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After nearly losing her life in a head-on car collision, Ashley Steele says of her care team at UVA Health: “They were right there alongside me — willing to go as far as I was!"

This is the latest installment in our Connect article series “Hope at Work” — showcasing inspiring stories about how our team members contribute to UVA Health’s 10-year strategic plan: “One Future Together Health and Hope for All.” No matter where you work, you have an opportunity to inspire hope in others. These stories show how:

Ashley Steele, RN, grew up as an introvert — with an older and a younger brother as her best friends — in Free Union, Virginia, a dozen miles north of Charlottesville. Their mom, who Ashley says has dyslexia and prioritized reading, often took her daughter to the library. Ashley developed a strong ability to comprehend and engage with books. She'd always dreamed of becoming a nurse and became fascinated with books on healthcare — from Western to Eastern medicine.

After high school, Ashley moved to Charlottesville and took a few classes at a time at Piedmont Virginia Community College — scoring especially well in chemistry. She juggled PVCC with working full-time as a barista, shift manager, and training leader at Mudhouse Specialty Coffee Roasters downtown.

Fate Intervenes — a Few Times

Ashley became a certified nursing assistant (CNA) and in 2017, joined UVA Health University Medical Center 3 East. She had to stop attending PVCC, because she had to get more jobs to afford rent in Charlottesville, while also trying to save money for a car. Then in late 2018, Ashley stopped working at UVA Health, hoping to return to PVCC full-time.

But once again, fate intervened, this time, taking a horrific turn. In early 2019, Ashley nearly lost her life in a multi-vehicle accident on I-64. She says a vehicle being driven in the wrong direction on the major highway, ended up in a head-on collision with her car.

First responders used the “jaws of life” hydraulic rescue tool to extricate Ashley from the wreckage. She was airlifted to UVA Health University Medical Center’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and put into a medically-induced coma. Coincidentally, Ashley’s sister-in-law, Andrea Steele, a surgical support technician (whom Ashley refers to proudly as the “spine of the spinal team”), was working. The situation looked so dire, Andrea was asked to gather the rest of Ashley’s family.

Ashley was taken out of the coma. But she couldn’t communicate and panicked because she didn’t recognize her surroundings — after all, she wasn’t on 3 East where she’d worked and had bonded with team members. Former colleagues rushed to her side to tell her where she was. Thankfully, she recognized her former team members.

Ashley was moved to the Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit (5 West). “They managed my pain so well, and my interactions with the nurses there were so uplifting, positive, encouraging,” she recalls. “They laughed a lot — making me not feel like a patient — rather, making me feel very humanized the whole time. I wasn’t aware of my clinical output — whether I would be able to walk again, use my hand again, or how permanent my mental and cognitive deficits were or weren’t.”

The Power of Words

Ashley says her experience taught her to be very careful when talking to her own patients — to realize how influential words can be on their total outcomes. “When patients are in such a critical state, they’re so vulnerable. We’re treating them with medicine and therapy, but we’re also treating the whole person, so we have to be mindful of how we interact, engage, speak,” she explains.

Ashley says she didn’t give up — because the UVA Health nurses and the rest of the team members didn’t give up on her. “They were right there alongside me, willing to go as far as I was!”

After being medically stabilized, Ashley was transferred to UVA Health Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital. Upon her discharge from Encompass, she was hosted by a member of her local church at the time, Trinity, who had a wheelchair accessible home and bathroom, until Ashley was accepted into the Wilson Workforce Rehabilitation Center. For six months there, she underwent physical therapy four to six hours a day, five days a week — and speech therapy for cognitive delay. “Sometimes, I still have trouble finding my words,” she explains.

Ashley was determined to continue taking classes at PVCC. But because of her traumatic brain injury (TBI), she had to “test back” to keep her credits. On weekends, she’d practice math problems. Ashley also underwent psychological therapy and occupational therapy, e.g., she wore a special brace on her hands to treat radial nerve palsy because she couldn’t raise her wrists against gravity. For someone who loves needlecrafts, crochet — it meant the world to her that the OT made her special wrist braces so she could continue her passions. Ashley could walk — but her mobility was still slow.

One of a Kind

In December 2020, Ashley was cleared to work as a CNA, part time, at night, at UVA Health University Medical Center 5 West — not quite as heavy a load, for a couple of months. She also tested to take prerequisites and finished what she needed to return to PVCC. Through the Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) Office for Disability Programs Brain Injury Services, Ashley received state general funds for community support services. That included education, independent living, and more until she could pay her own bills.

“Ashley was so inspired by her care at UVA Health, that once she recovered she decided to come work for us as a CNA. She advanced to a PCT and then decided to pursue nursing. Now, Ashley is a wonderful RN on our unit,” says Morgan Kaminski, MSN, RN, CMSRN, Nurse Manager (pictured above), 5 West Surgical Subspecialties and Trauma, Inpatient Wound, Ostomy, and Continence (WOC) Team. “I could go on and on about how engaged she is. Her bubbly personality is contagious. Her passion for caregiving and her optimistic outlook truly make her one of a kind!”

‘Calling Nurses vs. Career Nurses’

Ashley believes nursing is a calling. “In order to be a really thriving nurse and one who contributes more than just what’s expected — in order for nursing to grow — what sets UVA Health apart is that a lot of our nurses are ‘calling nurses vs. career nurses," she explains. "I think you need both, and UVA Health is great about hiring a balance and giving each nurse the directions and tools they need."

Ashley has applied for a 2024 Nursing Professional Governance Organization (NPGO) scholarship to help her earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing through the RN to BSN Online Program at UVA Wise. Eventually, she wants to teach clinicals because she loves guiding others. And as much as she loves being a bedside nurse, her own near-death encounter helped her find her niche: surgical nursing.

“Even as a patient, I kept asking questions,” Ashley remembers. “I was motivated, interested, and curious the whole time. I experienced the power of mental distraction for a patient — that keeping the patient’s mind occupied on something other than their circumstances keeps you in control and feeling like a human being.”

‘A Dream Come True’

She also wants others to get as much joy out of nursing as she does. “Nursing is a dream come true. The Lord is using the work of nursing to provide me with not only the opportunity, but the grace to fulfill the potential He predestined for me. I like the woman I’m becoming because nursing challenges my insecurities and character."

At NPGO's 2024 Nursing Excellence Awards during Nurses Week, Ashley was nominated for Beginning Practitioner of the Year.

Paying It Forward

It took Ashley ten years to achieve her goal of becoming a nurse. She doesn't want others "to have as long of a journey as I did." So she hopes to host a tech or nursing student at her home, to give them a break on rent, and to provide a safe space where they can be encouraged and find strength in their own nursing journey. “Having my faith mentors, John and Nadine McCarthy, my church families, DAR’s counselor Traci Topolosky (pictured on right with Ashley at NPGO's 2024 Nursing Excellence Awards), and my 5 West family is what made it possible for me to get through nursing school during the pandemic,” she says.

And more great news — from her alma mater: PVCC Educational Foundation received a gift to establish a scholarship in Ashley's name to support a future PVCC nursing student. Harry Stillerman, PVCC Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Development, told Ashley: “This gift is being made in recognition of the incredible care you provided earlier this year to one of your patients on 5 West."

“This is profoundly humbling because I struggled for so long to realize my dream,” Ashley reacts emotionally. “I finally finished at PVCC — not only did I have my way covered, but for someone else’s way to be covered now in my name — I’m speechless and totally shaken by this! I just can’t believe it. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!”