Nearly two dozen staff members at Cook Children’s Medical Center - Prosper are wearing yellow smiley face pins to work. They're the first recipients of a special new award at Prosper recognizing their dedication and going that extra mile for patients. Each month, Prosper administrators select a staff member to receive the Above and Beyond award, which celebrates someone going outside the scope of their usual duties in service of patient care.

The Above and Beyond award began shortly after the Prosper campus opened in 2023, explained Sheralyn Hartline, R.N., Assistant Vice President of Nursing and Patient Care. A man walked into the facility and told a security officer that he “just didn’t feel right.” The officer said, “You don’t look well either,” and acting on instinct, sent the man immediately to the Emergency Department. There, the man was diagnosed with a life-threatening emergency and needed immediate help. Because of his quick actions, the security officer had saved the man’s life.

“This guy had no idea he was saving a life,” Sheralyn said. “He didn’t have the clinical skills to even imagine what was happening, but he knew the guy needed help.”

Those heroic actions inspired Prosper administrators to create the Above and Beyond award to acknowledge “these little things that happen that are really, really big things,” Sheralyn said.

The security officer was the first recipient of the award.

Since then, one person a month has been recognized for going beyond their usual duties and showing dedication and compassion. Nursing staff, support staff and physicians can all be nominated. In total, 19 staff members have received the award for going out of their way for others. One house supervisor, for example, received the award after she found out someone had left an Invisalign teeth aligner on a tray and accidentally threw it away. The supervisor went above and beyond her duties to find and retrieve it from the trash.

Recipients of the award said the recognition is meaningful.

“I am not one that likes recognition in front of others, so I appreciated this was an acknowledgement without it being a ‘big’ deal!” said Ginger Ward, R.N.

Abigail Reed, Manager of Retail Pharmacy, said: “I thought the Above and Beyond Award was really appreciated by my staff! It was a great moment to acknowledge their awesome work and take the time to let them know they are appreciated and that what they do matters." 

Recipients of Above and Beyond Award

Congratulations to the recipients of the Above and Beyond Award so far and thank you for your dedication. 

Ralph Cannon

Andres Ardila, R.N.

Jason Jenkins

Mouhammad Alwazeer, M.D.

Brookelyn Wetzel

Larisha Glover

Ginger Ward

Prosper and Fort Worth Pharmacy teams, Clifford Ho, Bonnie Glenn, and Stefanie Sumner, M.D.

Bobby Emmons and Gerardo Collado

Dayla Daff, R.N.

Kimberly Matini

Please join us in congratulating Cook Children’s 2024 Social Worker of the Year and all social workers who were nominated. Each employee nominated for this honor has gone above and beyond to meet Cook Children’s experience standards – to connect, collaborate, and elevate – and each embodies Cook Children’s core values of kindness, respect, collaboration, imagination, generosity and safety.

This year, the honor of Social Worker of the Year is awarded to Amanda Gray, LMSW, Case Management / 3 PAV

From her nominations: 

“Amanda is an amazing social worker. She is very knowledgeable and kind as well as quick to collaborate with staff or even other outlying facilities. When Amanda had a patient that had surgery and was unable to travel via car to the hospital for their follow up appointment, she sprang into action. Amanda spent days on the phone trying to collaborate with an EMS company to pick this patient up from a rural town to bring them to and from an appointment. She was able to get the EMS night shift team to work during their time off. Amanda continuously works true miracles in assisting her patients. She is very creative and works very hard for her patients.”

Special recognition to all social workers who were nominated by their colleagues:

·         Alejandra Solis

·         Alexis Allmon

·         Amanda Gray

·         Amy Munoz

·         Breanne Galey

·         Brittany Smith

·         Cris Hinojosa

·         Christina Reed

·         Daisy Perez

·         Dayo Jolayemi

·         Elena Hampton

·         Elizabeth Durham

·         Hannah Carter

·         Jene'a Haynes

·         Kate DeVore

·         Madelyn Hannon

·         Marissa Lopez

·         Riley Mullahy

·         Sarah Pitman

·         Shelley Koslan Joiner

·         Sylvia Martinez

We’re pleased to recognize Cook Children's Rheumatology for receiving the Practice Our Promise Gold Award for their achievement of the highest Likelihood to Recommend (LTR) score for specialty clinics. The LTR score represents patient experience and trust, reflecting the confidence our patients place in the care provided by the clinic staff. 

Winning the Practice Our Promise Gold Award highlights the high-quality patient experience among the clinic’s patients and their eagerness to recommend the clinic to others. 

Betty Stroud, Practice Administrator, shares insight into how the clinic prioritizes patient experience. “Delivering patient and family focused care is a priority of each of our team members,” Stroud explains. “I see this every day in the quality services that are provided, the kindness and respect shown by meeting the patient and family where they’re at.” 

Cook Children’s Rheumatologist Maria Perez, M.D. emphasizes the personalized approach to patient care, “Patients are ensured that they will receive a thoughtful and personal plan of care from the first time they walk through the door until when they go to college or graduate high school. We take great pride in putting all the pieces of the puzzle together for logical, effective plan of care.” 

Just as every piece of a puzzle holds significance, every aspect of rheumatologic care is critical - from the more common, such as arthritis, to the rare autoimmune diseases, such as lupus. This makes it important for physicians and staff to have specialized expertise in ways to alleviate pain, improve mobility, and enhance overall quality of life for their patients. 

To understand the significance of this achievement, it's essential to consider the broader context of Cook Children's commitment to excellence in patient care. 

“At Cook Children’s, we have high patient experience scores across the board,” Robert Goodwill, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Cook Children's Physician Network shared at their celebratory luncheon. “So, to consistently stand out like they have, it really tells the story of the care they provide.” 

 

We’re excited to recognize Cook Children's Pain Management for receiving the Practice Our Promise Silver Award for their achievement of the second-highest Likelihood to Recommend (LTR) score for specialty clinics. The LTR score represents patient experience and trust, reflecting the confidence our patients place in the care provided by the Pain Management staff. 

Winning the Practice Our Promise Silver Award highlights the clinic’s high-quality patient experience and the patients’ eagerness to recommend the clinic to others. 

Bethany Hooper, Practice Administrator, shares insight into how the clinic prioritizes patient experience. “The Pain Management team is extremely collaborative. They truly believe in treating the whole patient and ensuring lifestyle changes are in place to optimize care from their mental and emotional health needs to their physical pain treatments.” 

Cook Children’s Pain Management Physician Meredith Brooks, M.D., MPH echoes the all-encompassing approach to patient care, “We attack pain from many different angles. We look at pain psychology, at non-medication ways of managing pain, and to see if there are any interventions or procedures that could be helpful.” She continues, “It's about focusing in on where the patient is right now and helping them and their parent move in the direction that they want to go.” 

Patient-centered care is at the center of everything the Neurosciences department does. Dr. Brooks continues to outline how this philosophy is integrated into her practice. 

“We can't help but be patient centered. It encompasses everything that we do. The entire neurosciences department focuses on patient satisfaction and patient quality and patient care, and everybody wants the patient to have an excellent experience,” says Dr. Brooks. “From medical assistants to the front desk staff, to schedulers, everybody is valuable to the patient's experience.” 

Artee Gandhi, M.D., Medical Director Pain Management, further emphasizes their dedication to providing compassionate, comprehensive health care. “Each member of the pain management team offers a unique perspective to patient care and contributes valuable therapeutic strategies. We recognize that pain management is about partnering with our patients and families to create a plan that works best for them.” 

Their dedication to patient care has not only earned the department awards but, more importantly, the trust and confidence of patients. As the team continues to bring innovative therapies to our communities and put the well-being of patients first, we can't wait to learn more about their pain management advancements in the future! 
 

Cook Children's Allen was honored to receive the Practice Our Promise Gold Award, recognizing the achievement of the highest Likelihood to Recommend (LTR) score in Primary Care. The LTR score serves as a gauge for patient trust and experience, reflecting the confidence our patients place in the care provided by Todd Johnson, M.D. and the team in Allen. Winning the Practice Our Promise Gold Award reflects the exceptional patient experiences offered at Dr. Johnson's clinic, leading to positive recommendations from their patients.

To celebrate this accomplishment, leaders from Cook Children's Physician Network visited Allen to commend the staff for consistently exceeding expectations in delivering exceptional patient experiences.

"This location has maintained consistently high-quality patient experience from the beginning," said Robert Goodwill, Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer of Cook Children's Physician Network. “What a great reputation this gives us in the Allen community.”

Patient experience is not only pivotal for enhanced health care outcomes but also builds trust and loyalty between patients and health care providers.

"I think we try to put ourselves in the same position as the family," Dr. Johnson shared regarding the clinic's award achievement. “I’m a dad with many kids, and I try to understand what the patient family is going through and what we would like in that situation.”

Dr. Johnson emphasizes, “I want the patients to feel like this is their medical home. That we go through what they go through, and that we know how their medical care is going.”

Tasha Rivers, CMA, CPC, Practice Manager at Allen, elaborates, “We're collaborating to ensure our patients have the best experience while they're here. When everyone takes ownership of overall patient care rather than just focusing on individual tasks, we foster a high morale around the clinic.”

Allen expansion coming in 2024

As we celebrate the clinic's achievement, we’re also pleased to announce the expansion of this clinic to 10 patient rooms in Summer 2024. This expansion will enable Dr. Johnson and the staff to cater to more patients from the surrounding community, providing even more families with access to high-quality health care.

Reflecting on the impact of this expansion, Dr. Johnson notes, “We're going to be able to offer more service areas to Fairview, Lucas, McKinney, Allen, Wiley, Sachse, Murphy, Princeton, and the whole area north as we go up to Melissa and Anna. This entire north-south corridor along 75 is a significant growth corridor, and it's exciting to be able to provide these families with good health care access through Cook Children's.”

We take pride in the achievements of Cook Children's Allen and the positive influence it has on our patients and employees. Through the dedication and commitment of our staff, they continue to provide exceptional care for the communities they serve in North Texas.

By Gareth Patterson

At Cook Children's, we're committed to providing exceptional care to our patients and their families. As part of this commitment, last fiscal year we reintroduced the Practice Our Promise award program, which recognizes clinics that go above and beyond in delivering outstanding patient experiences.

This award program is based on the Likelihood to Recommend (LTR) score, which measures patient trust and experience. Achieving a high LTR score demonstrates our patients' confidence in the care they receive at Cook Children's.

“This system wide initiative, born from our unwavering commitment to patient care, serves as a testament to the exceptional efforts of our entire team in elevating the patient and family experience,” said Matthew Dzurik, M.D., President of Cook Children's Physician Network. “As we embarked on our journey to preeminence, we embraced the Likelihood to Recommend score as a cornerstone of our success.”

Our award winners have shown exceptional dedication in providing outstanding patient experiences. Let's take a moment to recognize each award tier and the clinics that have excelled in their respective service lines:

• Gold Award: This prestigious award is given to the top performer within each service line, including primary care, neighborhood clinics, specialty clinics, urgent care, and multispecialty/regional clinics. These clinics have consistently demonstrated excellence in patient care and have set the standard for others to follow.
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Allen
  • Cook Children's Neighborhood Clinic - Arlington
  • Cook Children's Urgent Care - Prosper
  • Cook Children's Rheumatology 
  • Cook Children's Pediatric Specialties Midland
     
• Silver Award: The second-place performer within each service line is recognized with the Silver Award. These clinics have shown remarkable commitment to patient experience and have made a significant impact on the patient experience.
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Magnolia
  • Cook Children's Neighborhood Clinic - McCart
  • Cook Children's Urgent Care - Southlake
  • Cook Children's Pain Management
  • Cook Children's Pediatric Specialties San Angelo
     
• Bronze Award: This tier acknowledges the clinics that have achieved their fiscal year LTR goal. This group have worked diligently to provide exceptional care and have made a positive impact on the lives of our patients.
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Cityview
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Granbury
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Willow Park
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Little Elm
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Frisco
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Windsong
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Burleson
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Plano
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Clearfork
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Keller
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Prosper Trail
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Windhaven
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Walsh Ranch
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Legacy
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Lake Forest
  • Cook Children's Primary Care - Hurst
  • Cook Children's Neighborhood Clinic - Richland Hills
  • Cook Children's Neighborhood Clinic - Renaissance
  • Cook Children's Urgent Care - Alliance
  • Cook Children's Urgent Care - Mansfield
  • Cook Children's Wound Care
  • Cook Children's Neurology
  • Cook Children's Gynecology
  • Cook Children's Cardiology
  • Cook Children's Nephrology
  • Cook Children's Hem/Oncology
  • Cook Children's Pulmonology
  • Cook Children's Maternal Fetal Medicine
  • Cook Children's Immunology
  • Cook Children's Infectious Diseases
  • Cook Children's Ear, Nose and Throat
  • Cook Children's Gastroenterology
  • Cook Children's Dermatology
     

The Award's Impact on Our Patients

Clinics receiving the Practice Our Promise award significantly impacted the patient experience at Cook Children's. Exceptional care led to improved patient outcomes, heightened patient experience, and increased trust in the awarded clinics. Patients gain confidence knowing they're receiving care from clinics and staff recognized for excellence.

"The Practice Our Promise program renewal marks a new era of recognition. Driven by an unwavering commitment to excellence, last year our patient experience champions implemented the Ambulatory Experience Bundle," said Dr. Dzurik. “This was a comprehensive initiative aimed to enhance the patient journey. We also introduced 'We're Listening Cards,' empowering patients to share their insights and shape our understanding of their needs.”
 

Highlighting Our Clinic Winners

We’re excited to showcase the exceptional work of our award-winning clinics in an upcoming article series highlighting the individual clinic winners. These articles will provide a deeper look into the unique qualities and achievements of each clinic, further emphasizing their impact on patient care.

We congratulate all the Practice Our Promise award winners for their outstanding achievements! Their dedication to providing exceptional patient experiences is truly commendable. As we continue our journey towards preeminence, we remain committed to delivering the highest quality of care to our patients and their families.

Stay tuned for the upcoming individual clinic highlights and join us in celebrating the exceptional achievements of our award-winning clinics.

We’re delighted to share some exciting news that reflects the dedication and excellence of our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) team! The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has honored our PICU with the prestigious Silver Beacon Award for Excellence, a testament to the outstanding care and commitment demonstrated by each member of this unit.

