By Kaley Johnson

Working from home can be isolating and it can be difficult to feel like a team without a shared office space. That’s why Kendra Allen, MHA, BSN, RN, CCM, Director of Utilization Management (UM), and the UM leadership team works hard to help Health Plan staff feel connected and appreciated even while they work remotely.

Kendra was a manager at Cook Children’s for three years prior to becoming the department Director in September 2023. She brought lessons from her previous role to her new department, made up of 60 employees.

Both clinical and non-clinical staff work remotely, and the group mostly communicates over Teams. In addition to daily team chats, Kendra created a system of regular meetings with interactive activities, and quarterly in-person team building options that helps keep everyone engaged with one another in a positive way.

Every week, each of the six teams has a “coffee talk” over Zoom. Coffee talk serves as an informal, video call for UM staff to talk about any issues, updates, or team goals in the workplace with their direct UM supervisor. The next day, Kendra meets with UM supervisors and managers to go over topics as needed.

The department has the traditional quarterly team meeting, but Kendra found that many times, discussion about important regulatory updates cannot wait until a new quarter. Instead, the UM leadership team will address any updates that involve workflow changes in its own meeting. This simplifies communication about the policy update and gives staff the opportunity to ask questions.

The UM Leadership plan team building exercises such as dinner, bowling, or a personality course. Even if only a few people attend an event, the invitation alone makes people feel appreciated. The supervisors and managers also attend a monthly, in-person activity, such as a trip to Top Golf or a lunch.

In a monthly newsletter to staff, Kendra includes something interactive for staff. For example, she might ask for “Two Truths and a Lie” or for people to send in pictures of good things that happened that week. This encourages people to connect on a personal level.

This hits on an important aspect of Kendra’s goal; she wants to create a culture where people are engaged, comfortable and connected. The Health Plan have worked together to create this kind of work community.

“They are friends outside of work and while working remotely. It’s great to see," Kendra said. “It’s possible to do it and be successful, but you have to get a little creative. Quarterly meetings alone won’t do it. I have learned that you have to keep actively trying to engage people.”  

Kendra continues to look for new and exciting ways to help her remote team feel connected and heard.

By Kaley Johnson

When Chrystal Bryant, RN, first became a labor and delivery nurse, she often wondered what happened to the parents and babies after they left the hospital. She wondered if the mothers were getting the support they needed, if the babies were healthy and if the family had access to needed resources.

Chrystal, who has been at Cook Children’s since 2017, knows from experience the importance of proper support before and after delivering a baby. She had her daughter at age 21, and as an ovarian cancer survivor, Chrystal had a high risk pregnancy. In her current role as Maternal Health Case Manager for Cook Children’s Health Plan, she is able to assess patients and their needs and get them the care and resources they need for a healthy pregnancy.

But she still wanted to do more.

Tarrant County has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Texas, according to Tarrant County Public Health data, and the second highest maternal mortality rate among Black women. In 2022, United Way of Tarrant County announced the launch of the Maternal Health Initiative, a community-based doula program to reduce maternal mortality rates, especially among women of color and low-income women. Cook Children’s partnered with United Way to create the doula certification program. Chrystal signed up for the program and, in November, she received her doula certification.

Doulas work with pregnant women one-on-one before, during and after delivery. They provide education, create a birthing plan and plan a recovery period. One of the most important aspects of doula care is following up with parents after the birth. Postpartum health issues can be fatal, but education around those risks is not always available.

“My primary goal is just to do what I can to assist families throughout the perinatal period and in the postpartum period, just to make sure that babies have a good start to life and the pregnant woman has the resources that she needs to have a safe and healthy pregnancy,” Chrystal said.

As a doula and a case manager at Cook Children’s, Chrystal serves as a liaison for parents and connects them with resources they might not know about. This assistance can be crucial during a pregnancy, especially for underserved communities and low-income parents. For some, Chrystal said, sometimes simply finding a ride to appointments can be a barrier to proper maternal care.

Through her role at Cook Children’s, and now as a certified doula, Chrystal is able to truly change lives. 

Chrystal said by far the best part of her job at Cook Children’s is when Health Plan members come back and tell her how much having her as a case manager helped them through their pregnancy journey. She hopes families continue to receive more community support in the future, especially in areas that have limited access to health care, education, and even reliable food sources. More early childhood education, outdoor spaces and reliable transportation are needed in places like 76104, a Tarrant County zip code that a 2019 study by UT Southwestern Medical Center found has the lowest life expectancy in Texas.

“That's part of why I did the doula certification,” she said, “because I could do my part in this space as far as rallying around the women who need my support during that period of time.”  

Kathy Schwab, Director of STAR/CHIP Service Coordination and Population Health, since 2021, said she is proud of Chrystal’s certification, especially since Chrystal pursued the program on her own. She said the doula program aligns with Cook Children’s new initiative to “have an eye for community health, not just children’s health.”

“And although child's health is part of what they do, we're looking at maternal health and parents’ health. And so this focus really gives us an added layer,” Kathy said.