November 18, 2019

Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine recently hosted the Pediatric Critical Care Summit of the Americas, a first of its kind bilingual assembly that provided a forum for building bridges among health care providers in the Americas.

More than 500 people from 15 countries attended the summit, which was held from November 7-10 and included seven pre-conference workshops, a tour of Texas Children’s Hospital, three full days of symposia, a bachata dance workshop and a fiesta.

Some of the goals of the summit, which blended two pediatric critical care organizations – the US-based 26th Pediatric Critical Care Colloquium and the Latin American-based 15th Latin American Congress of Pediatric Intensive Care – were:

  • Support, encourage and promote excellence in clinical care and research in the field of pediatric critical care across the Americas.
  • Encourage collegial relationships between US, Central American and Latin American pediatric intensivists and the greater inter-professional team.
  • Promote basic, translational, and clinical research related to critically ill children both while acutely ill and after discharge from the ICU.
  • Promote and disseminate related quality improvement and patient safety materials through established and developing communication technologies.

Plenary speakers and their topics of discussion included:

  • Drs. Jesus Lopez-Herce (Spain) and Jefferson Piva (Brazil) – Intensive Care in the Americas in 2019: Forging a New Doctor
  • Texas Children’s Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline – Global / International Outreach in Pediatric Medicine
  • Texas Children’s associate chief of Critical Care Medicine Dr. Paul Checchia – Pediatric Cardiac Care in 2019
  • Dr. Bettina Von Dessauer (Chile) and Texas Children’s Critical Care physician Dr. Fernando Stein – The Human Cost of ICU Survival
  • Dr. Joseph Carcillo (University of Pittsburgh) – Inflammation, Sepsis, and Organ Failure: Where are We Going?

The modernization of pediatric critical care medicine has improved the quality of health care delivered to children with life-threatening conditions and has drastically reduced their mortality. As a consequence, a growing cohort of children and adolescents who survive a stay in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) do so with varying degrees of special healthcare needs and technology dependence.

They need a medical home and require complex medical care often coupled with frequent ICU readmissions and pose new challenges to caregivers, providers, health care systems and society. Pediatric intensive care providers are tasked with providing skilled quality care to critically ill children with empathy, compassion, professionalism and resilience but are also obliged to transition them from hospital to nurturing home care.

Global collaboration and information sharing has improved greatly but accessibility still is not uniform across the Americas and profound disparities still exist with regard to resources, organization, and continuing education. The Pediatric Critical Care Summit of the Americas represented international cooperation targeted toward these challenges in global Pediatric Critical Care.

September 30, 2019

In 1996, Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline made a trip to Romania that changed his life and subsequently the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and women across the globe.

While there on a fact-finding mission after the Eastern European country’s inhumane treatment of orphans came to the world’s attention, Kline saw children ravaged by HIV/AIDS because they didn’t have access to the life-saving medication that was readily available in the United States.

The images haunted Kline, who on his flight back to Houston roughly outlined how Baylor could intervene to help children neglected by the global public health community. Twenty years later, Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) at Texas Children’s Hospital is one of the largest global maternal and child health programs in the world.

Providing care and treatment to nearly 300,000 children, BIPAI has established public-private partnerships in 10 countries across sub-Saharan Africa as well as Latin America and Romania. These partnerships now extend beyond the scope of HIV/AIDS and tackle other conditions in the developing world such as cancer, tuberculosis, malaria, sickle cell and malnutrition.

“BIPAI and its partnership with Texas Children’s has touched so many lives, and we owe it all to Dr. Kline’s vision and leadership,” said Texas Children’s President and Chief Operating Officer Mark A. Wallace. “If it weren’t for him, BIPAI wouldn’t exist.”

BIPAI’s 20 years of success were celebrated September 29 at the fund-raising event “Through the Lens.” Presented by Chevron, the event honored Kline and featured the work of Smiley Pool, a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist who has captured BIPAI’s life-changing work for the past two decades.

The almost 300 people who attended the event at The Revaire experienced a visual journey through Poole’s photographs from the diverse regions where BIPAI is bringing health and healing to those in need of care. Most of the photos had never been seen before and told a story of challenge, hope, triumph and connection.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to be able to document the journey of BIPAI and Texas Children’s across the globe,” Pool said. “I hope the stories of the people I have photographed will continue to inspire others to move this effort forward.”

