Cook Children’s Health Care System general media guidelines

• All contact by the media must be made through the Cook Children’s Health Care System Media Relations department (see contacts listed below).
• Authorization is required for videotaping, photographing and/or interviewing patients or employees in the medical center. The Media Relations team will work with the media to obtain permission on a case-by-case basis.
• A member of the Media Relations team must escort the media while on campus at all times.
• Reporters are asked to please refer to us as Cook Children’s (NEVER Cook’s or Cook’s Hospital)

Condition reports

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) states that a parent or guardian must give permission, in writing, to release information about his or her hospitalized child. Once written consent has been established, the following guidelines apply:

• Requests for condition updates require media to provide the patient’s full name and age
• The information released will be limited to a one-word condition:
• GOOD -- Vital signs (respiration, pulse, temperature) within normal limits and stable; patient is conscious, comfortable; indicators excellent.
• FAIR -- Vital signs may be unstable, not within normal limits. Patient may be unconscious; indicators favorable.
• SERIOUS -- Vital signs may be unstable and not within normal limits, patient acutely ill; indicators not favorable.
• CRITICAL -- Vital signs may be unstable and not within normal limits, patients may not be conscious; indicators not favorable.
• UNCONSCIOUS -- Patient was unconscious upon arrival.
• DECEASED -- Coroners, medical examiners or law enforcement officials are the best sources of information about deaths. Death is usually public record and may be announced after next-of-kin have been notified or after a reasonable time.

Special cases

• Patient information related to chemical dependency, alleged abuse, attempted suicide or psychiatric cases will never be provided. Nor will the hospital comment on circumstances leading to a patient’s hospitalization.
• Information on situations involved in litigation will not be released.
• Law enforcement officials, Child Protective Services and parents or guardians may ask that no information be released about a child. Cook Children's officials cannot confirm or deny that a no-info patient is located at our facility, nor can we provide condition reports. In these cases, we work closely with CPS and public officials to be as cooperative as possible.
• When a patient (or his/her parent or guardian) is a celebrity or prominent person, media relations representatives will issue periodic statements in cooperation with the patient's family, physician and nursing/clinical staff.
• No information is available about former patients without written permission from a parent or guardian.

Photography/videotaping

• Cook Children's patients at medical center events who have consented to be photographed will wear a green badge
• Children who have red badges or no badges cannot be photographed
• During live shots, please position live trucks and cameras on the west side of the medical center at 7th and Cooper. A representative from Cook Children’s will most likely be nearby for live shots. The exception will be night time live shots; however, Cook Children’s security will be notified of the media’s arrival.
• Cook Children’s and Harris Methodist Hospital own 6th Street between Pruitt and Terrell (where the emergency entrance is located), that also includes the sidewalk. No photography should be taken on that street unless you have permission.

Contacting Cook Children's Media Relations

The media relations team at Cook Children’s Health Care System is dedicated to the media and is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For patient information, interview requests or any other questions, media should call or e-mail the media relations staff:

Kristin Peaks
Media Relations Specialist
Phone: (682) 885-1080
E-mail: k-peaks@cookchildrens.org

Winifred King
Director, Media Relations
Phone: (682) 885-4107
E-mail: w-king@cookchildrens.org