These nurses grew up together, then reconnected when each accepted a job in Riley’s NICU within a month of each other.
By Maureen Gilmer, Riley Children’s Health senior writer, mgilmer1@iuhealth.org
“I think the younger versions of us would be so proud and amazed at the things we’ve been able to do.”
That’s Teresa Starnes talking about the bond she shares with good friend Lucy Chandler as the two prepare for their overnight shift in the NICU at Riley Hospital for Children.
Starnes and Chandler, friends since childhood, lost touch for a few years but reconnected in person when each accepted a nursing job in the NICU in early 2021, in the thick of COVID.
They and their fellow nurses might have been wearing masks in those early days, but the friends truly saw each other – not as little girls anymore but as teammates working to save tiny lives.
Their moms, also longtime friends and softball teammates in high school, brought their families to the same church and couldn’t be happier to see their girls flourishing.
“They busted out the scrapbooks quick,” Chandler said, giggling over the precious photos taken of them as kids.
The two younger women picked up where they left off as children, trusting in each other’s skills and compassion as nurses in a critical care setting.
“I have wanted to be a nurse since I was 8 years old,” said Chandler, who earned her nursing degree from Marian University. “And I wanted to be a baby nurse, so I knew I wanted to be at Riley.”
She remembers getting a toy doctor kit for Christmas one year, and she put it to good use when her mom was pregnant with her brother.
“She said I would do regular checkups on the baby every day.”
Riley is precious to her, she said, because her little sister was a Riley kid. She never forgot the awe she felt watching the nurses care for her sister.
“Watching them, I thought, ‘I want to be like that.’”
Starnes knew she wanted to be a nurse when she was in high school, and she went to Ball State University to follow that dream. But a NICU nurse? Never.
“If you would have told me that I would end up in a NICU, I would have laughed,” she said. “When I used to babysit, I would call my parents to change the diapers.”
After working as a tech on an adult COVID ICU in 2020, Starnes knew she liked the critical care atmosphere – the fast pace, the critical thinking skills – but she also decided treating adults wasn’t her passion. So she considered the critical care units at Riley – PICU, CVICU and NICU – and was drawn to the NICU.
The two friends learned quickly, rotating between day and night shifts, before deciding to stay on nights. In the four-plus years that they have worked alongside each other, Chandler has taken on the role of clinical advisor on the unit, supporting other nurses, while Starnes recently finished her training as a nurse practitioner.
“Lucy and I both care for some of the sickest babies in Indiana, working together to stabilize them and help them thrive,” Starnes said, recalling how the two of them each cared for a baby in adjacent NICU rooms early in their nursing careers at Riley.
“Seeing them now, those babies are both big sisters now, and they have so much personality. They’re doing good, so that’s been fun to see.”
When the two work the same shift, they often take lunch breaks together, and they’ve established a little ritual in the break room at 5 a.m. It’s the hot cocoa club, and it’s been a closely guarded secret (not really). But now the secret is out, and membership is open.
The two nurses, who were part of each other’s weddings, threw work bridal showers for the other and like that they can talk to each other when they’ve had rough days at work.
“It’s been great to have Lucy back in my life. She’s not just my co-worker, she’s my friend. She knows me,” Starnes said. “It helps when processing tough nights and also celebrating victories.”
Working side by side, night after night, has been a dream, both say. And to do it at Riley means the world.
“We have patients who come to us from all over the state,” Starnes said. “And we get to see miracles every day, truly.”
Photos submitted and by Mike Dickbernd, IU Health visual journalist, mdickbernd@iuhealth.org
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