COVID-19 Update:Learn more about how we are protecting our patients, families and staff, as well as other important facts about COVID-19.
Our Nurses' Stories
Hear From Our Nurses
Our professional practice model centers around patients and families, but what does that mean in practice? Hear our nurses explain how they put children and families at the heart of everything we do.
Reginald Bannerman beams when he talks about the work of the nurses in the inpatient psychiatry unit. He’s proud to have helped foster a close-knit team that encourages patients through treatment, celebrates their every victory and advocates for awareness of mental health issues.
Megan Bellagamba was inspired to become a nurse after her twin nieces were born prematurely and she saw the great care they received during their early days in the NICU. She saves lives at the hospital and during her personal time as fellow patron at a restaurant in Virginia, Pam Weil, recounts.
Calvin Burke never planned on a nursing career. But today as a crisis nurse, he is a problem solver — he stabilizes trauma patients and safely transports complex, critically ill children.
She didn't have a medical degree, but when the young administrative assistant who started at Children's National right out of high school stepped into the position as coordinator for Children's National neonatal database, her world opened up.
As a primary care provider at Children's Health Center at Good Hope Road, Nadine Camp sees her role as keeping children at their best. "This includes not only their health, but also in their ability to succeed at school, relationships, and beyond," says Camp.
Cassandra "Sandy" Charity has kept compassion at the center of her work at Children's National Hospital for an incredible 40 years. She proudly cares for children when they come in for their scans and radiology appointments, helping them get comfortable with the MRI, CT and nuclear medicine machines.
Care that Colleen Iler provides in the heart transplant clinic includes shepherding patients through visits with doctors, social workers, psychologists, dieticians and pharmacists and sometimes, palliative care.
When Courtney M. Jones, RN, BSN, began her career in labor and delivery, she found herself drawn to teenage mothers. So when she moved to school nursing, she knew a high school was the place for her.
Meet Michelle O'Brien, RN, BSN, who feels a sense of purpose and meaning that makes her proud to be a nurse.
"His future depended on the transplant, and I knew I had to do something to help," school nurse Deborah Owens, LPN, says. Learn how Owens went on to educate a community and save one child's life through bone marrow transplantation.