November 26, 2019

Tamarah Rodriguez waited in eager anticipation for the November 20 patient move day to arrive. She and her 5-month-old son, Adriel Franco, had spent nearly a week in their hospital room on the seventh floor of the Abercrombie Building.

To ensure that her son received the best care possible, Rodriguez made the six-hour drive from her home in Edinburg, TX to Texas Children’s Hospital. Staying in one of Texas Children’s oldest buildings, she realized how small the room felt – not just for her and little Adriel – but also for her son’s care team.

“It was really hard to feel at home here,” Rodriguez said. “When we found out that we’d be moving in a newly renovated room with more space to walk around, I was very excited. And then, when I saw the room for the first time, it was simply amazing. It’s very spacious, cozy and the views are beautiful.”

On November 20, Texas Children’s reached an historic milestone when acute care services transitioned out of the 65-year-old Abercrombie Building and into 15 West Tower, which was formerly one of Texas Children’s cardiology units, and was renovated to meet the future growth of the hospital’s acute care patient population.

Beginning at 7 a.m., four specially trained clinical teams began safely transporting 33 acute care patients from Abercrombie 6 North and 7 South to their new, spacious, state-of-the-art rooms in 15 West Tower. Nine patients from Abercrombie 5 North relocated to 7 South, until the move to 7 West Tower occurs in February.

More than 50 Texas Children’s staff members were involved in the patient move to 15 West Tower, and the careful transfer of the patients took five hours, which was a lot sooner than originally anticipated due to the efficiency and effectiveness of the Abercrombie and 15 West Tower teams involved on Move Day.

The patient move involved teams from clinical support services, respiratory, facilities, security, nursing, administration, physicians, nurse practitioners, and all members of the acute care team. Patient and family services teams were assigned to each family member to help accompany and escort them from Abercrombie to the hospital’s new acute care unit. Throughout the move, the 15 West Tower Go-Live Support Center was set up in the Nursing Administration Director Workroom comprised of individuals who focused on patient move issue resolution and tracking from Abercrombie to 15 West Tower.

“The patient move was successful and flowed seamlessly,” said Rhonda Wolfe, Director of Nursing for Acute Care. “There was meticulous planning for several months leading up to Move Day which included reviewing patient move logistics, engaging staff, families and partnering with other departments to ensure roles were clearly delineated.”

Collaborating with our Facility Planning and Development partners, the 36-bed unit features larger patient suites (291 square feet), a playroom and two relaxing family rooms that give loved ones a space to gather. Dynamic features include four rooms engineered for the safety of patients with behavioral health needs and a simulation lab to provide state-of-the-art education. With these innovative technologies, 15 West Tower is well equipped to provide exceptional patient care for generations to come.

Impetus for historic patient move

The patient move is part of Texas Children’s West Tower Backfill Project, which involves transitioning patient care services out of Abercrombie. Abercrombie 7 South will remain “patient ready” and will be used as an overflow unit in times of high census. Abercrombie 5 North and 6 North will be decomissioned and designated for administrative use.

The smaller rooms (160 square feet) and limited technological capabilities in the 65-year-old building historically had presented challenges for providers, clinical care teams, patients and their families.

“When our executive steering committee looked at space planning and space management for our clinical programs, one of our guiding principles was to decrease or eliminate care in Abercrombie,” said Assistant Vice President of Nursing Jennifer Sanders. “The patient move from Abercrombie to West Tower, will enable our patient care teams to collaborate more efficiently in these new, enhanced spaces and will improve the experience for our patients and their families during their stay at Texas Children’s.”

The next phase of the West Tower Backfill Project will include moving patients from Abercrombie 7 South to 7 West Tower in February 2020. 7 West Tower will become a new 32-bed hematology and oncology unit.

February 25, 2019

It’s been less than a year since the Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower opened its doors for the first time to care for our most critically ill patients at Texas Children’s Medical Center campus. And, in that short period of time, Texas Children’s has made great strides for our patients and their families.