The Beacon Award for Excellence is a remarkable achievement, symbolizing the commitment to exceptional patient care and fostering a healthy work environment.

This recognition represents the diligent efforts of our PICU team to enhance patient outcomes and align practices with AACN's six Healthy Work Environment Standards. Our PICU staff earned its silver award by meeting the following evidence-based Beacon Award for Excellence criteria:

• Leadership Structures and Systems
• Appropriate Staffing and Staff Engagement
• Effective Communication, Knowledge Management and Learning and Development
• Evidence-Based Practice and Processes
• Outcome Measurement

“At Cook Children's Medical Center, we strive to provide excellent patient care and the silver-level Beacon Award reflects our commitment to strong leadership, staff engagement, effective communication, using evidence-based practices, and demonstrating quality outcomes,” said Cheryl Petersen, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Cook Children’s. “These are all part of our Promise to improve the well-being of every child we care for and in the communities we serve.”

To our entire Cook Children's staff, we extend our heartfelt appreciation for your unwavering commitment to excellence. This recognition is a reflection of each employee's dedication to the "everything for the child" philosophy, making a positive impact in the communities we serve. Together, we continue to set new standards and elevate the patient experience.

AACN President Terry Davis, PhD, RN, NE-BC, CHTP, FAAN, applauds the exemplary efforts of the caregivers at Cook Children's for working together to meet and exceed the high standards set forth by the Beacon Award for Excellence.

“These dedicated health care professionals join other members of the exceptional community of nurses who set the standard for optimal patient care,” Davis said. “The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes caregivers in stellar units whose consistent and systematic approach to evidence-based care optimizes patient outcomes. Units that receive this national recognition serve as role models to others on their journey to excellent patient and family care.”

To be eligible for certification the following criteria must be met:

-       Valid MLS(ASCP) or H(ASCP) certification

-       AND a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college/university

-       AND three years of full time acceptable clinical experience in Hematology in an acceptable laboratory within the last six years.

July 2023 Peak Performer Winners

Medical Centers

Andrew Caldwell, Building Technician III, Maintenance

Shelbie Eastwood, Specialty Clinic Registered Nurse, Stroke/Thrombosis Clinic

Brookelynn Wetzel, Child Life Specialist, Patient and Family Experience, Prosper Medical Center

Amy Wooldridge, Specialty Clinic Executive Secretary, Neurology Outpatient Clinic

Physician Network

Yessenia Garces, Physician Network Medical Assistant, Northside Neighborhood Clinic

Christina Hobson, RN, Specialty Clinic Clinical Coordinator I, West Texas Cardiology

Health System

Clay Sanker, Telecom Engineer, Lead, IS Administration

Health Plan

Neethu Cherian, LMSW, Case Manager/Service Coordinator, Star Kids Case Management

Let’s introduce you to some of our Summer 2023 junior volunteers:

Kate Button, 15

Kate spent her summer volunteering in the radiology department. “I really enjoy interacting with the kids and helping them have the best hospital experience possible,” she said. 

Ella Button, 17

Elle volunteered on 4 Main. “I love playing with the kids and seeing their joy while they’re in the hospital,” she said. 

Melissa Remezo, 15

Melissa worked in the Enchanted Castle Gift Shop. “I like seeing all the people who come into the store,” she said. “Everyone is super kind and friendly!”

Ryan and Carter Campbell, 15 & 17

Ryan (right) spent his summer with patient families in the Panda Cares® Center of Hope Sibling Support Center. “It’s been a great summer,” he said. “I enjoy being able to give back to the community!”

Carter (left) went room-to-room interacting with patients as a gaming volunteer this summer. “I love brightening the kids’ days!” he said.

The Cook Children’s Junior Volunteer Program provides a very rewarding experience, personal growth, and an opportunity to give back to the community. The application period for Summer 2024 will begin December 1, 2023. You can find more information here: https://tinyurl.com/2s4tm9u9

We are so thrilled to receive the distinction of being ranked the Second Healthiest Employer in Texas serving 5,000 to 9,999 employees. Healthiest Employers® is an award program that recognizes and celebrates organizations focused on taking a proactive approach to improving their employees' health and well-being.

At Cook Children's, taking care of our employees is a top priority because we know that employees can serve our patient families best when they feel healthy, happy and strong. To be acknowledged of our dedication to our employees, specifically for our Healthy Me Wellness Program is outstanding.

Healthy Me is Cook Children’s voluntary employee wellness initiative to create an overall culture of health and wellness for all of our employees. The program offers a range of unique benefits available to all employees, including our onsite 24/7 fitness center called the Wellness Zone, making it convenient to incorporate exercise into everyone’s daily routine. The Wellness Zone is staffed with fitness experts who offer group exercise classes and personalized fitness assessments, enhancing the overall wellness experience. Within the last year, 47% of our employees have participated in 589,222 workouts.

Beyond physical health benefits, the Wellness Zone also plays a crucial role in supporting employees' mental well-being, with yoga classes seven days a week. The Healthy Me program also includes webinars about burnout and stress, financial planning, and healthy eating, and maintains a wellness room where employees can take a break and relax with adult coloring books, journals and other resources.

Cook Children's would not be able to provide amazing services without its employees. Very special thank you to our Healthy Me Wellness Program team for all they do to support all 9,000 employees. Your work does not go unnoticed or underappreciated!
 

“We are very grateful to you for what you do every day, and we are very grateful for everything your team has done to elevate DAISY once again and make it truly special for you,” she said.

The DAISY Foundation was established in 1999 by the family of the late J. Patrick Barnes, to honor his memory by recognizing exceptional nurses everywhere who make an enormous difference in the lives of so many people by the super-human work they do all year round.

We normally offer this luncheon every other year to recognize all previous DAISY Award recipients from Cook Children’s who are still employed here. We were unable to have this luncheon during the pandemic, so it’s been a while since we had the last one. That makes this year's event even more amazing.

Medical Center

Margarita Bustos, Patient Care Technician, TCU-Special Care Unit

Abigail Hoekstra, Child Life Specialist, Child Life

Kimberly Johnson, Manager of Workshop and Retail, Build-A-Bear

Vanessa Williams-Wilcots, Respiratory Therapist, Staff, Prosper Respiratory Therapy

Carol Winchester, Respiratory Therapist, Staff, Prosper Respiratory Therapy

Health System

Jeffrey Clinkscales, Desktop Engineer, Information Services

Health Plan

Christina Rogers, Supervisor of Service Coordination Case Manager-LMSW, LCSW, Star Kids Care Management

Thomas Sehon, Health Plan Call Center Operation Analyst, Senior, Member Services

Home Health

Diana L. Perez, Home Health Patient Relations Representative, Home Health Administration

Brianna Little

Brianna Little is the daughter of Mandy Little, a Fetal Nurse Coordinator in the Fetal Diagnostic and Treatment Department. Brianna will soon be entering her senior year at Tarleton State University where she is studying to become a nurse in hopes of providing compassionate care to future patients.

Brianna has completed clinical rounds with Texas Health Recourses and Trinity Terrace. She is a current member of the Presidential Honors program and has landed on both the Presidential and Dean’s list during her time at Tarleton. Brianna was also a member of the Health Occupations Students of America Organization in 2020 and the Student Nurses Association last spring.

It is Brianna’s goal to bring light to her patients at all stages of life through respect, safety and compassionate care.  It is apparent that she has already demonstrated these practices as many of her professors at Tarleton’s School of Nursing have agreed she will be a wonderful asset to the nursing profession.

Hailey Holt

Hailey Holt is the daughter of Amie Holt, a Case Manager in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Hailey is currently a level 1 nursing student in Texas Tech University’s Nursing School program. She is a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and Texas Tech Student Mobilization Organization which welcomes and encourages students to connect by attending university events. Hailey has landed on the Dean’s list multiple times while attending Texas Tech and is an active member with the Redeemer Church Ministry.

During her time as a Certified Nurse Assistant at Rose Garden memory care in Florida last summer, Hailey assisted elderly patients with Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

Although this experience helped to prepare Hailey for nursing school applications, her main goal is to contribute to critical care of children and encourage them to endure through their greatest challenges. This goal may one day include serving in rural areas or parts of the world that do not have access to quality healthcare.

Madelyn Willis

Madelyn Willis is the daughter of Shannon Willis, a Registered Nurse on 6 Main here at the Medical Center. As a 2023 graduate of Birdville High School, Madelyn will attend Harding University in the fall where she plans to pursue a degree in psychology.

During her time at Birdville High, she was a member of the National Honor Society, Varsity Cheer Team, Choir and Theatre Groups, International Thespian Society among many other activities, volunteer positions and programs.

Her decision to study psychology is personal in many ways and a direct reflection of both her compassionate heart and interactions with the healthcare system. After volunteering with patients of Cook Children’s who had similar experiences to her own, Madelyn now hopes to continue aiding others by bridging the gap between the neurological and counseling aspects of recovery by becoming a child psychologist.

Paris Hairston

Paris Hairston is the daughter of Fallon Thompson, a Spanish Interpreter in the Case Management Department. Paris will soon be entering her sophomore year at Tarleton State University where she is studying to earn a degree in Marketing. She hopes to one day use her education in digital marketing to focus on creating advances that will improve communication between providers and patients in health care.

While attending Tarleton State University, Paris has become an active member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority, a recruitment counselor, Tarleton Transition Mentor, orientation staff leader, and the Vice President of an intermural tennis team.

Paris is a natural leader and has a heart for philanthropy. At just 15 years old, she rallied her family, friends and the community to help raise $22,000 for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Student of the Year campaign.

Rae Chi

Rae Chi is the daughter of Raquel Chi, a Registered Nurse in our Special Procedure Area at the Medical Center. As a 2023 graduate of Keller High School, Rae plans to attend the University of Houston in the fall where she will major in Biology with the goal of attending medical school to become a pediatric gastroenterologist.

Rae has been a Junior Volunteer here at Cook Children’s Medical Center since 2021 where she has provided care to patients in the Dodson Clinic assisting nurses and healthcare providers. Her most impactful experience was supporting and instructing disabled and special needs children in learning how to independently ride a two-wheel bike at the iCan Ride Bike Camp. 

Ranked at number 3 in her class, Rae was also the president of both the National Technical Honor Society and Future Health Professionals organization. Along with her many academic achievements and volunteering positions, Rae was also a member of the Keller High Varsity Swim team.

Sydney Airheart

Sydney Airheart is the daughter of Shannon Airheart a Registered Nurse and Database Coordinator in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Sydney is a 2023 graduate of Fort Worth Country Day and will be attending Texas A&M University in the fall where she will study Biomedical Science with the ultimate goal of becoming a physician.

Sydney has accomplished many academic and athletic achievements. She was the captain of the Fort Worth Country Day Track and Field team while also a participating member on the varsity Volleyball and Basketball team. She was one of 12 students selected by her school faculty to be a part of the Link Crew, a competitive leadership position that welcomed and mentored freshman.

The Link Crew was just one of many leadership groups Sydney participated in followed by several honors and awards including receiving the Edward P. Bass Scholarship, remaining a consecutive High Honor Roll student and member of the Mu Alpha Theta and Cum Laude Society. Sydney has desired to work in healthcare for many years after watching her mom’s career. She hopes to one day be a part of a team that provides care, comfort and support to the most vulnerable patients in need.

Tan Ha

Tan Ha is the son of Nancy Nguyen, a Medical Laboratory Scientist in the Laboratory at Cook Children’s Medical Center. Tan graduated from Richland High School in 2023 and will be attending Boston University in the fall. He plans to study Mathematics in hopes of becoming a research analyst in the medical field.

Tan was ranked #4 in his class, was a member of the National Honor Society, a National Merit Commended and QuestBridge Scholar among many other academic achievements. He has been an active member of many groups such as the Science club, Texas Alliance of Minorities in Engineering and captain of spelling and number sense teams in Academic UIL. Tan participated in summer orchestra for several years and played on the varsity tennis team. He is a choir member and pianist at his church where is still very involved in volunteering and teaching others.

Tan hopes that by perusing a career in research analysis that he can help determine the direction of modern medicine and help to develop strategies to combat any future challenges in healthcare. 

Zane Bassham

Zane Bassham is the son of Lenee Bassham, the Director of Child Safety for the Center for Children’s Health with Cook Children’s Health Care System.  Zane will be entering his sophomore year at Texas A&M University – Galveston where he is studying Marine Biology.

He is a member of the Texas A&M Pact Living Learning Community, Save our Seas Club and an active volunteer with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center. Throughout high school Zane participated in multiple productions as a trumpet player and member of the Haltom High Marching Band, Symphonic Winds and Jazz Band.

Through his research of marine life, he will be focusing on the study of jellyfish and the many possibilities they could provide to improve health care and the treatment of diseases from these findings. Zane hopes to be a part of groundbreaking research that has the possibility to advance cancer treatments. 

Madison Murphy

Madison Murphy is the daughter of Anita Murphy, a Registered Nurse at Cook Children’s Waco Specialty Clinic. Madison graduated from Abbott High School in 2023 and plans to attend Texas A&M in College Station this fall where she will be majoring in Nutrition.

Madison held many leadership roles such as student council secretary as well as their reporter and Abbott Varsity Cheer Captain. Along with Cheer, she was a member of the National Honor Society, track, cross country, softball and tennis teams. Madison participated in multiple community events and was the Miss Texas Czech Slovak Queen 3 years in a row.

Madison’s hopes to one day become a registered dietarian and work within pediatrics to educate children and their parents about how to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Josh Carlton

Josh Carlton is the son of Rhonda Carlton, the Pharmacy Supervisor at the Medical Center. Josh graduated from Keller High School in 2023 and will be attending Texas A&M University in College Station this fall where he will be majoring in Biology with the goal of becoming a Physician.

He was a member of the Principals Cabinet, Keller Center for Advanced Learning, National Honor Society, Keller Track and Field Team, Captain of the Cross Country team and President of the Keller High Student Council. Josh received the faculty top ten distinction award and was a HOSA State Qualifier in Pharmacy Science 2 years in a row. He also received the Most School Spirit and Best All-Around Senior Awards in his final year. Through his ability to build meaningful relationships, Josh hopes to one day build personal connections with the pediatric patients and the community he serves.

