April 22, 2024
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Earning the distinction of #1 pediatric transplant center in the United States for a seventh year in a row doesn’t happen by accident. It takes a total team effort sustained by passion and persistence. According to CVOR Manager Sophia Bailey, “it takes consistency and tenacity.”

A few of Sophia’s coworkers chimed in with their thoughts on what it takes to operate year-after-year as #1 and what motivates them to stay at the top.

According to Staff Nurse Miranda Orsak, “Through surgical and medical innovations our team has pioneered treatments and therapies that are now standard procedures. The time and effort poured into clinical research and evidence-based practice has greatly contributed to the success of the care we provide. While I believe the scientific breakthroughs contribute to setting us apart, our team is fueled by compassion. Family-centered care is a pillar that we deem very important, and we incorporate it into every step of the transplant process.”

While the medicine and research are a competitive advantage, equally as important to the team is their tireless dedication to patients and delivering excellent care. They all agree while the team is stacked with gifted and talented individuals, they work together seamlessly and care for each other in ways that bring out the best in each of them.

“I appreciate working with people who care about me as a person and understand the relationship between my work and my life,” said CVOR Nurse Tenitra Smith. “They know what I need personally to perform at my best professionally.” She added why she loves working on the transplant team – “I work on a team that fixes broken hearts!”

Many of the staff have been together for years, which is part of their success formula.

Senior Administrative Assistant Kathy Raford pointed out, “Our vice president and director both started as transplant coordinators and most of my colleagues have also served on this team for more than 10 years.”

Kathy has seen it all in her 17 years on the transplant team. One of the things she thinks sets us apart from other hospitals is how we establish trust and build relationships with providers and patients from the outset. When she first started working in transplant, she handled new referrals. Many referring physicians were “shocked” someone actually answered the phone and that physicians responded to phone calls sometimes within the same day by email or phone.

When asked what she loves about working at Texas Children’s on the transplant team, long-tenured Transplant Coordinator Katie Crockett said, “I love calling parents/patients to let them know we have a donor heart for them. That is the best call. Seeing them post-transplant and doing well is amazing. I have worked at Texas Children’s since I was a baby graduate nurse in 2000 and have loved all of the friendships I have made and patient families that I have had the pleasure to be a part of their journey. It is an honor to be a part of their worst and best days. I love my patients and our team, and I learn something new every day.”

Miranda may be more of a newcomer to the team, but she’s already felt the impact her work has had on her patients as well as their impact on her. “I have witnessed heart warriors battle with extended hospital stays and continue to beat the odds. Seeing these patients’ and parents’ strength is truly inspirational and I feel so very honored to partake in their care. It is always a celebration on the unit when we receive word that a heart is available for one of our kiddos. Nothing makes me happier or prouder than seeing a patient win their battle and be able to go home,” Miranda said.

In the last year, Texas Children’s successfully performed 99 organ transplants, the highest volume for all pediatric centers across the United States for the seventh year in a row. According to the Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network (OPTN), in 2023, our transplant teams had leading pediatric volumes in the country with 24 hearts, 5 lungs and 34 livers, and 36 kidney transplants. In addition to these exceptional volumes, our teams are dedicated to quality patient care and our programs lead the nation with exceptional outcomes as well.

Pediatric Transplant Week is April 21-27 and April is Donate Life Month. We thank and honor all the dedicated team members in these departments who create a healthier future for children and women, every day. We are also so grateful to all the selfless organ donors and their families who chose to donate life during their darkest hour.

April 15, 2024
Dr. Richard Hopper (left) and Dr. William C. Pederson (right)

Dr. William C. Pederson, chief of Plastic Surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital, has been named the Josephine Abercrombie Endowed Professor in Plastic Surgery Research, and Dr. Richard Hopper, medical director of Plastic Surgery in Austin, has been named the Samuel Stal, MD Endowed Chair in Plastic Surgery.

“Both Dr. Pederson and Dr. Hopper are exceptionally worthy recipients of these endowed positions,” said Texas Children’s Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Larry Hollier. “We are grateful to our generous donors and hospital leadership for creating these endowments to recruit and retain the most talented surgeons to care for our patients.”

The Josephine Abercrombie Endowed Professorship in Plastic Surgery Research was established by Ms. Abercrombie’s son, George Robinson, to honor his mother and the Abercrombie legacy of giving to Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine. J.S. Abercrombie, Josephine’s father, was one of the founders of Texas Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Pederson is an internationally renowned hand and microvascular surgeon with faculty appointments in plastic surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery and pediatrics at Texas Children’s and Baylor. His clinical interests include the management of vascular problems in the upper extremity, nerve injury and repair including brachial plexus, Volkmann’s ischemic contracture, facial paralysis and microsurgical reconstruction of complex extremity defects.

