On May 24, 2022, 19 children and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary, forever changing the fabric of a small Texas city.
“Texas Children’s Hospital is only a few hours away from Uvalde…these are our neighbors,” said President and CEO Mark A. Wallace on that tragic day. “[We’re] ready and willing to support the children, parents, families, teachers and administrators of Uvalde in any way we can.”
Texas Children’s immediately reached out to offer assistance and support through centralized state agencies. Led by our psychology and psychiatry teams, we forged a partnership with Community Health Development, Inc. (CHDI), a comprehensive community-based health center in Uvalde.
“Through this partnership with CHDI and city leaders, we developed a three-part plan,” explained Dr. Karin Price, chief of psychology at Texas Children’s. “We started by supporting the Uvalde community after other emergency services (including crisis mental health support) left the area…and since then have been focused on providing trauma-focused behavioral health care and integrating into the community to build trust.”
We have two bilingual behavioral health clinicians on-site at CHDI in Uvalde for two full days every other week, also offering telehealth services to interested families during off-site weeks. Last year, we participated in a community-based wellness fair to share children’s books and information with parents/caregivers on developmentally expected responses to trauma and signs to look out for in children who might need professional help. Two more fairs are planned for this summer, and Texas Children’s has been invited as a key participant.
Since August 2022, a team of child psychiatrists from Texas Children’s have also provided psychiatric care to the community through CHDI. “Initially, the psychiatrists were travelling weekly to Uvalde,” said Dr. Kirti Saxena, chief of psychiatry at Texas Children’s. “Since January, we have provided a combination of virtual and weekly on-site care…and our mind-body interventionist has been facilitating on-site and virtual mind-body practices to the staff of CHDI, which have been well-received.”
Texas Children’s will continue to work with CHDI to develop a sustainable plan for offering comprehensive behavioral health care to the Uvalde community using local and regional resources.
First anniversaries are often the hardest to endure. Please join us in thanking our Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine team members who are committed to supporting Uvalde families through this unthinkable time of grief and loss.
Need support? You are not alone. The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is confidential and designed to support all Texas Children’s employees and eligible dependents with experienced, licensed and credentialed professionals. If you or someone you know is struggling, please contact EAP at 832-824-3327 or EAP@texaschildrens.org.