Medical Centers

Jennifer Brannum, Registered Nurse, Prosper Medical Surgery

Phillip Davis, Supply Chain Technician, Central Supply

Laura Neeley, Pharmacy Tech II, Pharmacy

Elizabeth Spears, Registered Nurse, Staff PICU, PICU

Amber Wagner, Registered Nurse, Prosper Urgent Care Center

Health System

Joyce Moore, Executive Assistant III, Education and Professional Development

Marc Rains, Manager, Health Plan Applications Admin, Information Sytems - EPIC

Health Plan

Annette McKay, Delegation Program Manager, Network and Community Management

Rebecca Melville, Medically Dependent Children Program Interest List Coordinator Registered Nurse, Star Kids Care Management

Sonia Puig-Vargas, Manager, Pharmacy Program, Care Management Administration

Home Health

Lydia Paraskevas, Registered Nurse Staff Field Nurse, Pharmacy & Infusion

Congrats to our employees who reached a milestone year between May 1, 2022 and April 30, 2023. 

This year, nearly 1,200 employees are celebrating career milestones at Cook Children's - from five to 55 years of service! Thank you to this special group of employees for all you've done for our patients, their families, and each other. Your hard work, dedication, and service to your community and our Pinky Promise have helped to continue creating moments of magic for all that you serve. 

Take a look here for the list of employees hitting milestones this year! Congratulations to all! 

We could not have made it to 105 years without you!

Give your congratulations and kudos by sending any of these employees an eCard for hitting a milestone in their career.

This week’s #WeAreCookChildrens focuses on AVP of System Effectiveness and Process Improvement Shernette Kydd, Ph.D.

The legacy of our families lives on through each of us. Whether you come from a tight-knit family or not, you may still see the occasional threads of your family in the tapestry of your life.

For Shernette, those threads aren’t subtle. With a natural ease, she can quickly point to the ways that not only her parents molded her character but one of her brother’s put her on a career path that would ultimately lead to Cook Children’s. Albeit in a most unconventional way.

Growing up in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, she was the youngest of six children to Frankie and Iona. Despite her father dying when she was only 8 years old, his impact on her continued to ripple.

Read more.

Lucinda Berent, Clinical Practice & Advanced Education Specialist, Prosper Admin-Nursing

Joanie Castillo, Urgent Care Center Medical Assistant, Prosper Urgent Care

Richard Eakerns, Registered Nurse, Prosper Surgery-Inpatient / Outpatient

Kristin Elzey, Manager, Pharmacy Operations, Prosper Pharmacy

Lisa Farmer, Director, Psychiatric Services, Admin-Psychiatric Clinic

Abbey Ham, Specialty Clinic Registered Nurse, Hematology/Oncology Hemophilia

Stacey Henley, Nurse Manager, Clinical Care Team

Laura Neeley, Pharmacy Tech II, Pharmacy     

Physician Network:

Erika Medina, Specialty Clinic Medical Receptionist II, Genetics

Jay Pearson, Specialty Clinic Physician Assistant, Pediatric Surgery/Trauma, Pediatric Surgery    

Home Health:

Marisol Ortega, Home Health Patient Account Rep II, Home Health Administration

“See the attached photos of what I used the Magical Bonus on! I was able to put a down payment on a car. She graduates high school next week!” 

- Cynthia Lerma

“My wife is a professional bodybuilder, she is here on the far left, black dress.  We just found out that she was invited to compete in Europe, Romania to be exact - at the Olympia!  With the Magical Moment Bonus, we bought our airfare to Romania and it also covered part of the Airbnb as well!!  We are so grateful to Cook Children's Health Care System for providing this bonus.  Thank you so much and here’s to hoping that we might have the next Ms. Olympia in the Cook family.  (The Olympia is the Super Bowl of bodybuilding, this is the same competition where Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronnie Coleman, etc won!)”

- Ernest Brown

“My husband lost his job due to COVID so I am the ‘breadwinner’ of our family.  We were wondering how we were going to pay for our house insurance, without using savings, and then Cook Children's announced the bonus.  My Magic Moment Bonus will pay for my house insurance." 

- Perdita Shook

“I want to send a very grateful Thank You for the Magical Moment bonus I received last week. I am very thankful and appreciative of this (and the other bonus opportunities offered over the last few years).  It is easy to see the extra money, be thankful, and then move on to all the busyness of everyday life.  But I wanted to send my Thanks this time around. I hope this is shared with the decision makers who bring these bonus ideas to life.  Each bonus and gift are all greatly appreciated. This is a picture from a recent vacation to Tennessee.  The bonus will help to pay for part of our journey.  (This is Fall Creek Falls, in Fall Creek Falls State Park in central Tennessee.)”

- Dennis Ward

“I am so excited to share that I used the bonus as a down payment on 12 new windows for my home. My home was built in 1963 and had terrible single pane aluminum frame windows. New energy efficient double pane windows were installed throughout the house and I am so grateful for the bonus that made this possible.”

- Sheryl Van Dyk

“I have been wanting to buy a pair of cowboy boots for a long time but did not have money to buy a pair. I just went got a pair of Tecovas  boots. God bless you all.”

- Bobby Emmons.

“The bulk of my bonus is going to our son’s college education.  And, I will set back a couple of hundred dollars to do something for myself – need to practice some self-care too.”

- Deneesa Rasmusen

Recipients are: Lisa Bashore, Kristen Cook, KaLinda Evans, Sarah "Alli" Herring, Sherry Kuykendall, Emily Percy, Laura Portillo, Ross Richardson, Katelyn Terry, and Amelia Vinson.Thank you to all Cook Children's nurses, for all that you do for our patient families.

Watch the ceremony here (you must be on the network).

Front 1^st Row: Kalinda Evans, Ross Richardson, Katelyn Terry, Debbie Boudreaux 

Middle 2^nd Row: Laura Portillo, Lisa Bashore, Kristen Cook, Orlando Chapa 

Back 3^rd Row: Emily Percy, Sherry Kuykendall, Cheryl Petersen 

Not pictured: Sarah "Alli" Herring,  Amelia Vinson

"I was 13 years old when my grandfather was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Within a 6-month period I saw a once healthy man wither from the ravages of his disease process and pass away. He was 58 years old. The impact it had on me was tremendous. I remember feeling helpless and hopeless and vowed to find a way to help others who couldn’t help themselves. Nursing was the obvious answer for me, and it is all I ever wanted to do. It was not just a decision I made, but as a person of faith I feel it was a calling. I have been an RN for the past 38 years and I have enjoyed a wonderful career. I would highly recommend it as a career path for anyone who likes a challenge, loves caring for others, and wants a career with many opportunities for growth and advancement in a variety of settings. I have a coffee mug that says, “Nursing is a Work of Heart”. It is not for everyone but for those who have a deep compassion and willingness to care our fellow humans at the most vulnerable stages of their lives." 

Jordan Staggs

“I became a nurse because I wanted a career in which I could help people, be financially secure, and have opportunities to work regardless of geographical location. I enjoyed the challenge of nursing school and immediately fell in love with pediatric nursing. Although I loved my job and the challenges that nursing brought, I didn’t truly find my passion for this profession until later on. In 2017 I was diagnosed with cancer for the first time and had to go from being a healthcare provider to being the patient. This experience sparked creativity, passion, and drive that I now pour into my career here at Cook Children’s. Having experienced the vulnerability that comes with being repeatedly hospitalized, I now am a better advocate for my patients as well as the nurses here within our organization. I strive to develop and support innovative and evidence-based initiatives that will promote patient safety and have a lasting impact on our culture of Zero Harm here at Cook Children’s. When I encourage individuals to choose nursing as their profession, I advise them to consider their reasons for wanting to be a nurse. Recognition and riches are not strong enough convictions for success in this profession. If you desire to serve others and be the hands and feet of Jesus to the most vulnerable populations then nursing will be the most rewarding privilege you will ever experience.” 

Ryan Hoover

“I became a nurse becuase of the care and attention I received here at Cook Children’s Medical Center when I was personally diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2002. Because of the great team of CDEs here, I knew that was what I wanted to eventually do. I am beyond blessed to be doing just that in the place that gave me so much! I would encourage anyone with a caring heart to become a nurse because it can be SO rewarding to make positive changes in the lives of patients and their families.” 

Amy Hopkins

“I became a nurse because I saw my Mom THRIVE at being one. Growing up, from a young age, my parents always said I knew exactly what I wanted to do – be a Nurse! My Mom was an LPN (equivalent of an LVN) since college; she worked in a Nursing Home, as a Medical Receptionist in Orthopedics, tried school Nursing for a while (at the elementary school my sister and I attended) and ended her career at her beloved Cornell Health (formerly Gannett Health Services.)

Once I graduated from Nursing school, I started in acute care (on a Specialized unit which, at the time, was quite an accomplishment!) I then moved on to an OCFS Residential Facility for girls; then, my career came full-circle when I started at Cornell Health! I’ve since worked in a few other settings, all of which taught me new and exciting things that I carry with me and use in my practice every day here at Cook Children’s. Attached are 2 of my favorite Nursing photos of all time… One when I went with my Mom to a “Take Your Child to Work Day” at Cornell Health; and one from the infamous “Cornell Slope Day” with a colleague. I would encourage all who get fulfillment and enjoyment out of helping people and their families (in all ways), educating others on topics they’re experts in, and feel a sense of pride from talking about their career and accomplishments, to become a Nurse. I saw my Mom do all of these things and come home happy (albeit exhausted at times!) to have contributed to the success and health of other people on a daily basis – that’s what I strive for every day… and will until my body won’t let me work anymore!”

Want to share your story? Email us at InternalCommunications@cookchildrens.org 

Send us a paragraph answering these questions:

• Why did you become a nurse?
• Why would you encourage someone else to become a nurse?  

Please send photos that represent either or both of these questions -- you have wide latitude here but be sure that the image does not include patients, families, or private health information.

Yahaira Perez knows firsthand that health care resources like Medicaid can play a critical role in keeping children and families healthy and thriving.

That’s because she was raised on food stamps and her family relied on the government program, which provides for health insurance for those with limited income and means.

Now, Yahaira, Director of Accounting for Cook Children’s Health Plan (CCHP), helps advocate for access to Medicaid managed care programs, spreading the word about how Texas families can gain and retain coverage available to them.

Yahaira recently participated in a leadership program sponsored by the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP), which works with legislators and leaders across the nation to advocate for underserved communities to have access to health care resources. Every year, ACAP chooses a representative from its nationwide health plan network to participate in its Leadership Academy and learn about issues related to Medicaid managed care programs.  

Yahaira says she was honored to have been selected to represent Cook Children’s Health Plan.

“I never thought it would be such a great learning opportunity, exceeding my expectations,” Yahaira said. “I feel really grateful to be asked to participate.”

During the Leadership Academy, Yahaira attended meetings and webinars with CEOs and other top executives, took trips to Washington, D.C., and networked with lobbyists. Yahaira officially obtained a Certificate of Emerging Leadership in February 2023.

Dedicated to serving marginalized communities, Yahaira is looking forward to using the tools she learned, further understanding of what’s next for Medicaid, and being more involved with the organization’s work.

Yahaira has another reason to be proud of representing Cook Children’s: her daughter had successful open heart surgery here in 2019.

“I have been a part of the (Fort Worth) Medical Center as an employee and mother, and the amazing work the staff does is why I really enjoy and love my job,” she said. “It’s a great satisfaction representing Cook Children’s and having the opportunity to speak about the Health Plan.”

Employees like Yahaira showcase the willingness to go the extra mile to help provide our patients and families with all the tools they need, as we work to fulfill our Promise. Congratulations to Yahaira and the Health Plan team. You’ve made your family at Cook Children’s proud.

About Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) Leadership Academy

Association for Community Affiliated Plans Leadership Academy is a one-year program that uses an experiential learning process including in-person meetings, virtual meetings, and peer and executive leadership networking to inform and educate up-and-coming plan staff on important issues related to Medicaid managed care programs. Participants discuss key issues for Safety Net Health Plan operations, such as the role of population health and Special Needs Housing Program (SNHP), how to maximize the impact of community plans, innovation in delivery systems, and the role of quality and data in improving outcomes. Participants earn an ACAP Certificate of Emerging Leadership.

For many departments, teams, and offices, the administrative professional(s) are the experts in making sure things run smoothly and getting things in order.  They know how to get stuff done! 

Although we may not say it enough, we want to make sure our administrative professionals know that we are so appreciative of everything you do to keep everything on track and the hard work you put into your critical role at Cook Children's. 

Below are the submitted shout outs across the system - your team thanks you! 

Happy Admin Professionals Day! 

Medical Centers

Stacy Angel, Radiographer, Urgent Care Center-Main

Kim Arnold, Space Utilization and Transition Manager, Construction & Facilities Planning 

Erika Garcia, Registered Nurse, Hurst Urgent Care Center

Ashlee Hubbard, Manager of 340B Program, Finance

Teresa Leija, Environmental Services Aide, Environment Services

Oscar Naranjo, Facility Appearance Technician, Facility Appearance

Dewayne Pace, Manager of Food & Nutrition, Prosper Medical Center Food & Nutrition Services

Bianca Quinones, Unit Secretary, Surgery-Inpatient/Outpatient

Victor Valdez, Aesthetic Supervisor, Facility Appearance

Physician Network

Jonathan Mata, Genetic Counseling Assistant, Genetics

Autumn Morris , Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant - School Based Care Program, School-Based Telemed

Elisha Soto, Physician Network Medical Assistant, Primary Care - Granbury

Health System

Mary Bina, Education Coordinator III – Respiratory Therapy, Education and Professional Development

Rachael Doucet, Organizational Development Assistant, Education and Professional Development

Rudy Gomez, Building Engineer, Real Estate/Facilities Management

Kim Kimberling, Clinical Quality Improvement Coordinator, Quality Performance Improvement

Health Plan

Robert Burright, Director, Clinical Effectiveness, Care Management Administration

Carla Chitwood, Supervisor, Therapy Services Utilization Management, Care Management Utilization

Kristy Newman, Manager, Health Plan Configuration, Reimbursement Analysis

Liliana Zumba-Acevedo, LCSW, Supervisor of Service Coordination/Case Management, Care Management

Home Health

Jon Johnson, Director, Custom Mobility, Orthotics & Prosthetics Clinical Outcomes

Thomas Mclaughlin, Specialized Program Manager, Home Health Administration

Chelsea Smith , Home Health Nursing Field Coordinator, Nursing - Home Health

Casey Steward, Home Health Rehab Services Manager, Nursing - Rehab

Meena Welborn, Home Health Physical Therapist, Staff, Nursing - Rehab

Please join us to congratulate this year’s Cook Children’s Social Worker of the Year and all social workers who were nominated. Each employee nominated for this honor has gone above and beyond to meet Cook Children’s experience standards – to connect, collaborate, and elevate – and each embodies Cook Children’s core values of kindness, respect, collaboration, imagination, generosity and safety.

