 Coming in September: A New Performance and Development Program
A new approach to Performance & Development (P&D) at Cook Children’s starts in September 2024, creating a simpler and consistent process for employee reviews, career growth and more.
The new P&D program taps into the functions of Workday for tasks such as performance evaluations, check-in conversations, peer feedback and goal setting. It replaces PACE, our previous system of performance reviews for almost 30 years.
“We’re excited to implement these major changes,” said Keith Holtz, Chief Administrative Officer. “Our new P&D processes reflect the input from our leaders and employees in listening sessions. We heard what you desired in a new performance evaluation format – an objective, practical and improved experience to support your success at Cook Children’s.”
Most employees will receive a performance review in the fall from now on, instead of tied to the anniversary date of hire. Using the same evaluation time period creates a way to fairly measure performance against the same fiscal year system goals and initiatives for employees in the same job code/role. Read more on the Connect Newsroom. |
 CareShare Update
The majority of Cook Children’s departments are on track to meet their CareShare goal, thanks to staff’s dedication to kindness and compassion for patients. For the majority of the system, CareShare data is based on patient survey answers to the question of how likely they are to recommend Cook Children’s to a friend or family member. The Health Plan’s CareShare is based on their member experience survey, which is done toward the end of the fiscal year. If the system meets the CareShare goal, all employees in good standing up through manager, excluding physicians, are eligible for a discretionary, end-of-year bonus. This year, the patient care goal is for 85.7% of patients to say they are highly likely to recommend friends and family to Cook Children’s. As of June 2024, we are proud to say we are on track to exceed that goal with a cumulative system score of 86.4%. Six out of eight service lines are on track to surpass their goal; Ambulatory Services had the highest score at 95.8%, followed by Outpatient Services at 90.1% and Home Health at 89%. Of course, we are not surprised by the result; Cook Children’s staff go above and beyond for patients and families every single day! The numbers are only a unit of measure that exemplifies a far deeper premise. To all of our staff: we thank you for your unwavering dedication to fulfill Cook Children’s Promise of Everything for the Child, every day. Please read more details on the Connect Newsroom. |
 VIDEO: A Visit by Opal Lee, The Grandmother of Juneteenth
What an honor for our staffers to hear inspiring words from the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” Opal Lee! She spoke at a Grand Rounds session the day before the federal holiday she helped make happen. Ms. Opal and her granddaughter Dione Sims, Executive Director of Unity Unlimited, spoke on the topic of health equity, education and resiliency in childhood.
After the Grand Rounds, Ms. Opal read her book Juneteenth: A Children’s Story to children and parents at Cook Children’s Medical Center-Fort Worth.
“She is a poster child for unity, strength, resilience and for overcoming childhood adversity and trauma. To such a degree, that there is no better icon,” Sims said about her grandmother. View photos and a video from her visit.  Juneteenth “Freedom Walk” at Medical Center-Fort Worth
In celebration of Juneteenth, Cook Children’s patient families were invited to participate in a “Freedom Walk,” or 2.5 laps around the Atrium in the Medical Center-Fort Worth. After the walk, everyone participated in arts and crafts and got to take home Alice Faye Duncan’s book, “Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free.”
The event was modeled after “Grandmother of Juneteenth” Opal Lee's annual Walk for Freedom, in which she leads a 2.5-mile walk to recognize the 2.5 years it took for the news and enforcement of freedom to reach the enslaved people in Texas. View more photos here.
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Respect & Kindness: Cancer Survivors and Supporters You're invited to tune in for an educational and informative virtual Lunch and Learn where we'll be discussing what respect, kindness, and allyship look like for employees and supporters who are navigating cancer or another serious illness.
This is our eighth Lunch and Learn on Respect & Kindness and the last one that is planned at this time.
Join us on Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, June 25. Here is the Zoom link. Recap: This week, the Black Organization for Leadership and Development (BOLD+) Employee Resource Group hosted a virtual Lunch and Learn program focused on Respect & Kindness related to the Black and African American community. We are providing a recap of each week's conversation on the Connect Newsroom. Click here.
