Connect Newsletter (Sept. 25, 2025)

Connect Newsletter
Sept. 25, 2025

Virtual Nursing Coming Soon to Cook Children's

But what is virtual nursing, exactly?

Virtual nursing is an innovative care model where nurses provide clinical support, education, and care coordination to patients remotely using technology, rather than being physically present at the bedside. Our Cook Children’s virtual nurses will be able to connect via in-room cameras to assist with important responsibilities like admissions, education, pain reassessments, and discharge teaching – just to name a few.

Over the past year, bedside nurses, clinical nurse leaders and educators, nurse managers, nursing executives, and the Information Services team has driven the thoughtful design, testing, and refinement of this new care model. We’re proud to be early adopters of this technology, helping to shape the future of pediatric care. This additional layer of support is designed to give our bedside nurses more time to focus on what matters most: building meaningful connections with patients and families, all while continuing to deliver the exceptional care we’re known for.

Virtual nursing will roll out Oct. 1 on 4 North at Medical Center-Fort Worth and Oct. 7 on 4 Main at Medical Center-Prosper. We’re excited about the possibilities ahead – for our patients, our nurses, and the future of care at Cook Children’s. Stay tuned – there’s more to come as this innovative model takes shape!

Fighting the Flu: Employees Roll Up Their Sleeves

You can drop in without an appointment to get your required flu vaccine at one of the flu shot fairs offered for employees.

The influenza vaccine requirement is an annual compliance at Cook Children’s. You must get your flu shot by Oct. 17.

Upcoming daytime flu vaccine fairs:

Sept. 29: 7 a.m.-2 p.m., Medical Center-Fort Worth, South Tower Conference Room 1163
Oct. 1: 7 a.m.-3 p.m., 901 Seventh Ave., First Floor Atrium
Oct. 8: 7 a.m.-2 p.m., Medical Center-Fort Worth Family Support Meeting Room A/B

Occupational Health and the Emergency Department are teaming up to provide evening flu fairs at Medical Center - Fort Worth, Room 1163 (next to Goodies to Go). Please do not wait until the week of Oct. 6 for flu vaccination in the evening. The last two dates may be cancelled if not needed.

Upcoming evening flu vaccine fairs, all from 7-10 p.m.:

Sept. 28
Oct. 1
Oct. 2
Oct. 3
Oct. 6 (dependent on prior attendance)
Oct. 9 (dependent on prior attendance)

If you get your flu shot at your doctor's office or a pharmacy, you will need to upload proof of vaccination on the Enterprise Health portal.

As we head into a new flu season, thank you for helping protect our patients, patient families, workplace colleagues and community from infection.

Reminder: Please Park in Your Assigned Cook Children's Garage Location

This week, we've noticed an unusually high number of employee and visitor vehicles in the Seventh Avenue garage, which has made it difficult for our patient families to find parking. This week, we have had to divert some employees between the times of 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to alternate garages.

As a reminder, please park only in your assigned garage unless you have received specific instructions from Parking and Security. We know the recent weather and construction have made commuting a challenge, so we appreciate you planning ahead and giving yourself extra time to get to work.

Your cooperation in this matter is a great help to our patient families. Thank you for your understanding and support.

“Acknowledge” Your Check-in Conversation in Workday

As the year-end activities for Performance & Development (P&D) wrap up, remember to complete one final task in Workday: Acknowledge the check-in conversation you had with your manager.

This step in the P&D process occurs between Sept. 28-Oct. 5. Once you have completed the check-in discussion with your manager, follow these steps:

Go to your Workday inbox
Select the “To Do” – Acknowledge Performance Conversation
Click submit to acknowledge that the check-in took place

Throughout September, managers have been doing year-end reviews of job performance – an annual process that supports and enhances the professional growth of our workforce. Check-in conversations play a crucial role by providing constructive feedback to help you excel. These two-way conversations give employees a chance to share their perspectives as well.

Our approach to P&D aims to create a transparent and consistent process for performance reviews, giving insights and supports to continually strengthen your skills on the job, and support your career growth journey. Thank you for embracing our Cook Children's values of kindness, respect and collaboration as you participate in this important process.

As a reminder, helpful tips to help you prepare for year-end performance discussion can be found here.

Case Management Department Collecting Donations for Homeless Initiative Program

Beginning Sept. 26, the Case Management Department will be collecting donations for Homeless Initiative. This program began in 2008 and has served over 19,000 children since then. The employee-only drive will be accepting new fleece blankets, sheets, towels, hand towels, washcloths and baby wipes.

If you are not at the Medical Center-Fort Worth campus, you can still participate through the Amazon wish list. Please see our Connect Newsroom article to see the drop off locations and to learn more.

New Badges Update

Badge Distribution Schedule

Badges are being distributed to the last known work location on record for each employee, not by department. This process typically applies when a team member works at a location different from their home department or has moved to a new office.

Example: An employee works at Calmont, while the rest of their department is at the Main campus building. If current records indicate the employee's location is Calmont, their badge will be printed there and delivered accordingly. The badges for the rest of the department will be distributed with the Main building's badge order.

Latest Badge Distribution Schedule:

All UCCs, associated multi-specialty clinics and Prosper badges are out for distribution
Sept. 25-30: Calmont delivery and distribution
Sept. 30-Oct. 7: Dodson delivery and distribution
Oct. 8-22: Main Medical Center - Fort Worth building delivery and distribution
Oct. 8: All other locations including Regional Clinics sorting/distribution begins

Clarification on New Badge-Secure Print Process

For staff that use Secure Print:

Once you've received your new Cook Children's badge, you'll need to re-associate the badge to the printer system to allow you to use Secure Print. There is no need to call the Stewart printer company.

Follow these steps.

Tap your badge on the printer
You'll get a popup alerting your badge is an "unknown card"
Enter your Cook Children's username & password
Click Login and then OK
You'll get a popup affirming badge is associated and a direction to swipe badge as needed for printing needs

New Employee Relations Popups Scheduled

Your Employee Relations Team is hitting the road with pop-up events, and they want to see you there! The goal is to make an IMPACT — Interactive Meetings Promoting Accountability, Communication and Trust — with all our employees.

These events are a great opportunity to connect directly with the team, get all your Human Resources-related questions answered, and spin to win free Cook Children's merch! We will visit Fort Worth Urgent Care Center on Oct. 9 and the Fort Worth Magnolia Primary Care and Fort Worth Henderson Primary Care on Oct. 15.

Click here to see the locations the team will be visiting for the remainder of the year.

Going Beyond the Bedside to Keep Kids Safe on the Road

In 2023, 43% of children killed in car crashes were unrestrained, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Texas law requires children under the age of eight and those under four feet nine inches to be in a child safety seat. Failure to properly restrain a child can result in a ticket of up to $250. Despite these laws, NHTSA data shows that 46% of car seats are installed incorrectly.

Check out our Checkup Newsroom post to learn more about Child Car Safety and Child Passenger Week happening Sept. 21 – 27.

Share Your Content with Us

Do you have any tips, ideas or content you would like us to know about? We want to hear from you! Please view our SharePoint site and email us at InternalCommunications@cookchildrens.org.

Check our CookNet calendar for more system-wide events and to find more content about our employees and news you need to know, bookmark our Connect Newsroom website.