Social Worker of the Year 2023

Sarah Shepherd, Cook Children’s Health Plan

Sarah is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has been with Cook Children’s since 2015 as a STAR/CHIP case manager.

From her nomination: “I have watched Sarah collaborate and find resources, sometimes in the farthest recesses of the counties we serve, to help a family. Sarah always uses her talents to elevate a family above their circumstances by giving them the tools and resources to be happy and healthy in all the various settings in which they live and work.”

From her supervisor, Liliana Zumba-Acevedo: “Sarah has always been an amazing team player and is always willing to help everyone, including bringing in great ideas to our team and helping to solve problems. Sarah always goes above and beyond in trying to help her members and their families since she truly cares about them. This shows how compassionate, empathetic, and caring she really is.  Even through challenging and complex situations, Sarah always has a positive attitude. Sarah makes sure she is doing all that’s possible for the families she is helping.  She has also shown great leadership over the years by taking initiative when it is needed. Sarah is truly an amazing person and I can always count on her.  We are so lucky to have her in our team.”

All nominees:

CARE Team

Kindra Brown

Case Management

Kate DeVore

Shelly Koslan- Joiner

Jene’a Haynes

David Marsden

Sahvanna Diaz

Victoria Highland

Cris Hinojosa

Lori Whitsett

Sarah Pittman

Donna Capps

Elena Hampton

Endocrine

Emily Haddad

Genetics

Audrey Hicks

Health Plan

Andrea Vox- Afful

Renae Arledge

Neighborhood Health Centers

Dayo Jolayemi

Kelly Rand

Psychiatry

Rachel Grimes

Siobahn Beaty

Alexis Harrison

Brittany Smith

Alexis Solis

Matthew Reed

Jessie Tirrell

Following a two-year break because of the pandemic, the 10^th annual Trailblazer Day returned as an in-person event on March 10.

Named after the school mascot, the western-themed day is a fundraising event full of fun activities for parents and students, including art projects, lessons from a cowboy on roping bulls, a petting zoo, and concluding the day with a big chili cook-off.

“We haven’t been able to do this since January 2020,” said Tracie Mann, Headmaster of the Jane Justin School. “Having everybody together and having that sense of community, the camaraderie and seeing everyone in one place is my most favorite part.”

Heather Renegar, Lead Teacher at Jane Justin School and chili cook-off judge, said, “I think it’s a great opportunity to celebrate the community that is this school and the community at large, and helping all these kids become the trailblazers that we want to see them be in their future.”

Cook Children’s is so proud and appreciative of our staff that go above and beyond to continue fulfilling Our Promise. Trailblazer Day brings together the parents, students and teachers of Jane Justin School, celebrating the many bright futures of the next generation of leaders.

“I would like to recognize the Utilization Management (UM) Therapy Reviewer Team for their commitment to maintaining integrity and compassion with reviewing therapy referrals for prior authorization. The team has continued to operate in excellence and make decisions by collaborating with referring providers, therapy providers and service coordinators to ensure information is received and that decisions are made following the rules and guidelines set forth by the State of Texas. The UM Therapy Team goes above and beyond to make sure that determinations are accurate, timely, ethical and medically necessary. The team is committed to being content experts in their respective fields of occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy. Please join me in celebrating the UM Therapy Team: Alisa MacFarland, Denise Montes, Melissa Smith, Molly McNown, Monica Sterling, Nicole Davault, Sandra Heaslet, and Suzan Skelton! Their commitment to helping our community access medically necessary therapy services is above reproach.”

- Carla Chitwood

“They are a hard-working and dedicated team. They exhibit great work on a daily basis by covering for each other and helping the teammates out when needed. I appreciate all this group does to ensure their work is completed timely, and the support they give to each other.” 

- Nikki Lobdell

“I would like to give a tremendous shout out to the STAR Kids MDCP Service Coordinator team at the Health Plan. In November, they were tasked with creating over 1000 new referrals (authorizations) in a very short period of time due to a mandated code change from HHSC. Because of their hard work, all of their members were able to continue services without skipping a beat and with most not even noticing a change was made. Thank you MDCP Team!!!”

- Allison Hays

"I would like to send a shout out to my team. My team of physicians, NP’s, nurses, MA’s and front office staff have been amazing this year. We went from a staff of 16 to a staff of 11. We had 3 clinical staff and 2 front office staff taking care of 5 providers. Each month we had a new hire to add to the mix. During this stressful time my physicians and NP’s pitched in to help our clinical staff to keep up with their daily duties, patient care and triage.  Many days our NP worked without a nurse and our 2 front office staff answered more than 300 calls and checked in over 130 patients per day. The staff were patient centered and did not complain. I was honored to be their manager and to call them my amazing staff. We are back to being fully staff and have an awesome team. Thanks team! You are appreciated."

- Minde Hazlewood

“Shoutout to our Children’s Home Health Team for embracing togetherness and collaborating to assure that the needs of the patients we serve within our communities, near and far are taken care of.  In an environment where needs arise at all hours and staff are needed to respond, our teams always show their generosity and kindness and assist where help is needed. From our MDSTs driving clinicians to patient visits during the ice storm, staff changing a peer's flat tire, peer collaboration through surveys, our staff are the greatest and I am privileged to be a part of this team.  I greatly appreciate you.”

- Sandra Manning

“This team of Community Health Workers helps families manage their child’s asthma at home. They work hard to make our services accessible and help to remove as many barriers to care the family may face in the community. They model Cook Children’s standards to connect with families/team members and elevate every experience so that families can access the education, support, and services they need to keep their kids healthy!”

- Courtney Barnard

"I would like to shout out the Utilization Management Department at Cook Children’s Health Plan. This team includes an extraordinary group of Utilization Review Specialist, Registered Nurses, Licensed Vocational nurses, Licensed Professional Counselors, and Physical/Occupational/Speech Therapist that work diligent to ensure the promise of Cook Children’s Health Care System. When I think of how our team works, it reminds me of a Super Bowl half-time show. From the back stage crew to the lead performer, each person has a contribution that must be executed at the right time and place to make the final performance a success. On a daily basis, each team member ‘practices’ to make our half-time show stellar. I am proud to work with such dedicated individuals and honored to lead such an amazing team."

- Audrianna Leeper

"BIG shoutout to the field nurse team at Home Health for creating moments of magic with each patient home they enter! Providing highly skilled procedures and infusions in a patient home requires a great deal of imagination, not only to keep the physical environment safe for the procedure, but also the emotional/psychological aspects of receiving port access, PICC/CVL dressing changes, wound vac changes, injections, infusions, ostomy care, enteral feedings/NG tube placement at home. I have had the privilege to observe the respect, kindness and trust the nurses have built with the patients we serve, and it is truly magical to see the eyes light up on the kiddos and the anxiety wash away from the caregivers.  The team is small but mighty and always generous with their time to make sure each patient is transitioned safety to home from the hospital. Another BIG “shoutout” to the internal support home health nurse team.  Each and every day the internal nurse team collaborates with the intake, pharmacy, warehouse, staffing teams, physicians and referrals sources to make sure the field nurses have the tools they need for the patient home visits. You are seen and appreciated!"

- Ann Little

"Want to give a shout-out to telecom, they’re always helping CCHH out on short notice and ensuring we’re taken care of quickly. Telecom really stepped up during the ice storm last month, providing quick service to ensure phones were routed properly and assist with implementing a fix to allow calls to be transferred to multiple people rather than all calls getting transferred to one individual person. For telecom, this might have been a little request, but for CCHH staff this was a huge relief as individuals were getting overwhelmed with up to four calls at time from answering service and this fix, allowed for calls to ring to all phones within that department and any available staff working from home would be able to answer. "

- Amanda Vespremi 

Alan Alanis, Registered Nurse Internal Staffing, Prosper Medical Center Administration-Nursing

Candace Alphin, NICU Outreach Coordinator, NICU

Ida Figueroa Saucedo, Winter Plan Respiratory Therapist, Respiratory Therapy

Cecy Gonzalez, Patient Access Team Lead, Admitting/Registration

Sonya Hamblin-Stone, Pharmacy Inpatient Buyer, Pharmacy

Karl Paul, Security Officer, Prosper Medical Center Security

Shalon Pescalia, Lab Supervisor, Prosper Medical Center Lab-Admin

Maria A. Puente, Environmental Services Aide, Environmental Services

Maria Santos-Reveles, HIM Operations Coordinator, Health Information Management-Records Release

Hayley Spinks, Dietitian, Clinical III, Nutrition

Physicians Network

Lisa Guerra, Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant – Genetics, Genetics

Amanda Taylor, Family Advocate, McCart Neighborhood Clinic

Health Plan

Mallory Rasmussen , HP Behavioral Health Supervisor, Star Kids Care Management

Health System

Janet Caballero, Nurse Informaticist, Information Services

Want to send a special congratulations to any of these winners? You can easily do so with one of our Ecards that are available here.* Note: you must be connected to the network to access this page.

Here are Peak Performer recipients for October to December 2022 and what the people who nominated the teams and individuals for recognition had to say. 

INDIVIDUALS

Leslie Sidnez, Supervisor, Patient Access Services, Rehabilitation Administration

​As Leslie's direct manager, I would like to acknowledge and recognize her for the level of dedication and commitment she has not only to Cook Children's, but to her department in rehab services. Unfortunately, due to the recent changes in workforce that we are all experiencing, Leslie lost three of her patient access leads at our various locations within a two-week time period. The losses were not unexpected, however, it was not expected they would all leave in such a short time frame.  During this period, Leslie has not missed a beat. She has taken over the financial support and preparation for all of our locations, which was previously a shared responsibility between three leads. This job responsibility ensures our financial success and that authorizations are in place, our therapy orders are current for licensure and compliance purposes, and that we are accurately collecting on all accounts. She has ensured that all of our accounts have been reviewed and has delegated responsibilities to line staff.   

​Leslie has supported and maintained the morale of all of our patient access services positions in all locations. Moving forward, she will be organizing and training all three leads in a systematic way that allows for the continued success of our department. Leslie has been a one-woman show for the past few months and she has done so with an upbeat and positive attitude. She has worked collaboratively with me during this time to find time to attend interviews and give her objective feedback.  Leslie has insisted that we find the right people for the job and understands that it takes time to find the ideal candidate who supports and represents our shared values with regard to customer service. Leslie’s level of maturity and steadfast work ethic have given me even more respect for her dedication to Cook Children's and the children we serve. She has successfully managed to keep four position responsibilities afloat without being short-tempered, frustrated, or negative. She has been an example to those who report directly to her and for those that manage her as well.  Thank you, Leslie for all you have done and continue to do on a daily basis for Rehab Services.  

Stephen Triggs, Radiographer, Radiology Diagnostic

Stephen is vital on evenings helping in the operating room (OR) and radiology team. I received an email from a physician’s assistant in OR who shared she has worked with Stephen for the last few years, usually on orthopedic trauma cases such as open reduction internal fixations and closed reductions of various fractures. He has a friendly and easygoing personality in the OR, and it's clear he's well-versed in skeletal radiography. Stephen is attentive to direction and knowledgeable about extremity positioning to obtain proper films. He is mindful of radiation to other members of the team, and the patient. What's impressed her more than his skills as a radiographer is his initiative to step in and help other team members. He helps gown the surgical team if the circulating nurse is busy, gathers appropriate splinting and casting materials, and holds an extremity while I cast if we are short on staff. He is always willing to lend a hand, and does so without being asked. Possessing the knowledge to recognize a need in the operating room, and motivation to help is not universal.

​Stephen has been with Cook Children’s for over 20 years. He has graciously given his time and dedication to this place. He is always there when you need an extra hand. In between cases in the OR, he always makes a point to come back down to the department and help out, including taking patients back or picking up a couple of exams to complete. This is something that no surgery tech before him has done, and is also a great example of his character and work ethic. No one can question his love for his patients and his team. Recently, our night shift has been incredibly short staffed. On multiple occasions Stephen has stepped up to stay late and help out, sometimes staying hours beyond his normal scheduled time. His commitment to Cook Children’s, the patients and employees around him are a great example to us all. 

Cassandra Wallace, Specialty Clinic Registered Nurse, Hematology and Oncology Clinic

​Cassandra has been a crucial asset to our hematology team as well as our entire hematology and oncology (H/O) clinic as a whole. From the moment I met Cassandra, I knew she absolutely strived for excellence. You can see it in the way she spends time with families, works within our team, collaborates with our physicians, and in every other aspect she completes for her work. The first example I can provide is when Cassandra trained me as a new hire, almost one year ago. She welcomed me into the department with open arms and taught me all that there is to know about the hematology world. Cassandra is incredibly knowledgeable and showed me everything I needed to know in order to be successful in this role. When I came into my role we were quite short-staffed as a clinic, and there was not a day I can remember when Cassandra was doing only the bare minimum. She is continually helping out staff, whether working in infusion, driving to our Grapevine clinic, or assisting in procedures, all while continuing to complete her day-to-day tasks. I am amazed by her ability to seamlessly flow from one area of clinic to the next, all while providing the highest quality of care to our patients and families. What made the biggest impact on me, though, has been her continual positive attitude and genuine enjoyment for what we get to do each day.

Recently, Cassandra was getting ready to head home for the day when a situation arose with a parent who had a lot of questions and concerns about their child's care. Cassandra took the time to talk to this mom on the phone for 30 to 45 minutes. She educated the mother, comforted her, listened to her concerns, and explained the care plan as well as the reasoning behind it. This situation easily could've been incredibly difficult but because Cassandra was understanding and empathetic, this mother felt heard and was truly appreciative of what was done for her and her child. Cassandra went above and beyond by staying late that day to make sure that our patients and families were receiving the highest level of care.