In addition to Pool’s photographs, the event featured a World Market sponsored by AbbVie. The market was filled with goods made by the BIPAI Teen Club and were available for purchase. The event’s globally-inspired cuisine included passed hors d’oeuvres, along with six food stations where empanadas were served to honor Argentina, Romanian garlic sausage was enjoyed, and guests were treated to three variations of ceviche as a tribute to the culture of Columbia.

“Chevron is proud to be part of a partnership that has saved so many lives,” said Clay Neff, president of Chevron’s Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production. “We are extremely appreciative of Dr. Kline’s leadership and look forward to continuing to work side-by-side.”

When Kline took the stage, he humbly thanked several people in the room and appreciated gratefulness for being given the opportunity to help children and women in such need.

“This work is incredibly gratifying,” he said. “I’ve done it for the past 20 years because it’s my passion. I’m truly doing what I love.”

For more information about BIPAI, visit bipai.org. To read more about Texas Children’s Global Health Program, click here. To support these efforts across the global, click here. “Through The Lens” raised more than $400,000 toward BIPAI’s mission.

July 31, 2019

 

On July 26, employees at Texas Children’s medical center campus received a masterclass on cultivating a life full of love and compassion from an expert on the subject – His Eminence the 7th Ling Rinpoche, an esteemed teacher of dharma (basic principles of existence) in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Click here to listen to the talk given by His Eminence the 7th Ling Rinpoche.

It was an event years in the making. In 2017, Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline invited His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to speak at Texas Children’s as part of an upcoming United States tour that would include engagements in Houston. However, due to illness, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was unable to travel. Instead, he asked His Eminence to tour on his behalf – including a specially requested stop at Texas Children’s.

“Texas Children’s Hospital practices compassion thousands of times each and every day,” said President and CEO Mark Wallace in his welcoming remarks. “We are deeply honored that His Eminence requested to include Texas Children’s in his plans for his first visit to Houston, and we are fortunate to hear his inspirational words on compassion.”

The visit to Texas Children’s was part of a full schedule of private lectures and public talks for audiences at the Houston Police Department, NASA Johnson Space Center, VIET TV, Unity of Houston and other locations, and was coordinated by Texas Children’s Patient and Family Services in collaboration with the Drepung Loseling Institute of Texas, a center dedicated to the study and preservation of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of wisdom and compassion.

“Healing is not just about physical medicine; it also includes a spiritual component,” said Director of Clinical Support Services Michelle Lawson. “Many families find comfort and healing on a spiritual level and lean on their faith traditions. At Texas Children’s, we value the diversity found in all cultures and religions. His Eminence’s presence provides an opportunity for our employees, patients and families to broaden their perspectives regarding healing practices and beliefs.”

Through an interpreter, His Eminence spoke to an audience of executive and clinical leadership, staff, and employees about cultivating love and compassion in daily life. He explained that by working in a profession where the goal was to help others health care workers were already engaged in meaningful living. However, he cautioned that many of the challenges health care employees face – such as physical, mental and emotional exhaustion – can cause them to lose hope when trying to develop an attitude of love and compassion. To meet those kinds of challenges, His Eminence told the audience that people must actively build a sense of connection to every person with whom they come into contact, so that everyone becomes equal to oneself. By doing so, a person becomes more invested in others, and it becomes a moral imperative, even an obligation, to accept responsibility for their happiness and wellbeing. Helping others, he concluded, was the purpose of a meaningful life.

During a short question-and-answer session, His Eminence fielded questions about Buddhism, meditation and dharmic teachings from audience members, including Kline, who asked what people could to do achieve personal peace.

The answer: To reduce a selfish attitude and not focus on obtaining selfish desires, the pursuit of which can lead to anxiety, anger and even poor health. Peace, His Eminence said, was obtained by cultivating an attitude to help others.

Following the Q&A, His Eminence led the audience through a guided meditation, after which Texas Children’s patient Leyna Le presented him with two copies of “The Art of Texas Children’s” – one for himself and one for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The book showcases original artwork created by Texas Children’s patients over the years. His Eminence then toured parts of Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower and blessed patients and their families in the intensive care unit. To conclude the visit, a small service of prayer and blessing was held in the Children’s Chapel.

