volunteers who want to add fun to the lives of our patients while making their hospital stay more enjoyable and less frightening.

Radio Lollipop volunteers must be 18 years or older (no high school students) and commit to Radio Lollipop for at least six months. Orientation is offered to new volunteers and individuals are welcome to shadow Radio Lollipop volunteers to watch the radio program in action before making a commitment to volunteer.

No radio experience is necessary. If you have what it takes to be one of the few, the proud, the silly, click here to access the online application form. Be sure to indicate that you want to volunteer for Radio Lollipop under the “Please provide any additional information about yourself,” portion of the application form.

For more information about Radio Lollipop including a virtual tour of the studio, click here.

March 8, 2016

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Hundreds of children recently gathered with hospital staff on the 3rd floor Auxiliary bridge of Texas Children’s Hospital and outside the main entrance of Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus to participate in one of the medical system’s most popular events – the annual teddy bear clinic.

During the clinic, children are given the opportunity to act out the roles of various health care staff such as doctors, nurses, therapists and technicians. Children pretend to perform a variety of tests, exams and therapies to diagnosis their Teddy bear’s symptoms and heal its body.

Hosted by Child Life to celebrate national Child Life Week, the event celebrates our patients and families and how the intimate world of play is used to encourage children’s learning and support children’s coping.