From NICU Baby to Compassionate Nurse

Ashley Moore weighed less than two pounds when she was born in 1991. She stayed in our neonatal intensive care unit for 2 months. “My family members would tell me later that I was so small, I could fit in the palms of their hands,” she says. “As a premature baby, I survived because I was in the NICU at Children’s National Hospital. Since then, I have always wanted to help others, like the hospital staff helped me.”

Today, Ashley serves as a nurse at Children’s National. Her boss, chief nursing officer Linda Talley, is one of the nurses who cared for her in the NICU. Ashley cares for children with conditions such as jaundice, asthma and pneumonia in our 4 Main Medical Unit. “I love our patients,” Ashley says. “I get to connect with them and learn about their lives. You feel like family here because everyone gets to truly know the team.”

Ashley believes in the power of parents. “I always involve them and guide them so they know that they make a difference in their child’s care,” says Ashley, who also believes empathy and compassion are critical parts of care.

“I see a lot of sick babies,” she says. “I always think about how I’d want my own child to be treated. When I use that as my compass, I know I’m doing the right thing. In pediatrics, you can save not only a life, but a life time. I’m living proof of that.”