“Texas Children’s has become the great organization it is because family-centered care is at the core of our values,” said Tom Sharon, assistant director of Spiritual Care. “But today we’ve been reminded just how important it is to strive to meet our patients’ and families’ emotional and spiritual needs with the same commitment to excellence our experts do for their physical wellbeing.”

Learn more about the resources and programs available at Texas Children’s through Patient and Family Services.

About His Eminence the 7th Ling Rinpoche and the Drepung Loseling Institute of Texas

Born in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India, on November 18, 1985, His Eminence the 7th Ling Rinpoche was recognized in 1987 by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 6th Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche (1903–1983), His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s most Senior Tutor.

His Eminence joined Drepung Monastic University in southern India in 1990, where his enrollment was celebrated with large religious ceremonies. He began his monastic studies at Drepung at the age of 10 and engaged in rigorous religious study and spiritual training under the special care and guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Eminence completed all five Geshe Studies subjects (Logic, Perfection of Wisdom, Middle Way, Higher Knowledge and Monastic Discipline) and received his Geshe degree in November 2016. He then enrolled at Gyuto Tantric College in Dharamsala, India in April 2017 for a year of tantric studies that traditionally follows the completion of a Geshe degree.

His Eminence organized His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s historic Eighteen Jangchup Lamrim Commentaries, teachings on the classic Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. They were held at Sera, Drepung, Ganden and Tashi Lhunpo monasteries between 2012 and 2015 and attended each year by approximately 40,000 people from nearly 70 countries.

Since 2004, His Eminence has also participated in the Mind and Life Institute conferences held in India between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and scientists on a variety of topics, such as physics, neuroplasticity and destructive emotions.

The Drepung Loseling Institute of Texas was established in 2015 as one of the North American Seats of the Drepung Loseling Monastery in India and founded by His Eminence Gala Tulku Rinpoche with advice and blessing from His Holiness the 103rd Gaden Tripa Choeje Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche and the generous support of Vietnamese devotees.

The primary goal of the Institute is to carry on the legacy of the Drepung Loseling Monastery. With the patronage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Institute is dedicated to the study and preservation of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of wisdom and compassion. It is a center for the cultivation of both heart and intellect and provides a sanctuary for the nurture of inner peace and kindness, community understanding, and global healing.

April 23, 2019

During its first year, the Global HOPE initiative made tremendous progress at creating an innovative pediatric hematology-oncology treatment network in sub-Saharan Africa. Learn more by visiting our 2018 virtual Annual Report.

December 3, 2018

A delegation of Texas Children’s physician leadership, executives and experts were recently invited to attend the 6th annual U.S. News & World Report Healthcare of Tomorrow summit in Washington, D.C. There, they met with top hospital leaders, policymakers, insurers, consumer advocates and other industry professionals from across the country to discuss some of the most important topics in health care today.

Texas Children’s had a major presence throughout the event. Not only did we sponsor key discussion sessions, but every attendee had their event credentials on a Texas Children’s-branded lanyard, Additionally, a raffle of four sets of Rudolph’s Pediatrics, the landmark pediatric health care reference, of which Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline is editor-in-chief, was extremely well received at our conference booth.

Kline and Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Larry Hollier also represented Texas Children’s as featured event speakers.

Taking compassionate care into the global community

In his keynote address, “Global Child Health at the Tipping Point: Lessons from the Field,” Kline stressed that though significant progress has been made to improve child health and mortality rates worldwide, challenges still remain, especially in resource-limited countries. He also said that through increased awareness, partnership and active engagement, those challenges can become opportunities for health care providers to improve the lives of the world’s poorest and least fortunate.

To illustrate this point, Kline highlighted the successes and lessons learned of the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) at Texas Children’s Hospital in helping stem the tide of the AIDS pandemic, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The network, which Kline founded in 1996, has grown from a single pilot HIV clinic in Romania into a comprehensive global health network – the largest HIV/AIDS network in the world – that includes 16 centers and clinics in 14 countries, providing care for hundreds of thousands of children and families, education for nearly 90,000 health care professionals, and research into pediatric health.