A leader in his field, Pederson served as president of the American Association for Hand Surgery and the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery and sat on the executive council of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. He also serves as a member-at-large on the executive council of the World Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery.

Pederson has authored more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed literature and 40 textbook chapters. He is an editor of the textbook “Green’s Operative Hand Surgery,” and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Hand Surgery and the Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery.

The Samuel Stal, MD Endowed Chair in Plastic Surgery was created through the contributions of Texas Children’s Hospital to honor the legacy of Dr. Samuel Stal, who served as chief of Plastic Surgery at both Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine. For more than 30 years, Dr. Stal focused his Texas Children’s practice on helping children with craniofacial, cleft lip and palate deformities. He also created the Texas Children’s Center for Facial Surgery, which accepted all children with facial deformities regardless of their family’s ability to pay.

Dr. Richard Hopper is the medical director for Plastic Surgery at our North Austin Campus and a professor of Surgery in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. He specializes in craniofacial surgery, specifically the surgical treatment of growth differences of the jaws and skull. This includes conditions such complex craniosynostosis, cleft lip and palate, and Treacher Collins, Crouzon and Apert syndromes. Dr. Hopper is the former president of both the American Society of Craniofacial Surgery and the International Society of Craniofacial Surgery.

His research has resulted in more than 100 publications focused on image-based outcome studies for craniosynostosis and complex craniofacial procedures as well as device design for cleft and craniofacial care. He has trained 38 craniofacial fellows who practice nationally and internationally. Dr. Hopper serves on the SmileTrain Global Medical Advisory Board to advise safety and quality treatment guidelines for patients born with cleft lip and palate around the world.

Dr. Hopper recently came to Texas Children’s after serving as chief of Plastic Surgery at Seattle Children’s Hospital and surgical director of Seattle Children’s Craniofacial Center.

Please join us in congratulating Drs. Pederson and Hopper on their endowed positions!

February 26, 2024

Thanks to our long-standing institutional commitment to the highest standards of surgical care, we are proud to share the American College of Surgeons (ACS) recently reverified Texas Children’s Hospital in the Medical Center as a Level I Children’s Surgery Center and Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, and accredited The Woodlands Campus as an Adolescent Bariatric Surgery Center.

ACS Quality Programs use the best data, expert input and proven processes to help surgical care teams across the nation deliver the highest quality care. As a participant in multiple programs, Texas Children’s has earned distinction as an ACS Surgical Quality Partner in these three areas.

“As one of the very first children’s hospitals in the country verified by the American College of Surgeons, we are proud that we have now successfully completed three rounds of rigorous surveys,” said Texas Children’s Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Larry Hollier. “Additionally, we are honored to be one of only seven children’s hospitals recognized as an adolescent bariatric surgery center in the country.”

ACS-verified Trauma Centers must meet essential criteria to ensure trauma care capability and institutional performance. Verified since 2010, Texas Children’s Hospital is the only freestanding Level I Pediatric Trauma Center in our region, providing comprehensive around-the-clock coverage to evaluate and treat the most severely injured children and adolescents. Our trauma process improvement program carefully monitors and evaluates patient care and system performance while ensuring implementation of a safety-first culture.

Texas Children’s Hospital was one of the first Level I Children’s Surgery Centers to earn the distinction in 2016. A Level I verification requires us to provide surgery and anesthesia for all major pediatric specialties for children of all ages, from premature infants to adolescents. In addition to robust data collection, outcomes assessment and quality improvement efforts, the hospital must also have the highest level NICU and pediatric emergency medicine physicians and radiologists available all day, every day.

The process for ACS verification includes 12 to 18 months of rigorous preparation and collaboration. Both the Trauma and Children’s Surgery programs surveyed under new ACS standards, which required compliance with elevated metrics for multiple surgical and non-surgical subspecialties and allied health teams.

Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands is home to the only adolescent bariatric surgery center in the state with a multidisciplinary clinical staff certified to meet the surgical, medical and psychological needs of its patients. Last year, they met the rigorous criteria to receive national accreditation from the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP), a joint program of the ACS. Click here to read our previous story with more details on their inaugural accreditation.

Congratulations to our surgical teams on these outstanding accomplishments!