Cassandra is an integral part of our clinic and work would not be the same without her. Even as I have settled into my role and we have welcomed newer members to our team, Cassandra is always willing to train, precept, and represent the culture that Cook Children's is proud of. It has truly been an honor and a joy to learn from Cassandra and implement her attitude, teamwork, leadership, service, and kindness into my own work. 

Monica Aguilar, Physician Network Medical Assistant, Burleson Primary Care   

​Monica is amazing. She always has a happy smile on her face and is always willing to go above and beyond to help with the nurses or the front desk. One busy Monday she was helping her provider and noticed another provider was running behind. Monica helped to room that provider in order to keep the morning running smoothly. Monica is always trying to find ways to help her coworkers.

​Monica is great at giving vaccinations. We are always asking her what her secret is because I don’t think I have ever seen a patient cry after leaving her room. She is always able to help make the patient experience a little less scary and parents are very grateful. 

Cesilia Banderas, Physician Network Medical Assistant, Lewisville Castle Hills Primary Care

​Cesilia is an amazing medical assistant who has worked with us since the beginning of the pandemic. During a challenging time of maintaining staff, she has diligently worked to make sure our office had clinical staff coverage. At one point she was the only clinical staff member in the office and still managed to cover both physicians’ practices. She is always smiling and always willing to pitch in and cover her peers. As a relatively new medical assistant she has become a leader in our practice.

​Cesilia's compassion for sick children is heartwarming and her ability to calm frightened children is truly a gift. One day I heard a child crying because he was afraid of getting vaccines and I heard her calmly say "It is ok. I know what it is like to be scared but I promise I'll stay with you and we can be brave together." It was so lovely. Her compassion is something I witness daily. There are so many examples of her kindness and empathy. Our patients and staff cherish her. Her quiet, unassuming demeanor, her constant smile, her readiness to lend a hand to her patients and peers are all ways that she embodies the Cook Children’s Promise.

Ana Barboza, Specialty Clinic Patient Service Scheduler, Orthopedic Clinic

​Ana is very knowledgeable of her position. She is respectful to everyone she works with, including team members, providers, and patients. Ana goes beyond expected patient care as she sometimes works on the weekend to ensure parents can get their child scheduled for surgery. She also helps to get parents the information they need for financial assistance and answers all their questions. Ana is a team player, always helping out as much as she can, not only for her department but for other departments. 

When working with a parent who wants to discuss their child’s plan, Ana does not rush. She patiently listens before informing them of their provider’s plan and what to expect. Working weekends is not in her job description but Ana still comes in because she understands the difficulty of working parents who need to schedule appointments on workdays. Ana collaborates with everyone -- nurses, providers and other coworkers -- and is a helping hand whenever something arises. She was recently asked to help in a different department for scheduling surgeries because they were short staffed. She was happy to help and is still helping that department. We are very lucky to have Ana on our team.

Debra Cohoon, Physician Network Clinical Coordinator, Heritage Primary Care

Debra joined our team as a Medical Assistant and within one month found herself as the clinical coordinator at Cook Children's Heritage. Even though it was her first time in this leadership role, she has seamlessly taken over the lead for our clinic. She knows exactly how to talk to our clinical staff because she was in their shoes just months ago. Debora pushes people to be their best, encourages them and allows each of their strengths to shine. She has earned the respect of our staff and really helped our clinic during a tumultuous time create the stability we needed.

Debra is the queen of knowing exactly what every staff member needs to help lift them up. Whether it is birthday surprises, popcorn, sweet treats, kind words or celebratory balloons celebrate, she selflessly spends her money, time and effort to ensure that everyone feels loved. Debra encourages collaboration, connection and teamwork. If this is not what defines Cook Children’s culture, I don't know what is.

Mary Kistner, Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant – Fort Worth Urgent Care Center

​Mary is a phenomenal Nurse Practitioner with superb clinical skills and a wonderful bedside manner. Her ability to work under pressure is amazing. We had a patient visit our Fort Worth Urgent Care Center when Mary walked into a room  andfound an unresponsive child with significant medical challenges. When another Advanced Practice Provider (APP) notified me of this sick patient, I raced to the back and when I arrived Mary had already placed the patient on monitoring, performed necessary checks, administered medication and had an IV being attempted. Emergency Services had already been called. When I arrived, she concisely gave me the overview of the patient and her clinical impression. She then proceeded to calmly and competently manage the rest of the patient's encounter while asking for feedback and input from the team in the room as we awaited an emergency crew. As the patient's clinical status decompensated after the arrival of the crew, she immediately lept back into action so that the patient would be able to be transported.  I was truly impressed at her complete command yet calming presence over the situation. This is exactly what we are taught in training but is difficult to put into practice. 

​Mary is a team player and she has a special love for our underserved patient population. Despite living almost 2 hours away, the Fort Worth Urgent Care Center is her preferred location to work. When she has to work the closing shifts, she often gets a hotel room to avoid driving such a long way late at night.

When Mary is on shift, she is selfless and the greatest team player. Without being asked, Mary will volunteer to run a fast track that causes her to see double the number of patients of her peers, which means she has to complete double the number of notes. She prefers this because she knows that it prevents patients from leaving without being seen, decreases the wait time for those patients and families, and allows us to further help the Emergency Department by seeing lower acuity patients in the UCC. You will also find Mary discharging her own patients, cleaning rooms, restocking rooms, rooming patients and helping out her coworkers whenever needed. She does not shy away from emergencies and will jump in and help every single time if help is needed. 

Katherine O'Bryan, Clinical Dietitian II, Physician Network Nutrition Endocrinology

Kathy has gone above and beyond her job responsibilities in the Endocrine clinic to help members of our team. For months, she has helped out another nutrition department that has struggled with being short staffed. She took it upon herself to help the dietitians in our gastroenterology clinic by checking the voicemails of 4 phones in the mornings every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Kathy may spend up to 90 minutes in the morning checking voicemails and relaying messages to our team to help get their day organized before she even starts organizing her own day. This selfless act is a true demonstration of teamwork.

Even on her days off, Kathy remains dedicated to her team members. She sets her alarm to wake up before her nearly one-year-old son, so she can check the voicemails and relay those messages before he wakes up.

Dr. Sani Roy in Endocrinology praised the positive evaluation comments from a recent endocrine conference for primary care providers at which Kathy presented on Prader-Willi syndrome. She did a fantastic job on that presentation and she also gave a presentation to endocrine doctors and nurses at Cook Children’s and UT Southwestern on refeeding syndrome. She is not only knowledgeable, but also hard-working, reliable and incredibly proactive. She is a fantastic addition to the Endocrine Department and does a wonderful job caring for our patients, especially those with Prader-Willi syndrome.

Kathy continues to seek out opportunities to help our team/department out whenever she can. We are very lucky to have her on our team.

Christina Reed, director, Practice Operations, Neighborhood Clinic Administration

​Christina has been an incredible resource and navigator as we have pursued the implementation of behavioral health therapists into our Primary Care Physician (PCP) offices. This was a Cook Children’s Physician Network goal and with her experience of rolling out a similar model in the Neighborhood Clinics she was more than willing to share with our team how best to implement. She participated in and often led the discussion about the creation of a referral order and workflow for PCP therapists. She also helped with recruitment as she is a licensed clinical social worker by background. She also created the new job description that better aligned with the therapists in the NHCs and PCP offices.

​Christina has continued to be supportive of these efforts through the implementation by meeting with the PCPs prior to go-live and helping to address workflow or referral questions. She also created an Integrated Behavioral Health Quick Reference Guide for the physicians and other team members to use as an ongoing guide to referrals. We could not have moved this project along as swiftly as we did without her. This will allow us to increase access to behavioral health to patients.

Amy Speaker, LVN, Urgent Care Centers, Prosper Urgent Care Center

​Amy is a Licensed Vocational Nurse at our Prosper Urgent Care Center. Amy volunteered to single-handedly set up our medication room and get it moved to its new location within the Urgent Care Center. She spent her own time searching for the right storage unit to work the best and made sure it all was completed as quickly as possible. She still oversees all the medication lists, expirations and medicine ordering lists for the Urgent Care Center. She volunteered her time for this massive project and did an amazing job.

​Amy enjoys being the preceptor for our new employees. She truly does her best to make sure they learn the ropes and feel like part of the family. She volunteers to train each time we hire someone new. She is flexible with her schedule and works a lot of extra shifts in order to help the clinic maintain a steady flow to keep the Urgent Care Center the go-to place for families in the area. She is proud of her work and it shows with every patient. She also tells everyone that Cook Children’s is an amazing place to work. 

Chasity Taylor, Front Office Lead, Walsh Primary Care

Since Chasity started at our clinic, she has been a joy to work with. She has a very positive attitude and always goes above and beyond to help the patients. Chasity has a way with families and knows how to help them. Always a team player, she will help room patients if she knows they have been waiting a long time, even though that is not even in her job description. She likes to find solutions for issues that arise around the clinic and does so in a timely manner. She has great follow-through with the most simple of tasks to the most difficult. If Chasity doesn't have an answer she always finds one. We are happy to have her as our team lead and can't wait to see her potential and growth. She is a true leader. Patients always have great things to say about her. Even with her impact at the front, people always remember her kindness.

Chasity has been critical in keeping our patients and staff safe as she always follows protocols and encourages safety all around. When she is concerned about something, she takes initiative to look into it and resolve the issue without being told. Chasity is a great asset to our clinic and we love her drive, energy and problem-solving attitude.

Devin Windham, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant – Urgent Care Centers, Cook Children’s Physician Network, Fort Worth Urgent Care Center

​Devin is one of our most skilled and fastest Advanced Practice Providers (APP) in the Urgent Care clinics and is always flexible and willing to help fill in the gaps. He will shift to any clinic where he is needed and picks up extra shifts often to help his coworkers. Dylan often sees more patients than all of us while on shift, while providing excellent, patient centered care. There was one day when his wife and child were sick and he had to call in to take care of his child because his wife could not. He felt so bad about calling in and the impact that would have on his coworkers that he offered to pick up a nighttime shift at Fort Worth Urgent Care Center later, despite having already working multiple of those shifts that month already. Those are very difficult, very busy closing shifts that often go until 2 or 3 a.m., and he volunteered to work, going above and beyond to provide coverage. This greatly impacted our team. 

Devin also picked up an extra half shift to help at the Fort Worth Urgent Care Center, and as I was coming on my shift, he was leaving. Before he left, he notified me that there was a very sick patient that had an altered mental status being treated by another APP. He stuck around and noticed that we were having difficulty starting an IV on this patient. He came into the room and mentioned that he used to be on the IV team and asked if we would like help. We took him up on his offer and he was able to get a much needed line in the patient that allowed us to give the necessary injection quickly before emergency services could arrive.

Marion D. Brantley, Manager, EPIC Principal Training, Information Services - EPIC

​Marion has worked for the Cook Children’s for decades and became the manager of the Epic Training Team several years ago.  Marion spends time with each member of her team and is willing to take on whatever she can do to help that employee excel. As one of Marion’s direct reports, she has stepped up to train my classes on a moment's notice, saving new employees from having to postpone training. Her innovative leadership helped me to create Computer Based Learning (CBL) to enhance new workflow education and create a CBL tip sheet to quickly distribute last-minute workflow changes due to Epic. Marion has provided pep talks when I've felt at my lowest, which has provided me the motivation to keep going. Her supportive and professional guidance has served as an example of the type of employee I want to be.

For my team, Marion has arranged team-wide training on topics like captivate, advanced PowerPoint and excel skills to provide opportunities for connection and improvement. Marion facilitated workshops for training teams to familiarize with the rebuild and encouraged a family-like community among our staff that has provided a safe, positive, optimistic work environment. She advocates for the needs of her staff, promoting growth opportunities for her staff to expand their knowledge and expertise.

Although the Training Team has had high turnover since the pandemic, more than half of her current and former direct reports describe her as the best manager they have ever had. She is not willing to ask anything of her staff that she would not personally do in a heartbeat. Rather than being purely transactional, she makes her employees feel like human beings, which is surprisingly refreshing. Marion helps reminds us of why we are here, and why Cook Children's Promise is so important.  She has been transformational for the Training Team, and I hope Cook Children’s is able to recognize how valuable she is.

Rebecca Cabello, Payroll Specialist, Payroll

Becca is a superstar in the Payroll Department, with her positive attitude and her fun, outgoing personality. She is one of our resident holiday decorators and makes us shine like a star every holiday with her decorating skills! Becca is loved by her peers from all the departments she interacts with. Her enthusiasm and friendliness bring a warmth to everyone she encounters and talks to. She has exceptional customer service skills and tries to empathize with our employees while educating them on how to get their payroll issues resolved. She goes above and beyond on all employee calls and emails, and always puts their needs first. Becca receives kudos from many employees that she assists. Becca is a joy to work with and uplifts our department moral by bringing us baked treats. But she mostly brightens our day with just her presence. We are truly blessed to have her as part of this fabulous Payroll team.

A manager found an error on an employee timecard and reached out to get it fixed before the pay cut-off date. Even before her workday had begun, Rebecca was friendly and accommodating to get the error fixed in time to get the correction made on the employee’s next paycheck. She is very detail oriented and thorough in her work; it is important to Becca to make sure that employees are paid accurately. She volunteers for additional duties when needed and does what it takes to get the job done.

Blair Chappell, Marketing Specialist, Strategic Marketing & Communications

​Blair joined the Cook Children's marketing team in November of 2021. She has brought so much energy and light to the department. She has worked tirelessly to support her partners throughout the system. In September she was asked to head up brand launch events for the system in early November. Even knowing this would be a massive undertaking, she jumped right on it and started organizing key staff to assist. Blair, along with that team, started contacting vendors that would be needed for supplies, worked with our design team to ensure all materials were designed, sent to print and arrived back in time. She worked with our in-house catering staff on the food to be served for the launch event on the main campus and with an outside vendor for food for the event at Calmont. Blair coordinated all the volunteers to man the giveaway tables for each event.  On the day of both events, at the main campus and at Calmont, Blair had all details lined out and although there were some minor hiccups out of her control (vendors being late, staff coming out early, video not working at Calmont), she handled it all in stride and made it all come together.

