Connect Newsletter (July 14, 2022)

July ProsperCast: Community Involvement, Physician Recruitment, Nursing Leadership and Prosper Careers

Our latest episode of ProsperCast is here! Click here to watch. 

Kevin Greene, AVP, Administrator, Prosper, and Cheryl Petersen, VP, Nursing, CNO CCMC, are back again and guide us through our July ProsperCast. 

Get to know the Cook Children's Medical Center Prosper nursing leaders, Sheralyn Hartline and Stefanie Tanner, as they share their excitement to make the move to Prosper and the special culture they are building at the new campus.

Lori Goosen, HR Professional Services consultant, also joins us with an update on the latest job openings in the Prosper area and a reminder to take advantage of the Employee Referral Bonus Program!

6 Tips for Helping Coworkers Through Grief & Supporting One Another in Well-Being and Self-Care

This is not an easy time, especially in health care. For many of us, it feels as if we’ve moved from one trauma or issue to the next without a break over the past two years. We’ve had to make so many adjustments and each week seems to bring on a new challenge or tragedy.

So how do we cope? What do we say to a hurting coworker? How do we avoid saying the wrong thing?

When we see a colleague struggling with their own pain, sadness, depression and suicide ideation, we hope that they seek the help of spiritual advisors or behavioral health. 

You may be surprised to learn you can be a critical link in the chain of help, too. Click here for six tips on helping co-workers through grief.

Cook Children's Hosts Seventh Annual Tri My Best Triathlon

The Cook Children’s Rehabilitation Services team partnered with the Fort Worth Fire Department to host the Tri My Best Triathlon at the Bob Bolen Public Safety Complex in Fort Worth on Saturday, July 9.  

Cook Children's physical, occupation and speech therapists invited patients to participate. On the day of the event, they were organized into heats according to their ages and physical abilities. Group after group, they biked, swam and walked/ran/wheeled with a buddy who assisted them as needed.

Families and friends gathered to cheer, not just for their athlete, but for every single child. Click here to watch a video of the event!

Elevating the Experience: ‘Be the reason someone smiles today’

Consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, including isolation, long hours and staffing shortages, made smiles seem like they were another victim of supply chain issues at the Richland Hills Neighborhood Clinic (NHC). In late 2021, the team’s patience for patients and each other became limited at times.

Shelly Rosenberry, practice manager at Richland Hills NHC, reached out to Missy Staben, director of Experience Elevation, with a project idea that would lift up each other, in addition to patients and families. When the clinic’s practice administrator, Maricela Ramos, got involved, it became the first patient experience project involving both the manager and an administrator.

Learn how the entire Richland Hills NHC implemented a fun project that led to a 3% increase in their ‘likelihood to recommend’ score and a 16% increase in ‘clerk/receptionist courtesy’ scores. Congratulations on this AMAZING accomplishment! 

If you are interested in a project like this one to improve the team and patient experience at your location, reach out to missy.staben@cookchildrens.org or victoria.valek@cookchildrens.org.

Employees’ High-Quality Care Leads to Top Rankings in U.S. News and World Report

Last month, Cook Children’s successfully achieved six rankings in the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Children’s Hospital list for 2022-2023. 

Joann Sanders, M.D., chief quality officer, and Matthew Carroll, M.D., associate chief quality officer, said the top rankings are a testament to the Cook Children’s employees who consistently deliver excellent quality care. 

“The high-quality care that our physicians and staff provide every day not only positively impacts the lives of the patients and families we serve but is also reflected in awards such as this,” said Dr. Carroll. 

Click here to read more about Cook Children's raising the bar in pediatric health care.

Employees Care Summer Events*

*Note: you must be connected to the network to access this page

For more than 20 years, Employees Care has become a reliable source of selfless giving with our employees at the center, making an impact in the lives of our patients and families in very unique ways.

If you have not made your gift to this year’s Employees Care campaign, now is the perfect time to do so. The Employees Care team will host sign-up events on the dates and locations listed below. All new donors to Employees Care are invited to come out to receive your thank you gifts! You can sign up beforehand at ec.cookchildrens.org:

• Thursday, July 14 | 7:30 - 9:30 a.m., 1:30 - 3 p.m. – Atrium
• Monday, July 18 | noon - 1 p.m. – Walsh
• Tuesday, July 26 | 10 - 11 a.m. – Hurst/NE
• Saturday, July 30 | 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. – Atrium
• Tuesday, August 2 | 9:30 - 11 a.m. – Mansfield
• Thursday, August 4 | noon - 2 p.m. – Alliance

Cook Children's Shines at 32nd Annual Society of Pediatric Nurses Conference

Cook Children’s was represented by a full group of attendees at the 32^nd Annual Society of Pediatric Nurses (SPN) Conference in Anaheim, California. 

A total of 40 Cook nurses from around the Health System attended the event to learn and share. As an organization, we had 13 poster presentations and nine podium presentations representing the amazing work our nurses have accomplished to improve pediatric nursing.

Two awards were won by staff. First, the People’s Choice Award went to Lori Parrott, Jarrett Dawson, and Crista Schronkfor their poster “Investing in Our Future: An Innovative Approach to Creating and Implementing an Evidence-Based Nurse Leader Academy for Frontline Nurse Leadership and Management”.  The second award, the SPN Educational Scholarship, was presented to Julie Van Orne, Clinical Nurse Leader on TCU/RCU.

In addition, our local SPN Chapter, North Central Texas Chapter, was named Chapter of the Year of the 31 chapters nationwide. While most members work at Cook Children’s, this chapter is open to any pediatric nurse no matter their work setting.

Congratulations to all! Click here to see more photos. 

Quick Links: 

• Cookchildrens.org
• Cook Children's Careers
• Checkup Newsroom

Our Promise

Knowing that every child's life is sacred, it is the Promise of Cook Children's to improve the health of every child through the prevention and treatment of illness, disease and injury.