Texas Children’s is committed not only to providing exceptional care to our patients but also to fostering the growth and development of health care professionals. We believe in taking proactive steps to cultivate talent within our organization and the broader health care community. That’s why we are thrilled to announce our Surgical Technology Entrance into Practice Program (STEPP).

We’re STEPPing Up

STEPP is our latest approach to creating a pipeline of skilled surgical technologists who will enrich our workforce. Designed exclusively for students enrolled in the Houston Community College (HCC) Coleman College for Health Sciences Surgical Technology program, STEPP offers students financial assistance toward the completion of their education and opens doors for potential job placement within our hospital. This program not only benefits Texas Children’s by ensuring we have a skilled and dedicated team of surgical technologists but also contributes to the overall improvement of patient care in our community. We look forward to providing aspiring surgical technologists with the support and resources they need to succeed.

You can step up, too!

As we champion the growth and development of tomorrow’s health care professionals, we want to empower you to shape our talented surgical teams today.

Employees who refer qualified Surgical Technologist I & II candidates through our Everyone is A Recruiter Now (E.A.R.N.) program will receive a reward of $5,000 for each successful referral.

Here’s how the E.A.R.N. program works:

Refer: Share career opportunities at Texas Children’s with your network through Voyager. Ensure your referral includes your complete name under the “How did you hear about us?” section. Your referral should complete their profile, listing you as the sole referral source.

Collect Your Reward: You’ll receive 100% of the E.A.R.N. reward approximately two pay periods after the your referral’s successful hire and completion of new employee orientation. The reward will be listed under “Select Dollars” on your paycheck.

The E.A.R.N. program pays $5,000 for featured job referrals. Employees receive $1,000 for all other successful referrals. Click here for more details about the E.A.R.N. program.

August 28, 2023

A highly-regarded plastic and orthopedic surgeon, Pederson has also been appointed chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Read more

July 13, 2022

Texas Children’s Department of Surgery recently acquired the Anatomage Table, a revolutionary technology that makes it possible to virtually visualize, interact with, and dissect human anatomy in 3D.

About the size of an operating table, this advanced anatomy and physiology educational tool will provide Texas Children’s team members with an in-depth look into human anatomical structures in much the same way a physical human body would. The cadavers featured in the Anatomage Table were modeled after the Visible Human Project (VHP) and the Visible Korean Human Project (VKH), a program dedicated to capturing and cataloguing detailed photographs of whole and sectioned parts of young, well-preserved human bodies for use in virtual teaching applications.

What allows the Anatomage Table to truly stand out from other imaging and virtual application systems currently on the market is its innovative radiology software and clinical content. Currently the Anatomage Table is the world’s only “fully segmented real human 3D anatomy system…allowing for exploration and learning of human anatomy beyond what any cadaver could offer.” This virtual tool diminishes the need for traditional cadavers and all that comes with them such as chemicals, unpleasant smells, facility costs and regulations.

The table has already been adopted by hundreds of the world’s leading medical schools and institutions, and we’re excited to bring this state-of-the-art technology to our One Amazing Team.

“This impressive table is truly an innovative and state-of-the-art piece of technology that I am so excited to be incorporating into our didactics and teaching here in the Department of Surgery,” said Surgeon in-Chief Dr. Larry Hollier. “Not only will this allow for all providers to gain 24/7 access to anatomy and virtual dissection, the in-depth ability to visualize the anatomy in this way is like nothing we have ever had before.”

How to reserve the Anatomage Table and Terms of Agreement

Anyone at Texas Children’s is welcome to reserve the table for educational purposes after providing the proper information required regarding the educational session and attendants, as well as agreeing to the terms and conditions set for room usage.

For those interested in reserving Texas Children’s Anatomage Table room, go to Microsoft Outlook and select the option “Legacy Tower E.860.02.” After reserving the room in Outlook, you will receive an email with a mandatory form to complete and return. Upon completing the form, your request will then be accepted or denied. Please note: confirmation of your reservation is dependent on the completion and review of your form, and all requests to reserve the room remain tentative until further notice. If you have not received training on how to operate the Anatomage Table, we ask that you meet with a super user in advance of your requested educational session. If you have any additional questions related to reserving the room, please contact Maggie Gonzales at mcgonzal@texaschildrens.org.

To learn more about the table and its many features, we encourage you to watch the video detailing how the table works, and/or watch the TED Talk “On the virtual dissection table“ by Jack Choi, the founder and CEO of Anatomage.

June 28, 2022

Stacy Flach shares her experiences with helping bariatric surgery patients to achieve a healthier and happier outlook for their future. Read more