Disaster Recovery in Action
Early this week, we activated our Ride Out protocols as part of our Disaster Recovery efforts. Nearly 100 IT team members reported to duty to assist with the after-effects of Hurricane Laura. Fortunately, many were able to work remotely or for shorter time frames than initially expected.
Thank you to the Ride Out team for your commitment and dedication during these difficult times.
Being properly prepared during a disaster is critical to
ensuring the safety of our patients and our hospital.
More than 40 team members spent last Saturday at Holly Hall as part of our Tier 0 Disaster Recovery Drill.
Some valuable lessons were learned, and a decision was made to run the drill again on Saturday, Sept. 26.
These drills are essential to ensuring we’re ready and capable of withstanding any disruption. If you were a part of this drill, thank you for your commitment and support.
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“I would like to thank everyone for your teamwork, collaboration, readiness and communication during the preparation for Hurricane Laura! This was my first emergency event at Houston Methodist. I was honored to have been a part of the Ride Out team with you. Some logged on remotely, others arrived at their designated hospitals and some even traveled to other locations, but together we were ready to take on this storm. I’m really proud to be a part of this team.”
– Jim Francis
Vice President Technology and Shared Services
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Thank You!!
COVID-19 propelled each of us to make rapid changes. Whether it meant implementing new digital strategies, putting projects on hold while putting other projects into overdrive, stepping up to help with labor pool – or all of the above – there isn’t anyone in our IT division who hasn’t put in extra hours and shifted project demands due to COVID-19. And when we were called to help with the labor pool, nearly 100 IT division employees stepped up to the plate and participated in 126 shifts across HM resulting in over 1,000 hours of labor.
Thank you for all your extra efforts and for everything you do for our patients and Houston Methodist.
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Safety in Our Building
Our IT offices are open to employees who want to work on-site. If you are working from one of our locations, please follow these safety protocols:
- Wear a mask and maintain a minimum of six feet social distance in any conference room or closed office. Capacity signs are posted outside each conference room.
- Only use disposable, one-time use cups provided for you at water coolers/coffee stations to reduce cross-contamination.
- You must wear your mask properly when you walk outside of your workstation or office. See details below.
- You do not need to wear a mask if you are seated at your workstation or office.
- Lunch tables and workstations are restricted to single occupancy. Look for signs on maximum capacity.
- You must use hand sanitizer before and after using a copy machine or opening/closing shared areas, like cabinets. Additional hand sanitizers have been added to copy rooms.
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Do Not Enter into Individual Agreements or Set Up Accounts
You should not enter into individual agreements or set up accounts with software programs or systems like SurveyMonkey, SignUpGenius, Constant Contact, Mail Chimp and Kahoot, to name a few, unless it has been approved by our legal counsel and IT. Entering into these agreements puts our HM data at risk. If you aren’t sure if a software/system is approved, reach out to the IT Help Desk to confirm.
If you need to develop a survey or quiz, take advantage of our Office 365 subscription and use Microsoft Forms. To access Forms, go to the Microsoft Office Portal and sign in with your HM email. Once logged in, you will see options to create a survey/quiz. You can easily send it out with a hyperlink automatically created for you, and it provides easy-to-read analytics, too.
Click here for instructions on using Microsoft Forms.
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Go to LMS Success Factors to See HM Organizational Charts
Did you know you can look up HM organizational charts within LMS Success Factors? Get a better feel for where you and your team fits within the big picture of our IT division and within HM.
From LMS Success Factors, scroll down until you see a tile called Org Chart. Click it to see your organizational chart and click ^ Up One Level to view more.
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IT Support On-site
Meet Amon Baradar who is our new IT desktop support for Bellaire. Amon is on-site weekly on Thursdays. For assistance, please submit a ticket.
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To help us better communicate with each other, an Outlook distribution list and Microsoft Teams channel was created for Bellaire. Look for future communications from Teams channel, HMH-IT-Bellaire Place, or from [email protected].
If you have a new hire who will work out of Bellaire office in the future, or you were not added to this Teams channel, please send updates to Dixie Paulson.
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IT NEO Held Virtually
IT New Employee Orientation (NEO) took place virtually on Microsoft Teams on June 22, with 15 participants. The new employees shared some great feedback and were happy to be able to participate despite social distancing restrictions. Feedback showed they particularly liked the discussion with IT senior leadership, the virtual ice breakers and the pizza delivered to their homes for lunch.
The next IT NEO is tentatively planned for late Q4 2020. Managers/Directors – please notify Marcella Fewox if you have a new hire who should attend.
