2024 Health Care Champions Health Care Professional: Ashley Wilson

When pediatric patients and their families are overwhelmed in the health care environment, sometimes it can cause trauma, developmental regression and future health challenges.

Ashley Wilson’s job is to intervene and help minimize the negative impacts of hospitalization through education, providing emotional support, meeting the patient on their level and normalizing the environment, she says.

“My overall goal is to promote a positive experience that will set the child and family up for success in future health care encounters and protect the child’s emotional well-being for years to come,” Wilson says.

She says children are not just small adults, but individuals with specific needs. Besides helping the children, she notes it takes additional advocacy to help the family know they are not alone and to help them feel a sense of control.

In addition to serving as a child life specialist, Wilson is the manager for the other child life specialists at Mercy Hospital Springfield.

“Through this supervision, I work with my team identifying areas of opportunity to partner together with the interdisciplinary team and educate staff on pediatric stressors, child development and best practices,” she says.

One of the biggest challenges she says that child life specialists face is helping patients and families who are experiencing end of life care.

“I remember I was able to help one family who was experiencing the death of a child by providing suggestions on how to explain death and facilitating a bedside visit for the surviving children as requested,” Wilson says. “I also provided resources to support the family unit after hospitalization and created tangible bereavement mementos.”

From a young age, she knew she wanted to work in health care, but until she was a teen, she didn’t know about the child life profession.

“When I told a mentor that I had found this chosen field, a field that was unheard of by most people with whom I came into contact, her response seemed to understand my heart’s desire, ‘So, you want to make people feel better?’ she said,” Wilson recalls. “And she was right. It is my belief that in my role, I have the opportunity to help children and families, oftentimes in one of the scariest moments of their lives, feel better.”

Outside of helping children at the hospital, she has held a membership with the Association of Child Life Professionals since 2009, which has helped her to stay informed and connected with others on issues in her field, as well as continue to develop her skills for herself and enhance the care her team at Mercy provides.

She is a native of Springfield and has always taken pride in the community, including when she received the Girl Scout Gold Award as a young person herself.

As she grew into an adult, her love of serving the community never ceased.

“In my adult life, I have found joy in participating in community events which bring safety awareness and resources for children,” Wilson says. “I enjoy opportunities to serve in these ways with my family and co-workers.”