Kline also explained how leveraging the BIPAI network’s infrastructure has enabled Texas Children’s to extend its global reach and to offer care for many other diseases and disorders, including pediatric cancer, sickle cell anemia, OB/GYN care, tuberculosis, malaria, malnutrition and other conditions.

“For too long, children have been on the outside looking in, and it’s particularly true for the poor children of the world, who’ve not had the same access to life-saving therapies as American and European children,” Kline said. “The HIV/AIDS pandemic certainly challenged the world’s commitment, and our compassion, for these children. But our success in the fight against HIV/AIDS has opened the door to treatments for a host of other serious diseases that have threatened the health and well-being of children and families for generations.”

Using partnership to drive patient experience

At a discussion session entitled “The New Patient Experience Era: Focusing on the Consumer of Tomorrow,” Hollier and other panel members addressed how enhancing the patient experience can lead to improvements in quality and safety and to increased consumer and caregiver satisfaction.

Hollier discussed the crucial role that partnerships have played in improving patient experience at Texas Children’s.

“We believe strongly that partnerships – with our providers and employees, with our families, and with experts inside and outside of health care – are a critical component of driving an exceptional experience,” Hollier said. “As families’ expectations evolve, we continue to explore more innovative solutions to help us meet them where they are in their care journey, and to ensure they feel supported at every step along the way.”

One such solution was an initiative to improve communication and interaction between providers and patients and families. Partnering with experts at Press Ganey and Academy of Communication, and drawing information from provider and patient/family surveys, we developed a communication training curriculum for caregivers that elevates the level of engagement for families. Providers now feel empowered to manage interactions between both patient and parent, and are better equipped to communicate important information in a way that families will understand.

Texas Children’s also relied on partnership with families during the development of Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower. A 20-member Family Advisory Board worked for three years, from initial planning to the go-live date, to ensure that families’ needs were kept at the center of important decisions. Their input was essential for room and facility layouts, in simulation exercises, and for the development of family support resources during the move into the new building.

For Texas Children’s Department of Surgery, partnerships have been integral in enhancing tech processes, which has led to several improvements across the Texas Children’s system, including streamlined and transparent data sharing, consolidation and standardization of our and our providers’ online presence, and more frequent updates and scheduling information for families during surgery through the EASE app.

Hollier also highlighted Texas Children’s recent partnership with Disney, a $100 million initiative that has the potential to transform the patient experience in children’s hospitals across the globe. Initial concepts for development include allowing children to customize their hospital visit with their favorite Disney stories and characters, reimagining spaces through augmented and virtual reality experiences, and creating themed treatment and patient rooms with interactive elements.

November 6, 2018

A team of Texas Children’s surgeons, anesthesiologists and perioperative staff recently traveled to Malawi and Uganda to provide surgical care for children with cancer and congenital anomalies as part of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers’ Global HOPE program. This was one of the first coordinated trips under the new Division of Global Surgery.

Dr. Jed Nuchtern, chief of Global Surgery, Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria, pediatric surgeon and Trauma medical director, Dr. Titi Aina, pediatric anesthesiologist, and operating room nurse Anita Hadley worked alongside local surgical teams to provide much-needed surgical care for area children, many of whom had been waiting months for experienced doctors and nurses who could treat their conditions. The team helped complete more than 30 operations, including 10 nephrectomies for Wilm’s tumor, the most common form of pediatric kidney cancer, effectively providing a cure for these children.

“I am so proud to be able to share the talents of our surgical teams by going abroad,” said Nuchtern. “Not only are we able to treat these children who are in great need of surgery, but we are also able to educate the doctors and surgical teams from these countries. The collaborative efforts of Surgery, Anesthesia and the Cancer Center continue, as future trips have already been planned, and we will add to our traveling surgical teams as the Division of Global Surgery grows.”

The Division of Global Surgery, created this past August, expands Texas Children’s ability to help children and women across the globe in low-resource countries and offers pediatric surgery education by providing hands-on instruction and necessary supplies. To build capacity, preliminary Global Surgery efforts are focused on surgical care for pediatric cancer patients and leverage resources, infrastructure and successful global medical programs already in place in sub-Saharan. These include Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) Network, Global HOPE and existing efforts by Texas Children’s Department of Ob/Gyn. Long-term goals for the division include a surgical facility for women and children in Lilongwe, Malawi; expansion of care capacity in Central America; and, ultimately, recognition for Texas Children’s as a leader in global surgical outreach.