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Distribution Lists
Attention managers and directors: Be sure your team members are on the Everyone-IT distribution list and any other appropriate distribution lists, e.g. IT-Bellaire, Everyone-HH, in Outlook. Updates should be sent to the IT Help Desk. Please review the lists and add any team members who may be missing so they are aware of IT news and events.
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Human Resources Updates
Click here to download the August staff presentation. Communicating with your staff, especially during this time when many are working remotely, is an important part of employee engagement and retention. Use this opportunity to host video team meetings and have two-way conversations with your team.
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Wear Your Mask Properly
For your mask to work effectively, be sure to wear it correctly. Masks should:
- Cover both your nose and mouth.
- Remain secure at both the bridge of your nose and under your chin.
- Fit snug to your face but doesn't limit your ability to breathe.
Avoid touching your mask while wearing it and if you do, wash your hands. Avoid letting it drape around your neck or resting on top of your forehead.
Lastly, don't wear a face mask if you have trouble breathing, and don't put a mask on a child under the age of 2 or a person who is unable to remove a mask without assistance.
Click here for the HM article, “6 Questions You May Have About Cloth Face Masks, Answered.”
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Epic exams are now proctored remotely through the third party vendor, Examity. When scheduling Epic exams, select Online Proctoring Services instead of Arranged with Proctor or By Epic.
Important things to note regarding this new change:
- The following proctoring fees will be invoiced monthly and billed to your department’s cost center:
- $15 for exams with a 1-hour time limit
- $19.25 for exams with a time limit greater than 1 hour.
- Before the exam, you must provide the cost center that needs to be billed.
- Dual monitors are not allowed.
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Be sure to follow all Epic requirements when taking an exam. Click here for the Epic exam manual.
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Congratulations on Your Certification!
Congratulations to the following field operations lead techs who earned the Microsoft Modern Desktop Expert (MCSE) Certification: Terrial Boston, Mark Easow, Caesar Garcia, Ernest Lee, Lien Nguyen and Andres Vela.
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IT Analytics Team
Adopts-A-Unit
The IT Analytics team has adopted the Main 4 unit at HMH to show their appreciation, gratitude and encouragement to all our front-line heroes.
Each week, IT Analytics shows their support with things like BRAVO notes, a video message and delivery of special gifts or meals. Great job to the team for taking on this thoughtful effort!
Click here for a view of a video message they sent.
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Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Lunch
Chick-Fil-A andwiches were delivered to employees across HM hospitals as an appreciation for all the hard work everyone has been doing over the past months. Here are a just few of our heroes working at Holly Hall who received the thank you lunch. Thanks everyone for all that you are doing!
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Send your team achievements to IT-Comms.
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Congratulations to all our June and July honorees
Our June 2020 Cheers for Peers winner is Caesar Garcia. “Caesar, just wanted to drop you a note to say THANK YOU for the quick response and willingness to go above and beyond in helping us with our Go Live scanning/printing issue with the new Enterprise Health system! Thanks again!” – Morris. For a full list of June honorees, click here.
Our July 2020 Cheers for Peers winner is Mustafa Alsabbagh. Cara Dean shared this message with Mustafa, " Thank you so much for taking care of an emergency firewall change, especially on such short notice. The update allowed a provider to connect with a proctor via medical device during his surgical cases. Thanks to you, the physician was able to complete 3 surgeries on Monday that he would not have otherwise been able to perform. We do our best to plan and prioritize our work, however COVID has caused situations where we need to adapt quickly and sometimes these urgent requests sneak in the back door. I want to recognize you for taking time out of your evening to accommodate. Your experience, knowledge, positive attitude and pleasant disposition are true assets to this organization and your work is greatly appreciated! Thank you for all you do!” For a full list of July honorees, click here.
To nominate a colleague for Cheers for Peers, submit a BRAVO eCard in MARS.
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Kindling Noelle Coffey
May 5, 2020
Daniel Coffey's baby
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Daisy Lee
New Employee
Sr. Application Analyst
IT Lab
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Dr. Weinfei Wei
New Employee
Pharmacy Informatics Resident
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Krissy Mascaro (soon to be Krissy Scott)
married Mike Scott on Aug. 7, 2020
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Send IT-Comms your marriage, birth, new team announcements or other great news you want to share! |
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IT MATTERS
IT MATTERS is our weekly IT-focused e-newsletter that is sent to all HM employees. Send your news and story ideas regarding system enhancements, workflow changes, new tools/resources, upcoming downtimes and general technical reminders to IT-Comms.
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Ways to Reach IT
IT Help Desk, 832.667.5600
Physician Help Desk, 832.667.5555
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