​For a third event for the ribbon cutting in Prosper, Blair worked closely with Laura Van Hoosier (who handled most of the organizing of the event) to ensure it went smoothly.  Blair ensured all giveaway items were sent up to Prosper, loaded up display items and coordinated all volunteers to man the tables. On the day of the event, she ensured all tables were ready and assisted Laura in last minute items.

Blair exemplifies our core values and commitments for our entire system.  I know she will say she couldn't have done it without the help of the rest of the marketing team, but the execution is only as good as the planning. So without her extensive planning and attention to detail, we would not have been able to pull off such great events for our staff.  

Brenda Crawford, Manager, Business Development, Global Health Services

​What is the definition of a road warrior? Brenda Crawford! During a 60-day period, Brenda represented Cook Children's at conferences and around the globe over 20 days -- and she is not done yet! Brenda goes above and beyond to ensure Cook Children's is portrayed as the world class institution that it is. Her partnership with specialists to deliver on our message, and ultimately our Promise, is unparalleled. I have lost count on the number of contacts she has made for Global Health Services at the last 6 conferences, meetings and trips she has made. Brenda is truly a gift for Cook Children's.

​Relationships, no matter in what setting, are so important. You can never underestimate the power of face-to-face contact in today's Zoom world. That's why it takes dedication, time and energy to get out and meet our new referring physicians. Brenda has recently been to Louisiana to visit former referring physicians and new ones. Her visits not only get Cook Children’s recurring business, but it keeps us top of mind. Patient families are smart as they research and shop around and our referring physicians always remember those people who have great follow-up on their patients. Brenda ensures she brings her "game" every time she goes out on the road. 

Shayla Grelle, Senior Physician Liaison – Cook Children’s Health Care System, Strategic Marketing and Communications/Business Development

Shayla is genuinely one of the kindest people I have ever had the pleasure of working with and definitely has a servant's, heart exemplifying Cook Children's mission and values. Our Business Development team does so much more than people realize. Shayla and her team are constantly looking at ways to improve efficiencies in workflow and communications between referring providers and our specialty clinics. One of our regional clinics was having issues with labs being done at an outside facility. Shayla set up meetings between that facility and myself and we identified and implemented an improved process that corrected the problem. Shayla facilitated all of the meetings and was on hand to help.  The meetings were very positive and productive.  Her knowledge of the other facility and how they work as well has having great working relationships with that facility was extremely helpful.   This may seem like a small accomplishment to some but to a pediatric patient, avoiding a second poke for lab is HUGE.    

​Shayla is always willing to jump in and help in any way possible including assisting with picking up and dropping off traveling providers to our regional clinics when we have been short staffed.  Shayla excels in is making us feel like we are all on one team and not 2 departments working side by side on a project. Her focus is always the patient and advocating for them to get them to be taken care of in the best way possible. It is a sincere pleasure to work with her and she is a great asset to Cook Children's. ​

Gayle Harris, Director, Business Applications, Information Services

I've worked in the information technology industry for well over 20 years. Most of that has been with various health care organizations. Gayle is the first individual in a leadership role in which I've worked for that strives for perfection and clearly states her expectations but remains grounded. She has a strong relationship with her subordinates, which gives us the initiative to work harder and to remain on her team. On numerous occasions, she has been on calls after business hours to help resolve errors that have been a high impact. She encourages resolving issues, refrains from blaming anyone, and helps develop a plan to avoid future issues. Gayle leads by example. She is in the trenches with us. Most of all, she values the hard work and opinions of her subordinates. She cares about the future of Cook Children's.

​Gayle has led many significant projects, such as OnBase, CBord, Kronos, Lawson, and Workday. Because of her leadership and support, these projects have been successful. During the COVID pandemic, her team completed numerous projects that were current and back-logged. She leads and supports applications that work behind the scenes, without which the organization could not function. She remains positive even when things seem incredibly difficult and encourages her team to express their ideas and to work independently. I go the extra mile because of Gayle. I don't want to let her down. She is one reason I do what I do!

Merari Hernandez, Clerk, Community Health, Child Oral Health

​Merari is the clerk for the Center for Children's Health Oral Health team, which includes the Children's Oral Health Coalition (COHC) and Save a Smile program. Over the past few months, she has shown initiative and improved several processes for both programs. One of her tasks is entering data collected at our 21 Save a Smile school-based dental screenings. Over the summer, Merari took it upon herself to attend an Excel class so that she could be better prepared for screenings (and other aspects of her work). With this skill, she single-handedly prepared the screening spreadsheet -- a list of over 10,000 students with data, including name, grade, teacher, school, and other information. Merari compiled this with careful attention to accuracy, privacy and security. 

At the screening events, she carefully records the results of each child's dental screening. She arrives to each school on time and completely prepared. She even brings her own table so that she can position herself near the team, which sounds minor but really helps save time. Occasionally there is a piece of student information missing, and she professionally works with the school office to obtain the missing data before we even leave the school. In the past it often took much longer to obtain this information. This results in a complete, accurate screening result summary for each school. 

This year, Merari began emailing these summaries to team leadership, who in turn shares the information with each school. Once the results are collected, they are entered into Track Via, our data collection program. With Merari's improved processes, this information is uploaded faster than ever before. The bottom line is that this enables our team to make contact with families much sooner, so that students who are in pain and dealing with severe dental disease can potentially have their dental needs addressed much sooner. Because of the processes improved this year as a result of her initiative and dedication, we can connect the dots and connect children and their families with the care and support that they need to be free of pain and on their way to improved oral and overall health.

During the time screenings were occurring (21 screening events over 8 weeks!), she was also working to improve processes for COHC. Merari took on a new role of recording oral health resources distributed by the Coalition. This involved scheduling time with our evaluation team to learn the record-keeping process in Track Via. Once she learned the system, she began entering records of oral health resources and education shared by the Coalition. This has helped provide an accurate measure of the impact and scope of the Coalition's work. She also conducted a thorough inventory count of COHC materials. This provides us with an accurate view of supplies and materials on hand, which allows us to plan purchases to be better stewards of resources. She also managed requests for oral health kits (bags with age-appropriate oral health materials) from local schools. During this time frame she single-handedly assembled approximately 1,000 of these kits. She often delivered them to schools so that busy school nurses did not have to take time to travel to our location. 

What makes this impressive is that Merari accomplishes all of this working just 48 hours per pay period. She is exceptionally organized and accurate, a great communicator, and keeps all of her projects moving along towards deadlines. She has the best attitude and truly shows the heart of a teammate. We are fortunate that she supports us and we are honored to call her a friend and coworker. We believe that, day in and day out, she shows the spirit of a true Peak Performer. 

Domingo Martinez, Home Health Medical Receptionist II, Home Health Administration

​Domingo (Dom) is absolutely fantastic at helping others as a medical receptionist in Home Health Administration. He is incredibly responsive and has great, efficient communication skills. When I email the Home Health Administration team, he is the first to respond and typically does so in less than an hour, if not in minutes. This communication has been critical in helping my patients get the best care and parents are so grateful that he is there to bridge the gap between outpatient physical therapy and the Home Health department of Cook.

​Dom has repeatedly called families very soon after our email connection to confirm communications. He works diligently to get our patients in as soon as possible and is always polite and kind. I have heard families speaking with him on the phone (even near the end of his shift) and his patience with them is evident. He is just as responsive to the families as he is with his team. His kindness and customer service is above and beyond. He makes a huge difference in the lives of families and patients but he rarely gets to see the true impact his effort makes.

Chrystal Bryant, Case Manager/Health Plan, Population Health Management

Chrystal Bryant is a maternity case manager that is a great resource to staff not only in the STAR/CHIP program of the health plan but to our STAR Kids program as well. If you
need a resource or have a question, she is a good person to call. During the winter, Crystal went out of her way to get her sorority sisters to donate money to help provide coats and cold weather clothes for the child of one of our Health Plan Members. Chrystal is instrumental with bringing problem solving suggestions to the table to make the maternity program more efficient and to have better communication with our outside providers.

​Chrystal intently monitors her high-risk maternity members but one sticks out in particular. After one of her members delivered, Chrystal continued to follow up with her per protocol with a phone call 5 days later. Chrystal immediately assessed that the member sounded as if she was in distress. The member complained of incision site pain and Chrystal got a sense that the member had labored breathing. After talking with the provider’s office Chrystal felt that this member couldn’t wait for a call back from the provider and took the initiative to arrange for the member to go a hospital and receive emergency treatment. This high-risk situation was quickly evaluated and the member’s treatment began. The member was told by an obstetric triage provider that she was in danger of having a stroke and thanked Crystal for noticing the signs. Without her advocacy and going above and beyond her day-to-day duties, this situation could have been a disaster. Chrystal is more than a maternity case manager. She uses her nursing judgement and maternity instincts every day to help members achieve optimal health.​

Krista Cowell, Nurse Manager Pediatric Intensive Care Unit/Medical-Surgical, Cook Children’s Medical Center-Prosper, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

​Krista has taken on the role of manager for both medical surgery and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Prosper. This makes her responsible for 46 new Cook employees. She has done so in an extremely graceful and compassionate manner. Krista has been working countless hours dedicated to ensuring that all staff is properly oriented and supported throughout the process of opening a brand new medical center. She individualizes staff's needs and schedules, both in Prosper and while staff is orienting in Fort Worth. She is in Prosper every day working behind the scenes to ensure that staff has all of the necessary resources and training to be prepared for opening day. On top of that, she also manages to make herself accessible and available for staff questions. She is always thinking ahead and raising questions with the staff's best interest in mind, which will translate into a safer patient environment. She views herself as an equal rather than a superior and is willing to adapt to any role or situation on the unit to provide the best patient care. 

On top of opening a brand new facility, she believes in building teamwork and morale within her staff. She has built an inclusive and welcoming environment for her team. Just this week, she brought bagels for the unit and set up an elaborate hot chocolate bar in the staff lounge. She encourages open communication and further career development by allowing staff to continue educational classes during orientation. Krista also exemplifies this in her personal life, as she is currently obtaining a master’s degree in leadership and management. She makes herself available 24/7 to accommodate for both day and night shift, while also managing her life at home with her family and kids. It is a pleasure to have a manager who has a positive attitude and smile on her face when approaching her. Her ability to compartmentalize so many tasks, meetings, and staff needs throughout the time that has gone into opening this facility is inspiring and deserves to be recognized. Krista sets a higher standard and raises the bar for what every manager should strive to be. 

Joanna Jaime, Registered Respiratory Therapist, Respiratory Therapy

Joanna is always willing to help her teammates, staying late to help the nurses with the ventilation patients. Even when her shift has passed, she stays extra time if needed. She sees the Cook Children’s Medical Center-Fort Worth as her home, not as her job. Joanna is a phenomenal team player with innovative ideas and a comprehensive knowledge of respiratory mechanics. She has everything that is needed to be a great leader.

Joanna is always willing to discuss cases with me to figure out a comprehensive plan for my ventilation patients. I highly enjoy looking at compliance curves with her, because there is so much to learn from her. Families always give wonderful feedback when they have her as their respiratory therapist. I am thankful for all I have learned from her in the past 4 years. She is always willing to show me all the ventilation features as I learn each function and discuss E:I ratios. Joanna takes her time to educate families. Her guidance and patience puts her team and families at ease. There aren’t enough words to describe what a great asset to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit until Joanna is.

Mary Myers, RN, Staff, 5 South Tower Surgical Trauma Unit

​Mary is an outstanding nurse and leader. Part of 5 South Tower, a Surgical Trauma Unit, opened up recently and was staffed by current nurse residents. Mary stepped up to the plate to spend many nights there as a charge nurse. However, Mary was more than just a charge nurse to me and the other residents. Mary acted as a resource nurse, confidant, friend, professional mentor, and so much more. She took me under her wing and guided me through a lot of my firsts as a new graduate.

Mary’s selflessness, empathy, and compassion make her deserving of being named a Peak Performer. Her devotion to the Promise of Cook Children’s is displayed not only to colleagues, but also to patients and their families. One night my patient had become sick all over their IV dressing. I knew that I would need help redressing it since this patient had a lot of anxiety around their IV. Mary graciously came to help and lend an extra hand. The patient immediately began screaming, kicking, and crying, thus making their mom anxious. Mary was able to calm the patient down and help successfully redress the IV. It may seem like a simple task, but that interaction made such a difference in that patient experience. The patient continued to have a bit of anxiety regarding the IV, but thanks to Mary’s kindness and patience the patient realized the IV wasn’t so bad.​

Jillian Mitchell, Program Coordinator, Community Health, Child Safety

In the year that Jillian had been on my team, I know her to go above and beyond with customer service. In our work in Child Safety, customers are not only families but community partners, as we work collaboratively toward shared injury prevention efforts. Jillian represents Cook Children’s extremely well in the way she interacts and follows up with partners and families.

Jillian has connected with new partners in Cook Children’s expanded service area, Collin County. These partners were willing to install 5 Cook Children’s Loaner Life Jacket Stations around their lake. Installation of the stations proved to be a challenge for them, so Jillian facilitated discussions between the manufacturer of the kits and the installers. After several attempts to install, Jillian realized they had manipulated some of the kits, in error. Jillian persevered and continued to support both entities to ensure frustrations didn’t rise and that the standard of quality was ultimately met. Knowing installation was time sensitive because of the potential for ground-freezing weather, she went above and beyond to transport extra parts of the loaner station kits to Collin County. They were grateful for her efforts to expedite the process and installed the kits immediately. As a culture champion, Jillian understands the value of relationships and that connections are key. She represents Cook Children’s in the highest of heights and we should all be so lucky to have her on our team.

Jillian was here for an event for her department before the holidays. While visiting with an old colleague in the Child Life department, Jillian heard we were doing our donation drive-thru the next day and offered to help. On a Saturday afternoon, Jillian volunteered her own time for several hours the next day to help with our donation drive thru.  She met families at their cars, helped unload donations and moved them to "Santa's Workshop." She truly went above and beyond to give her time during a busy holiday season. Jillian no longer works in the Child Life department but saw a need to serve and collaborate. These donations directly serve patients in the hospital at Christmas and throughout the year. We appreciated all of her help.

