Exceptional Care for Tristan's Family

A few months after Rob and Reece brought home four foster children under the age of 5, the youngest, 8-month-old Tristan, developed a high fever. 

“Children’s National Hospital was right down the street from where we lived,” says Reece. “We were new as parents, but we knew this was a trusted place that would have our child’s best interest at heart no matter the situation.”

Tristan was diagnosed with pneumonia and treated with antibiotics. Emergency department doctors and staff at Children’s National instructed Rob and Reece on what to watch for and sent them home later the same day. Tristan, now 12, recovered within a week.

The couple later adopted all four children. Rob says the thing he remembers most about Tristan’s pneumonia treatment was how the staff at Children’s National made him feel.

“We stuck out as two white dads to four African-American kids,” he says. “Staff at Children’s National were the first care providers that had not dismissed us as just ‘foster’ parents. To them, we were parents concerned about our son. And they never treated us differently because our child was on Medicaid. They treated us with respect and kindness and gave our family the best possible care. I will always think of Children’s National as the best hospital in the world.”