Meet Kaysey Pollan, MBA, CHSP, Director of Environmental Safety and Emergency Management

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.

If there is one thing Kaysey Pollan knows, it’s how to weather a storm. As the Director of Environmental Safety and Emergency Management at Cook Children’s, her phone is the first to ring when disaster strikes. Since 2008, she’s coordinated the emergency response operations of various municipalities and health care organizations. She joined Cook Children’s in 2013 as the Emergency Management Coordinator and rose through the ranks to a leadership role in 2017. 

Then came the emergency response of all emergency responses — the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The pandemic was definitely the biggest challenge of my career,” Kaysey said. “The word ‘unprecedented’ was used often during that time, but it truly was unlike anything we have ever faced before. There were so many unknowns and worries for our staff, families and patients. I never thought we would face a multi-year disaster, but I am so proud of the resiliency the organization and our staff displayed. We rose to the challenge, and there were a lot, and we were able to never waiver from our Promise.” 

When Kaysey isn’t leading and guiding Cook Children’s through an internal or external disaster, she’s planning and preparing for one. It takes a lot of collaboration between local fire, police and emergency medical services, as well as other area hospitals and, of course, all of Cook Children’s departments. 

Originally from Abilene, Kaysey loves Fort Worth for its West Texas feel. Her dad was a hospital administrator, so the health care industry is a natural fit. She hit her professional stride about the same time hospitals began devoting full-time positions to lead disaster response and recovery. Pollan’s experience in local government helped prepare her to apply the core concepts of emergency management to the hospital setting. 

“A hospital operates the same as a city,” she said. “It never closes. There are citizens, in this case patients, families, and staff, that are reliant on our services. Our hallways are like streets, and everything must remain open and functional no matter what’s going on.” 

While Kaysey never wishes for a disaster, she’s proud that she gets to lead, guide and support the patients, families and staff at Cook Children’s when the unthinkable happens. And when she gets home from a long, hard day, her two “most spoiled golden retrievers in Fort Worth,” greet her at the door.