Kari C. Mcmillin, Home Health Physical Therapy Assistant, Nursing - Rehab

​Kari is an assistant physical therapist with the Rehab team. She has been with Cook Children’s Home Health for 10 years and continues to exceed expectations, not only in her high productivity, but also with her compassionate heart, strong work ethic, and eagerness to assist her colleagues by offering to cover patient care visits while her colleagues are on FMLA, vacation, or on PTO. Kari simply elevates the patient experience just by being herself.

Kari carries a max caseload for her Case-by-Case position and serves as a beacon of positivity for both her patients and her teammates. She is always willing to go above and beyond to achieve her personal and departmental goals. ​

Kari is beloved by her patients and their families, as evidenced by the following family compliment: “I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Kari. She is, of course, an amazing physical therapist, but I would expect that from any Cook Children's therapist. Kari goes above and beyond in that every time she sees my daughter, I can tell that she loves her. I can feel how she celebrates every victory and empathizes with her in her struggles. This is a special gift that I don’t see in others, and I’m so grateful to know Kari. In my daughter’s therapy journey, we don’t know her final destination— that is to say, we can’t possibly know what she will or won’t achieve. Kari makes me feel like every little gain is worth celebrating and reminds me that the value of her little life is not measured by her physical achievement. In short, our lives are better simply because Kari is in it.”

We are thankful to have Kari on our team.

Molly Mcnown, Health Plan Utilization Review-Occupational Therapy, Care Management Utilization

Since starting with Cook Children’s Health Plan in 2019, Molly has been active in helping her colleagues navigate change and improve efficiency. One of Molly's super powers is being an Occupational Therapist (OT) and a second one is having a keen eye for improving processes. When Molly started at the Health Plan, she was active in outlining processes and procedures and made tip sheets lovingly called "Molly Sheets" that helped organize the complex nature of a therapy reviewer's workflow. During this time, her attention to detail helped both experienced and new reviewers with key job functions.

Fast forward to the spring and Molly found herself as the lone occupational therapist on the Utilization Management Therapy Review team. The nature of the job meant that there was more work than she could possibly do by herself and she had the added responsibility to help onboard two new OTs to the team. Their orientation overlapped but was not completely aligned in a way that she could teach both individuals the same information at the same time​. Thus, Molly had triple the responsibility of completing the OT reviews that required her attention as the OT expert as well as being the preceptor for the two newest OTs. Molly rallied and gave both teammates a thorough orientation. She answered countless questions with kindness and grace. She has continued to support their training and clarify information as new circumstances and processes change in real time.

Molly is a huge asset to the team as a kind, considerate, thoughtful person. She has exceptional organizational skills and the ability to teach others with respect and consideration.

TEAMS

Experience Ambassadors Team

Kim Spaulding and Stan Hall have only been in their new positions for 6 months, yet the impact they've made on patients, families and staff in the Emergency Department (ED) is huge. Their primary role is supporting the waiting room, and with a significant increase in volumes, they are in non-stop motion. They do so with a positive, engaged attitude and strong sense of purpose, even when the patient flow is non-stop. The positive feedback from the ED staff, such as "they make it possible for me to do my job" is evidence of the powerful role on the team.

Stan and Kim are paving new pathways with opportunities to improve the patient/family experience with dedicated waiting room volunteers, an art cart and additional furniture for patient and sibling activities, identification of processes to reduce wait times, and creation of standards for information sharing to reduce stress and anxiety. Their presence in the waiting room, as well as their rounding on families in rooms in the ED, continues to support the ED team experience by alleviating some of the stressors from overwhelming volumes.

Media Services Team

Reaching preeminence requires collaboration and in collaborating with Terry Wilder & Charles Mills in Media Services, Cook Children’s was able to do just that in displaying our employee safety work to over 100 pediatric hospitals in the US and Canada.

In October of 2022, Cook Children’s was asked to give a presentation at the Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) Fall National Learning Session. SPS asked the clinical collaborative team to give a virtual hospital tour depicting our employee safety efforts. Our team immediately started brainstorming and had a long list of videos to film in a very short time frame, so we reached out to the Media Services Team for help, and they jumped at the opportunity to film our videos.

All in all, media services helped our clinical collaborative team film 17 videos for our presentation with leaders and frontline staff all over Cook Children’s Medical Center-Fort Worth. Any idea we had, they were willing to film, including drone footage of our safety team welcoming session attendees, scripted scenes of some rounding sessions, early morning stretches with team members, and a humorous blooper reel video. Throughout the process they were supportive of our ideas and did not get frustrated with changes or the amount of work we were asking of them. Many of the videos were interview format and required extensive editing to pare down to a comprehensive 2-3 minute segment. The blooper reel made our team and all the participants laugh and cry.

SPS leaders and the attendees were very impressed and complimentary of the presention. We received a ton of accolades and were even named SPS Hospital of the Month in November. It was an amazing opportunity to highlight all the work we have done at Cook Children’s, and it came out even better then we wanted it to. It would not have been possible without the help of Terry and Charles. Not only did they commit an extensive amount of time to this project on top of their existing duties, their expertise, imagination and creativity elevated the whole project to the next level. We cannot thank them enough for their help. Many of these videos can be used in the future to help share with our internal team members how dedicated our organization is to their safety, all the way through the Board level.

Terry and Charles also helped to film an instructional video for a new patient care process here at Cook. They showed up to the shoot on time to set up all their equipment. They adjusted the lighting tirelessly with perfection to ensure there were no shadows and the end result was a product we could utilize for staff training for a long time. They were patient when we requested to re-film or re-record sections, and they asked important questions that made us rethink our approach and improve the final product. It is stressful being on camera, but their calm, professional demeanor makes it easy and fun to work on projects with them. They are both a HUGE asset to the organization.

Sports Medicine Clinic Team

Often time the first step in elevating any patient's experience is setting expectations. For kids, a visit to the doctor can seem mysterious and scary. Now imagine having suffered an injury, remembering the pain of the event and knowing that you have to return to have a cast removed. Lexi Kennedy and Carolyn Snow help kids through this process every day.  

Lexi and Carolyn realized that educating patients on what to expect would help better prepare children for the experience, or even prompt them to look forward to their visit. Lexi and Carolyn coordinated with Media Services to produce an amazing video on cast removal. This tool is not only helpful to families but also part of new hire orientation for orthopedic staff. It is a great way to introduce new staff to the process as well as reinforce our commitment at Cook Children’s to seeing the world thru our patient’s eyes.

Two of our nurses were selected for the prestigious 2022 Graduate Nursing Student Academy PhD-DNP Collaboration Excellence Award for their submission: “The Magic of Collaboration and Innovation! A PhD-DNP-Led Center for Nursing Excellence and Innovation to Promote Nursing Science and Sustain Practice Changes.”

Congratulations to Julie Van Orne, EBP/QI Coordinator and a Ph.D. student at Texas Woman’s University in Houston and Kaylan Branson, Director of Nursing Quality and Magnet and a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

They received the competitive award at the 2023 American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Doctoral Education Conference in Coronado, Calif. on Jan. 19, 2023.

This award is granted in recognizing excellence in collaboration among students in Ph.D. and DNP Programs.

 Let's all congratulate our Peak Performers for October and November 2022!

Medical Center      

Leslie Sidnez , Supervisor, Patient Access Services, Rehab-Admin

Stephen Triggs , Radiographer                               

Cassandra Wallace , SC Clinic Nurse (RN), Hematology/Oncology                

Physician Network

Monica Aguilar, PN Medical Assistant, Burleson

Cesilia Banderas, PN Medical Assistant, Lewisville Castle Hills

Ana Barboza , SC Patient Service Scheduler, Orthopedic Clinic

Debra Cohoon, PN Clinical Coordinator,-Heritage

Mary Kistner,  NP/PA, Fort Worth Urgent Care Center

Katherine O'Bryan, Dietitian, Clinical II, Nutrition Endocrinology

Christina Reed, Director, Practice Operations, Neighborhood Clinic-Admin

Amy Speaker, LVN, Urgent Care Center, Prosper

Chasity Taylor, Front Office Lead, Walsh

Devin Windham , NP/PA, Fort Worth Urgent Care Center

Health System

Marion Brantley, Manager, Training Epic              

Rebecca Cabello, Payroll Specialist                      

Blair Chappell, Marketing Specialist                     

Brenda Crawford, Manager, Business Develop Global Health Services

Shayla Grelle, Physician Liaison, Senior, San Angelo Multispecialty

Gayle Harris, Director, Business Applications, Information Services

Merari Hernandez, Clerk, Community Health, Children's Oral Health  

Home Health

Domingo Martinez, Medical Receptionist II           

Health Plan

Chrystal Bryant , Case Manager, Population Health Management

Congratulations to Debbie Boudreaux, assistant vice president, and Jack Sosebee, vice president, who were named Health Care Heroes by the Texas Hospital Association (THA).

Click to check out their recognition on the organization’s Facebook page on Day 8 of THA 's12 Days of Health Care Heroes.

In addition to their roles, Debbie and Jack have been taking round-the-clock patient transfer calls from hospitals across the country.

“They have missed sleep and gone above and beyond, but they have never complained because they understand how important this activity is to fulfilling our promise for the children we serve,” said Stan Davis, president of Cook Children’s Medical Center.

Click the links below to read more about each recipient. Congratulations to everyone and thank you for all you do for Cook Children's. 

All Team Peak Performers for 2021-2022

• Save a Smile/Center for Children’s Health
• UCC APP Supervisors
• McCart Neighborhood Clinic Medical Assistants
• CCPN Purchasing/Courier Team
• Diabetes Education Nurses
• ENT & Surgery Scheduling Team
• Utilization Management Team
• Patient Registration Team
• Cardio Pulmonary CLE Collaborative Team
• Hurst Urgent Care
• UM Department Utilization Review Specialist (URS) Team
• McCart Neighborhood Clinic Receptionists
• Disaster Relief Nurses Onboarding Team
• Microbiology/Molecular Lab Department
• Dodson Pharmacy Technicians
• Hospitalist APPs
• Core Laboratory Team
• Rehabilitation Pre-Cert and Scheduling Team
• UM Denials and Appeals
• STAR Kids Service Coordination Preceptor and Mentor Team
• CCHP Regulatory Compliance Team
• Mansfield Primary Care Team
• COVID Hotline Team

All Individual Peak Performers for 2021-2022

• Vanessa Whitman
• Audra Trussell
• Brandon Tinsley
• David Squires
• Katherine (Katie) Sandlin
• Rachel Salazar
• Nicole Rogers
• Matthew Ridge
• Martha Rambonnet
• Randy Powledge
• Corie Pickens
• Mark Onsase
• Denise Montes
• Kaitlyn Miller
• Pack Mam
• Haydee Madrigal
• Brad Langford
• Hannah Labansat
• Josefina Jungo
• Jimmy Felan
• Jodi Jones
• Beatriz Hinojosa
• Michelle Hertel
• Jenny Hathaway
• Vickie Gray
• Tina Garcia
• Amnitti Bowen
• Brianna Benzinger
• Christy Beck
• Amy Arreola
• Jeanette Aguilar
• Heather Andrews
• Shelly Smith
• Jessica Lopez
• Treva Badger
• Lauryn Goff
• Veronica Casteel
• Megan Bensinger
• Heidi Dammen
• Eric Nimely
• Crystal Martinez
• Hanna Gilley
• Danielle Eberwein
• Morgan Booth
• Maria Avelar
• Rebecca Parker
• Lauren Kenny
• Riley Heimuli
• Maranda Diaz
• Maria De La Torre
• Sandra Saucedo
• Kate DeVore
• Leslie Boykin
• Brock Street
• Kameron Beckerich
• Elsa Arismendy
• Shanta Walker
• Gareth Patterson
• Natalie Milsap
• Jessica Lucero
• Gissell Franco
• Laurie Castle
• Jessica Russell
• Katherine Roden
• Miriam Muganda
• Amy Jarratt
• Eden Beebe
• Jana Jackson
• Kim Hobbs
• Kimberly Davis
• Sulav Sigdel
• Adrian Vasquez
• Katy Yanez
• Sheryl Van Dyk
• Deb Smith
• Kalie Skerik
• Cathy Reed
• Stefanie Perry Charles
• Misty Mccutchen
• James Loggins
• Linzi Knowles
• Lexi Kennedy
• Sam Hutch
• Stephanie Gee
• Beth Fortner
• Diana Dobson
• Elise Conner
• Carrie Carney
• Lynsie Bailey
• Aly Anthony
• LeeAndra Aguirre
• Colleen West
• Michelle Velasquez
• Michelle Salts
• Lupe Ruiz
• Lindsey Laskey
• Emily Gardner
• Carla Bridges
• Loyd Stearman
• Lindsay Sikes
• Emma Price
• Oludotun “Olu” Peters
• Angie McCarty
• Emily Haddad
• Emily Best
• Amanda Leary
• Summer Creech
• Courtney Perez
• Melissia Hampton
• Sandro Sanchez
• Wendy Rosas
• Nicole Miller
• Megan Gibbs
• Katie Bourland
• Brian Dotts
• Brooke Phillips
• Ruth Mhlanga
• Lanie Coffey
• Whitney Stauffer
• Tori Thompson
• Beth Nichols
• Tyson Heaton
• Hannah Doty
• Nicole Slicker
• Rachel Duling
• Lori Guzman
• Carly Witulski
• Kendra Allen
• Christine Owens
• Sally Sirkis
• Lauren Boone
• Sam James
• Tina Arellano
• Cassie Troth
• Hannah Simeone
• Mary Gonzales
• Jaryn Nichols
• Yolanda Crockett

By Companies

Health Care System

• Laurie Castle
• Heidi Dammen
• Brian Dotts
• Jimmy Felan
• Melissia Hampton
• Sam Hatch
• Jenny Hathaway
• James Loggins
• Pack Mam
• Chris Menefee
• Gareth Patterson
• Randy Powledge
• Sulav Sigdel
• Nicole K. Slicker
• Loyd Stearman
• Brandon Tinsley
• Colleen West
• Vanessa Whitman
• Katy Yanez

Health Plan

• Kendra  Allen
• Elise Conner
• Summer Creech
• Beth Fortner
• Stephanie Gee
• Josefina Jungo
• Lindsey Laskey
• Amanda Leary
• Christine Owens
• Brooke Phillips
• Lupe Ruiz
• Sally Sirkis