On May 22, 2018, Smith Legacy Tower opened with 45 critically ill patients. Four months later on September 25, Texas Children’s No. 1 ranked Heart Center opened in Smith Legacy Tower to deliver care to 64 patients. Since that historic moment, Texas Children’s critical care, cardiology, surgical and radiology teams have been busy.

To date, Smith Legacy Tower has had 3,870 patient admissions in the pediatric and cardiac intensive care units. More than 5,000 patients have received care at Smith Legacy Tower’s outpatient Heart Center clinics, and over 450 catheterization and 476 MRI procedures have been performed in the new tower.

A total of 2,356 surgeries were completed in Smith Legacy Tower’s state-of-the-art surgical and cardiovascular operating rooms, totaling 9,495 surgical hours. In the first three months of opening the tower’s new helipad, Texas Children’s had 66 helipad landings, allowing for even greater access to Texas Children’s for the sickest patients.

“I don’t know of any other children’s hospital in the country that has the type of experience that Texas Children’s has in bringing all of these elements together,” said Texas Children’s Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Larry Hollier. “With Legacy Tower providing much larger, more functional spaces for our patients, clinical and surgical teams, we are delivering on our promise to ensure every child receives the right care, at the right time and in the right place.”

West Tower Backfill Project

Following the successful opening of Smith Legacy Tower, construction is now underway to backfill and renovate the patient care spaces on floors 7 and 15 of West Tower that were left vacant from the patient moves.

Part of the West Tower Backfill project involves transitioning patient care services out of the Abercrombie Building which currently serves as Texas Children’s general pediatrics and pediatrics hospital unit. As one of the hospital’s oldest facilities, the smaller spaces and limited technological capabilities have historically presented challenges for providers, clinical care teams, patients and their families.

“When our executive steering committee was formed to look at space planning and space management for our clinical programs, one of our guiding principles was to decrease or eliminate care in Abercrombie,” said Assistant Vice President of Nursing Jennifer Sanders. “As our patients and staff become more dependent on technology, there are challenges due to the age of the facility.”

7 West Tower

As part of the backfill project, 7 West Tower will become a 32-bed dedicated hematology and oncology unit that will include 22 hematology-oncology rooms and 10 bone marrow transplant rooms.

Formerly known as the Progressive Care Unit, several patient rooms had been set up as pods where four patients occupied one room. Construction is underway to reconfigure this space into four private rooms. Renovations will also include a multi-disciplinary work area, larger family lounge and respite areas.

Cancer and hematology patients from other parts of West Tower and Abercrombie will move to 7 West Tower once renovation is completed. The targeted date of completion is September 2019.

15 West Tower

While 15 West Tower used to be Texas Children’s cardiovascular intensive care unit, this space will be redesigned to meet the future growth of our acute care patient population.

By converting this space from critical care to acute care, 15 West Tower will become a 36-bed acute care Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) unit that will include a family lounge and respite spaces. The unit will include four behavioral health rooms, multi-disciplinary work area and space for our PHM providers.

Patients from Abercrombie 5 and 6 will move to 15 West Tower, and during this transition, 7 South Abercrombie will be a “patient ready” floor that will serve as an acute care unit during high patient census. The targeted date of completion is July 2019.

6 West Tower

The last component of the West Tower Backfill project is the reconfiguration of 6 West Tower that will address different patient populations on one floor. Expected to be completed in late 2020, 6 West Tower will become a separate inpatient and outpatient dialysis and pheresis unit. While this floor used to house the administrative offices for critical care physicians, the hospital’s neonatology offices are still located there.

“Collaborating with our facility planning and development partners, our nursing team has played a crucial role in leading the West Tower Backfill project,” said Associate Chief Nursing Officer Jackie Ward. “The patient move from Abercrombie to West Tower will help us meet the future growth of acute care, while enabling our patient care teams to collaborate more efficiently in these new, enhanced spaces. This change will also enhance and improve our patient and staff experience.”