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 Meet Deborah C. Boudreaux, MSN, RN, CCRN, C-NPT, LP, CMTE, Vice President of Nursing and Patient Services
Newsweek has named Cook Children's one of America's Greatest Workplaces for Women 2024. We're introducing you to some of the women who make Cook Children's such an amazing place. These days, Deborah C. Boudreaux’s feet are firmly planted on the ground. But it hasn’t always been that way. As a former flight nurse for Cook Children’s Teddy Bear Transport, she spent much of her career nursing critically ill neonates from the back of an ambulance or while flying in a plane or helicopter enroute to Cook Children’s. In addition to her critical care nursing skills, Deborah had to know about things like engines, fuel burn, and how to make sure the tires were rotated on an ambulance. Not the conventional wisdom of a nurse, but absolutely essential for someone caring for patients while speeding through the skyways and highways of Texas and beyond. “In nursing school, they don't teach you how to do any of that,” said Deborah, who is also on the Board of Directors of Alliance for Children and is the Jewel Charity Ball 2025 Chairman. And, yet, Deborah says she never heard the words “you can’t” from any one of her leaders or mentors at Cook Children’s. “I don't think there was ever a door closed to me,” she said. “We're very lucky here at Cook Children’s. Having so many nurses in leadership allows other nurses to think, ‘Oh, yeah. I can do that.’” In 2023, Deborah soared to new heights when she landed the role of Vice President of Nursing and Patient Services at Cook Children's, following a stint as the director of Teddy Bear Transport. The new job required her to hang up her flight suit and hand over her helmet, which she admits wasn’t easy. In their place, Deborah cherishes a soft and fuzzy reminder of her transport days — her Build-a-Bear transport teddy, sporting a miniature replica of her former flight suit. Deborah’s office is no longer in the sky, but she’s still aiming for the stars as she leads, supports and mentors the current and upcoming generation of nursing superstars at Cook Children’s. An inspiring quote from Deborah C. Boudreaux“I have worked at Cook Children's for 37 years. Over the past three decades, I have watched our organization grow to meet the needs of our community by adding services and staff, all the while making sure that we are basing our care on the latest evidence-based practice. With all these changes, one thing has remained consistent — the support from our administration. Cook has retained the feeling of a family with an open-door policy. The support from administration is palpable starting with our Executive Vice President, Nancy Cychol, who has been a strong female influence for over four decades. Nurses, respiratory therapists, paramedics, care partners, dietitians, physical therapists, physicians, WE all have a voice at the table. I am proud to be a leader in an organization that truly values my opinion. I hope that I will one day be included in the long list of strong female leaders.” Meet more inspiring womenPlease see Checkup for articles about more women at Cook Children's we've highlighted earlier in this series. |
 Cook Children's Steps Up for National Research Initiative
A site visit hosted by Cook Children’s connected our staff and local research partners with a new federal funding agency created to drive innovation in health care. That meeting at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth attracted collaborators from the region as well as representatives from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). Cook Children’s is a “spoke” in the ARPA-H strategy for quick access to contracts that finance clinical trials, prototypes and other groundbreaking work. William Stigall, M.D., Chief Research Officer at Cook Children’s, says Cook Children’s is well positioned to participate in ARPA-H due to our large catchment of patients in the growing Metroplex population. Please click here to read the in-depth article. |
 Connect Newsletter Goes Biweekly for July and August
Many of us are busy with travel, events, and schedule changes during the summer, and you might not have time to read the Connect Newsletter. (It's getting longer and longer with more content because there is just so much happening at Cook Children's!) So for July and August, the Connect Newsletter will be hitting your inbox every other week. We'll be back to our regular weekly schedule with the Connect Newsletter being delivered by email on Thursdays starting in September. Don't worry, you won't miss a thing. Here's how to stay connected: - CookNet homepage: Keep an eye on the scrolling news sections and events calendar for the latest updates.
- Connect Newsroom: Find articles, photos and videos for and about Cook Children's employees. Bookmark this page!
- LinkedIn: Follow us on LinkedIn for news and features about Cook Children's and accomplishments by our employees.
- Department websites on New CookNet: As we transition from legacy CookNet, explore updated websites created by various departments.
- Checkup Newsroom: Find news and health information of interest to patient families, media, and the public here.
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