Home Health

• Lauren  Boone
• Courtney Perez
• Corie Pickens
• Rachal Salazar
• David Squires

 Medical Center

• LeeAndra Aguirre
• Heather Andrews
• Aly Anthony
• Elsa Arismendy
• Amy Arreola
• Maria Avelar
• Lynsie Bailey
• Christy Beck
• Kameron Beckerich
• Eden Beebe
• Brianna Benzinger
• Morgan Booth
• Katie Bourland
• Amnitti Bowen
• Leslie Boykin
• Carla Bridges
• Carla Bridges
• Carrie Carney
• Yolanda Crockett
• Andrew Davis
• Kate DeVore
• Hannah Doty
• Danielle Eberwein
• Emily Gardner
• Megan Gibbs
• Hanna Gilley
• Mary Gonzales
• Emily Haddad
• Tyson Heaton
• Beatriz Hinojosa
• Kim Hobbs
• Jana Jackson
• Amy Jarratt
• Jodi Jones
• Hannah Labansat
• Brad Langford
• Haydee Madrigal
• Crystal Martinez
• Angie McCarty
• Misty Mccutchen
• Nicole Miller
• Denise Montes
• Miriam Muganda
• Jaryn Nichols
• Beth Nichols
• Eric Nimely
• Mark Onsase
• Matthew Ridge
• Katherine Roden
• Nicole Rogers
• Wendy Rosas
• Jessica Russell
• Michelle Salts
• Sandro Sanchez
• Katherine Sandlin
• Sandra  Saucedo
• Lindsay Sikes
• Hannah Simeone
• Deb Smith
• Whitney Stauffer
• Tori Thompson
• Cassie Troth
• Audra Trussell
• Adrian Vasquez

 Physician Network

• Jeanette Aguilar
• Tina Arellano
• Treva Badger
• Megan Bensinger
• Emily Best
• Veronica Casteel
• Lanie Coffey
• Kimberly Davies
• Maria De La Torre
• Maranda Diaz
• Diana Dobson
• Rachel Duling
• Gissell Franco
• Tina Garcia
• Lauryn Goff
• Vickie Gray
• Lori Guzman
• Riley Heimuli
• Michelle Hertel
• Sam James
• Lexi Kennedy
• Lauren Kenny
• Linzi Knowles
• Jessica Lopez
• Jessica Lucero
• Ruth Mhlanga
• Kaitlyn Miller
• Natalie Milsap
• Rebecca Parker
• Stefanie PerryCharles
• Oludotun Peters
• Emma Price
• Martha Rambonnet
• Cathy Reed
• Kalie Skerik
• Shelly Smith
• Brock Street
• Sheryl VanDyk
• Michelle Velasquez
• Shanta  Walker
• Carly Witulski

Teams

• Cardio Pulmonary CLE Collaborative
• CCHP Regulatory Compliance
• CCPN Purchasing/Courier
• Core Laboratory
• COVID Hotline
• Diabetes Education Nurses
• Disaster Relief Nurses Onboarding
• Dodson Pharmacy
• ENT and Surgery Scheduling
• Hospitalists
• Hurst Urgent Care
• Mansfield Primary Care
• McCart Neighborhood Clinic Medical Assistants
• McCart Neighborhood Clinic Medical Receptionists
• Microbiology/Molecular Lab
• Patient Registration
• Rehabilitation Pre-Cert and Scheduling
• Save a Smile/Center for Children’s Health
• STAR Kids Service Coordination Preceptors and Mentors
• UCC APP Supervisors
• UM Denials and Appeals
• Utilization Management

Reilee is a smart, driven, and compassionate PCT. She goes above and beyond to help the nursing staff and has collaborated with the unit educator and management to increase the capacity of the PCT role on 5ST which has been instrumental in alleviating workflow issues associated with the short staffing. She communicates her concerns with the nurses and has alerted nursing to acute problems on several occasions which resulted in early intervention and positive patient outcomes. Reilee is involved in our UBC and shares her innovative ideas to improve interdisciplinary workflow and unit processes. Reilee is willing to adapt to unit needs and often works four or five shifts per week to assist with PCT coverage. We always know it will be a good day when she is there. She is kind to all she comes in contact with and truly exemplifies the role of a team player. We are so lucky to have her on our unit and I can’t think of a more deserving person for this award.

Leigh is an awesome mentor. She is always willing to help out and answer questions. She has been a great preceptor as well as a friend to me. She serves as a role model of what it means to be a great service coordinator. Leigh is an awesome trainer and is well respected and loved by all of her coworkers and her members.

Leigh is an amazing trainer/mentor. She is never too tired or too busy to help or answer any questions while training. Leigh goes above and beyond to solve any issues within the job and will take extra time to explain anything to mentors. I am delighted to work with Leigh and would love to see her win this award.

Leigh Brown is an awesome mentor. She is very patient, knowledgeable, honest, candid, a good listener/sounding board and willing to devote time to developing others, and is always available and flexible. She is very approachable and is nonjudgmental even if you ask the same question more than once when there is so much to learn and process.

The latest quarterly Peak Performers

Each quarter, the monthly Peak Performers are celebrated at a special reception held in their honor. Due to the need for social distancing during this time of the COVID-19 crisis, a reception may not be possible but that is no reason we can't celebrate these deserving people for their work and accomplishments.

Please join us in congratulating all of the following Peak Performers for July through September 2022. 

Want to send a special congratulations to any of these winners? You can easily do so with one of our Ecards that are available here.* Note: you must be connected to the network to access this page.

Here are Peak Performer recipients. Click each name to learn more. 

Teams:

STAR Kids Service Coordination Preceptor and Mentor Team

CCHP Regulatory Compliance Team

Mansfield Primary Care Team

COVID Hotline Team

Individuals:

Summer Creech

Courtney Perez

Melissia Hampton

Sandro Sanchez

Wendy Rosas

Nicole Miller

Megan Gibbs

Katie Bourland

Brian Dotts

Brooke Phillips

Ruth Mhlanga

Lanie Coffey

Whitney Stauffer

Tori Thompson

Beth Nichols

Tyson Heaton

Hannah Doty

Nicole Slicker

Rachel Duling

Lori Guzman

Carly Witulski

Kendra Allen

Christine Owens

Sally Sirkis

Lauren Boone

Sam James

Tina Arellano

Cassie Troth

Hannah Simeone

Mary Gonzales

Jaryn Nichols

Yolanda Crockett

Cook Children’s Health Plan recently made the operational decision to insource all Behavioral Health (BH) Services. This decision would require the Utilization Management team to now process all BH requests. While Summer does not have direct experience in BH, Summer worked to train new BH staff on the UM process and procedures. Summer has joined the daily BH huddles to provide guidance to new team members. Summer did not have to help with this process, but she is committed to ensuring the UM team functions properly and we are thankful for all that she does. 

Courtney has shown tremendous leadership skills since starting with CCHH and as excelled in growing the billing the department. When she first started, the billing department was experience staff shortages and the department had low morale. Courtney has fully staffed the billing department, reduced staff turnover in that department and continues to engage staff boosting employee satisfaction and moral. She's taken it upon herself to start a buddy system and pair a veteran employee with a newer employee, so that when questions arise they both have someone they can talk and bounce questions/ideas amongst each other. Staff have been very complimentary of the overall communication Courtney provides to them as a group. She's also not afraid to go beyond her job duties, recently with year-end approaching Courtney reached out to warehouse to volunteer to help work with weekend inventory if they needed additional assistance. Courtney is both a great leader and team player.

Melissia is a wonderful support to the Point of Care Testing (POCT) department. Clinical staff are required to validate competency annually and that department is a small group with only four employees. There has been turnover within the department this year as well. Melissia frequently helped with competency validations at multiple events, even if it was simply to direct traffic and maintain spacing and infection control measures when pandemic precautions were in place. Providing this assistance took hours from her busy schedule, but again, she was happy to help. I appreciate how Melissia is always willing to serve others and that she values opportunities to collaborate to get the job done and support safe care of the patients we serve. 

Our echo techs rotate overnight call even when working regular days and they often get called in the middle of the night to come in for urgent echos. Sandro was recently on night call and was at the hospital much of the night. He had to work in the clinic the next day and even though he was exhausted, he still did his very best and went above and beyond to help others. Even when he noticed that the nurses were short staffed and I was not able to get a lunch, he bought me lunch. Sandro is a wonderful asset to the Heart Center and we are lucky to have him on our team.

One day when I was riding in the elevator with Wendy, I asked where she was working that day. She was SO excited to inform me that she was promoted to the supervisor role. That’s not surprising since she is such a hard worker. We had a lot of discharges that day, and before I knew it, Wendy was on our floor in her supervisor role cleaning rooms to turn them over for new admissions. I have never seen a supervisor jump in and clean. Wendy was such a team player to do that for her team and to help expedite admissions during this time of high census. Wendy is so deserving of a Peak Performer because of her drive to get the job done, whatever the job is. She exhibits teamwork, collaboration and a very caring heart every shift she works at Cook Children’s!

On my first float on 3S, I had a less than great experience. I felt my assignment was not appropriate, and I didn’t feel supported at the time. Also on that day, I was so busy with another patient that I was not able to get to the room of my ED admit when they arrived to the unit. Nicole jumped in, and by the time I arrived to the patient’s room, Nicole was in the process of changing the patient’s sheets because she noticed it had adhesive residue on it. For a manager to do that really shows that no matter what needs to be done, Nicole is able and willing to jump in where needed and get the job done. After that float, I was very honest with my feedback on my float survey. A week later, I floated to 3S again. Nicole came by, and not only apologized to me about my last float but assured me that changes had already been implemented to improve the float experience. Just an hour into that shift, I noticed a very positive change from my last float. My assignment was appropriate, and the staff was supportive and welcoming. I know that Nicole has also helped staff the unit MANY times this year so that her team wouldn’t have to work short. As a manger, this shows her giving heart, and how she cares for patients, families, and staff. Not all managers are willing to jump in and help as much as Nicole, and I know not all managers take negative feedback on a float survey seriously. Nicole didn’t waste any time making a change, and this is what makes her exceptional and so deserving of a Peak Performer award!

In Oncology, we frequently have patients that come into the office and trigger sepsis alerts or even med alerts. When I was new to clinic, I had a patient one day that required a sepsis alert. I had not done one since coming to clinic and felt lost in how to help it run smoothly as I noticed sepsis alerts look a lot different on the outpatient side of things. Megan was right there when I needed her most. She came to help me and empowered me to care well for my patient. She knew exactly what needed to be done to provide quality care and keep the patient safe. She puts 110% into everything she does, and is a wonderful representation of Cook Children's core values. 

One of Katie's clinical areas to work is the NICU, which entails working with very fragile infants, supporting them developmentally with music-based interventions. Katie provided her services to hold space for both grief and sweet memories to a room full of staff who were bedside with a long-term patient who was rapidly declining. While another staff person held the baby, Katie softly sang and played the guitar, creating a sacred and peaceful space for the baby, as well as the staff.  It takes an extremely special and courageous person to stand in that moment and know they have the capacity to bring peace and wash away pain through the power of their music. Katie's presence, voice, and music kept the room calm and peaceful during an otherwise tumultuous and challenging time for all who had cared for this patient. Her presence in that space was transformative.

Brian's communication skills are phenomenal. He is able to articulate to any kind of audience and ensures that he explains things clearly. It’s amazing how Brian can simplify complex issues and solutions to the customers understanding.  Another skill of Brian’s is his ability to capture requirements. He always knows exactly what the customer wants and expects. When he delivers his solutions, the customers are completely satisfied. Even though Brian was new to Epic, he quickly learned the features and capabilities of the system and shows a true natural ability to lead.

Brooke was working on helping a member who had a lot of behavioral needs. She worked with our behavioral health team and reached out to them to find out what else she could do. They commended her on all of her hard work and shared that they have so many supports in place already thanks to Brooke that it was hard to find any other resources to provide to them. Brooke is always thinking ahead and making sure that she is looking at the situation from every angle. This is what makes her families love her and what makes her a great Cook Children's employee.

Ruth is very dedicated to her job, and very hardworking. She is very efficient and works tirelessly to make sure the clinic flows smoothly. Despite that our clinic in Prosper has been very busy, Ruth finds the time to review future patient’s charts and contact the primary care provider’s offices to request any missing information. She contacts the future patients to request that they bring certain records to the upcoming visits. This tremendous effort by Ruth has made our clinic run efficiently and allowed more face to face time with the patients. I am extremely impressed with how fast Ruth learns. Despite that she has not worked in endocrine before, she learned the endocrine related tasks quickly. She performs her job perfectly and efficiently. What Ruth does on daily basis is one of the major cornerstones for the success at the endocrine clinic in Prosper.

The Cook Children’s Genetics department has struggled historically to maintain two clinical nutritionists on staff. This position requires specialized training in rare inborn errors of metabolism and metabolic formulas. Due to the complexity of this job, the Nutrition Department is unable to provide adequate support with its own staff to offset this staffing issue.  Because of this, the department and the entire hospital system must rely on Lanie as the sole metabolic dietician to provide support to the department’s metabolic patients and any emergent issues/inpatient concerns that arise.

Lanie is a crucial asset to our department, providing nutritional support for patients with inborn errors of metabolism. Not only assisting patients with metabolic disorders, she often assists with clinical patients as needed. She provides superb education for families of affected patients giving them the tools they need to support their child lifelong. Lanie develops a professional rapport with patients and they trust her advice and recommendations. She goes above and beyond also assisting with daily sick calls to the clinic and is on call over the weekend to support our patients during metabolic crises requiring hospitalizations. Her attention to detail and safety help mitigate risks and adverse outcomes for patients in metabolic crises. Lanie has special interests in developing a Phenylketonuria Center of Excellence here at Cook Children's and has taken the lead to spearhead this initiative. She continues to set the bar high for expectation of a metabolic dietician and is certainly living out the Cook Children’s promise daily in her work.

Whitney began to attend clinical meetings that were not previously part of her role. Specifically, as our team continues to implement the in room check out process, Whitney attends these bi-weekly meetings and works closely with the clinical team to help ensure we are prepared for our move into the Dodson building in April 2023. She is trusted and respected by our team and by our providers. We are very thankful to have Whitney as a part of our clinical team and the positive presence she portrays with our patient families!