October 2, 2018

On September 21, Texas Children’s Hospital hosted His Excellency Mokgweetsi E.K. Masisi, president of Botswana, along with his family and members of his delegation. President Masisi met with clinical and executive leaders at Texas Children’s for a luncheon and tour to discuss pressing health care issues facing Botswana. The gathering also served as an opportunity to assess the progress we have made together to help combat pediatric illnesses in his country, including HIV/AIDS, cancer and hematologic diseases.

“I must begin by giving a very direct word of appreciation and thanks to Texas Children’s and Bristol-Myers Squibb, for you might not fully comprehend what you did for a whole nation state and civilization,” President Masisi said during his opening remarks at the luncheon held in Peterkin Board Room. “The government and people of Botswana will remain forever grateful for your generous response to our urgent appeal during literally our darkest and most perilous hour at the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. When we thought all else was lost, your generosity, your humanity, your assistance among others brought smiles to many of our families, and the nation at large.”

With the generous support of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative at Texas Children’s Hospital (BIPAI) began working in Botswana in 2001. They started out small, training doctors and nurses, and testing and treating children with HIV. They then went big in 2003, building the Botswana-Baylor Children’s Clinical Centre of Excellence, a Centre of Excellence where state-of-the-art HIV/AIDs care is administered to children.

“It’s been a blessing to be in partnership with the Ministry of Health, and with the government of Botswana in absolutely everything we’ve done,” said Dr. Mark W. Kline, president and founder of BIPAI, physician-in-chief of Texas Children’s Hospital and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. “It really has changed the world for hundreds of thousands of children across the African continent and around the world.”

The goal of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Texas Children’s, BIPAI and the Ministries of Health, Kline explained, is to implement the same principles that have been applied to HIV/AIDS to the treatment of cancer among African children, who for decades have not received the life-saving therapy they need and deserve.

In the United States, where there are 15,000 cases of pediatric cancer a year, 80 percent of children survive and most have a very good quality of life, statistics show. In Sub-Saharan Africa, of the more than 100,000 children who develop pediatric cancer each year, 90 percent die.

View photos below from His Excellency Mokgweetsi E.K. Masisi, president of Botswana’s visit.

Dr. David Poplack, director of Global HOPE (Hematology-Oncology Pediatric Excellence) and associate director of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers, said the discrepancy and inequity these statistics represent are intolerable, and are why the Global HOPE cancer program – a partnership between Texas Children’s Hospital, BIPAI and Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, along with the Ministries of Health in six sub-Saharan African countries, including Botswana – are working to correct it.

“Africa is now poised to make major advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer,” Poplack said. “Based on our experience in the United States, we know what is possible, and we know what it takes to achieve success. We believe Botswana now has a similar opportunity to dramatically improve childhood cancer treatment and care; not only in Botswana, but across the continent.”

To help accomplish this, Global HOPE is working with the Ministry of Health to establish a Center of Excellence in pediatric care in Botswana as well as a pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship training program that will make Botswana a hub for training across Southern Africa. Centers of Excellence also are being established in Malawi and Uganda as part of the Global HOPE program.

Global HOPE was created in February 2017 as a $100 million initiative to create an innovative pediatric hematology-oncology treatment network in sub-Saharan Africa. The program already is making great strides, treating more than 1,000 patients, training 369 health care professionals, and graduating the first class of physician fellows enrolled in the first Pediatric Hematology Oncology Fellowship Program in East Africa.

“Our relationship with Botswana has spanned 15 years, a long time, and was the inception point of Texas Children’s global work in Africa,” said President and CEO Mark Wallace. “We look forward to continuing our extraordinary partnership for many, many years to come and know that your focus on innovation and continuing to create a higher standard of excellence for health care for your country will impact the quality of life for the people of Botswana for generations to come.”

Discussions about these efforts continued throughout the evening at an event at the St. Regis Hotel where leaders from Houston, throughout the United States and Botswana gathered to celebrate the incredible work underway.

Click here for more information on Global HOPE.