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Week of July 15, 2024

Now, while many of us saw departments working together, making sure the needs of our patients and their families were attended to – I wanted to share a story with you all about six superheroes I’m forever indebted to. Not only did their quick thinking and bravery save our hospital, they saved lives.

Last Tuesday morning, around 5:20 a.m., a fire alarm went off inside our hospital. At the same time, our internet was down and phone lines were impossible. When that fire alarm went off, several members of our facilities team waited for the overhead page to hear where the fire was. But for a quicker location, they ended up running to the fire panel to locate the smoke. They ran and figured out the fire was in the heart of our building, in the main pump room/central plant – where all of our generators are located. They saw heavy smoke, but no fire. Then one of them saw roof material dripping on one of the generators. Adolph Garcia stayed in the pump room while facilities manager Jibin Varghese ran onto the roof with Leo Bejarano, Rick Nanez and Fred Kelly. It was pitch black but they had two flashlights. Seconds later, they found the fire. They doubled back to grab fire extinguishers, which just happened to be positioned nearby because of a recent roofing project. They took turns using extinguisher after extinguisher to fight flames in two different places – running back and forth on the roof to get more fire extinguishers placed at various locations. During their efforts, another man who saw smoke joined them on the roof – Zach Delago from our construction team. All the while, Adolph was searching for cell signal to call 911. Eventually he got through and 20 minutes later, help arrived. After venting our roof and showering the building with water, the threat was gone.

There was a moment as your CEO when I was wondering if we were going to evacuate our hospital because the fire was so close to our generators – which we were relying on. But thanks to the heroic efforts of Adolph, Jibin, Leo, Rick, Fred and Zach – our hospital survived and all of our patients and employees remained safe. If you see these guys, tell them thank you.

One final thought this week – the deadline for the Culture of Safety Awards is this Friday, July 19. Be sure to click here and nominate the colleagues you feel have gone above and beyond to ensure our safety and the safety of our patients. We have so many heroes on our campus who have stepped up in challenging times. Please take a moment to recognize them.

With my sincere appreciation, have a great week.

Michael Garcia
Chief Executive Officer
Houston Methodist Sugar Land

RESOURCES FOR EMPLOYEES IMPACTED BY STORM

Houston Methodist offers a number of resources for employees who need help and can be accessed by visiting this page.

Back-up Care
If your regular child care arrangements fall through, you can access a national network of high-quality, back-up care solutions for your children (and adult/elderly family members). Using Bright Horizons back-up care can be very helpful if your child care center is closed, your regular caregiver is sick or you are transitioning between care arrangements. Click here for more information or call 877.242.2737.

Salary Loans
Houston Methodist has two programs that can help if you have a financial emergency and need to access your upcoming paycheck early. Click here for more information. You could be eligible for a salary loan of up to $1,500. DailyPay allows you to get up to 50% of what you already have earned this pay period.

Employees Helping Employees Financial Grant 
If you suffered a financial loss from the storm, you can apply for help through the Houston Methodist Employees Helping Employees program. Applying for a financial grant takes a few minutes, and you could be approved for grants of up to $1,000. Click here to apply. Responses to applications will be sent to your preferred email address within five business days. You can expect to receive the Employees Helping Employees financial grant funds within seven to 10 business days if approved.

To make a donation to Employees Helping Employees go to MARS > Payroll and Compensation > Voluntary Deductions > Add Voluntary Deduction.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

• 10 free counseling sessions per issue through our EAP vendor, LifeMatters
• Counseling for a variety of issues (e.g., depression, anxiety, relationships, grief, elder care, divorce)
• Free for all HM employees and immediate family members 24/7
• Call 800.634.6433 or text HELLO to 61295
• LifeMatters website (access code HM1)

LifeMatters also has provided helpful flyers about rebuilding after a disaster and managing emotions after a disaster. For information about other mental health resources, text “help me” to 45991.

Culture of Safety Awards - Deadline Extended

Houston Methodist is committed to delivering the highest quality care in the safest environments possible, all while providing an unparalleled experience. Thanks to you, we achieve this by vigorously upholding a strong culture of safety. To recognize your efforts, the System Quality and Patient Safety nomination committee is accepting nominations for the Culture of Safety Awards. Please submit nominations by the new deadline, July 19, 2024. Awardees will be notified on September 20, 2024. For nomination and judging instructions, please click the link here.

Win Houston Astros Tickets

At Houston Methodist, we greatly appreciate all you do. To say thanks, we’re having one of our largest ticket giveaways ever! The Houston Astros have been on a roll lately, and we’re giving employees a chance to win upper deck tickets to watch the team on July 30.

To enter, fill out this form. It’s a family affair because it’s Dollar Dog night, and you can bring up to three guests with you. When you fill out the form, select the number of tickets you want (up to four per winner). Please note that an employee must attend the game to use the tickets.

We will give out 5,000 tickets for employees to enjoy an evening at Minute Maid Park as the Houston Astros take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. But hurry! The contest ends at 11:59 a.m. on Friday, July 19. Winners will be chosen randomly. The contest is open to all current Houston Methodist employees, excluding physicians and executives. Click here for a list of rules, including eligibility.

Scholarship Opportunities

Applications are open for both nursing and non-nursing scholarships. We want you to have the opportunity to pursue further education and training.  The eligibility requirements are the same:

• Be employed with HMSL for at least 6 months
• Be accepted into an accredited program related to your desired profession
• Have a 3.0 GPA or higher
• Be in good standing with your department/unit

The deadline to apply for both scholarships is July 19. Part-time students can receive up to $6,000 and full-time students up to $12,000 in scholarship funds for the school year.

Required Module for All Employees

A reminder: HM has launched a new Learning Management System (LMS) module titled "Bariatric Sensitivity to Weight Discrimination.” This module is a critical component of our Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program and is required for all employees across our hospitals. The module should take approximately 30 minutes and you must complete it by Friday, August 23.

New Way to Access MARS and LaborWorkx on myHR

New buttons are now available on the home page of myHR to help you get to LaborWorkx and MARS more easily. The buttons are below the main tiles, as shown in the picture below.

IMPORTANT DATES

JUST FOR FUN DATES

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”
- Amanda Gorman

Join The HMSL-CEO Corner Facebook Page

If you are an HMSL employee, you can join the employee-only Facebook page. Join us as we celebrate promotions, graduations, hospital events and more! Click here to join the fun.