Ashlee Trensey, NP - Memorial Hospital

About Ashlee Trensey

While Ashlee Trensey, Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, changed her exact specialty a few times, a career in medicine was what she always knew she wanted. “My mom is a nurse. She started with her LPN and finished her associates degree when I was in high school,” Ashlee says. “Seeing her advance her career really gave me a great role model to follow.”

Her first medical aspiration from a young age was to be a veterinarian. “Then the realization that people would be asking me to put their pets to sleep really turned me off from that path,” she says. During high school she thought about becoming a physician, but really wanted the hands-on compassionate care she saw in nurses. Then during a job shadow with a physician in Memorial Hospital’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit her junior year, her future was clear. “As soon as I decided nursing was my path, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to work in a NICU,” Ashlee says.

Following high school, she attended Southwestern Michigan College to earn her associate degree then completed her bachelor’s degree through Capella University. Her Master of Nursing Practice was earned at University of Missouri - Kansas City.

Her entire career has been spent at Beacon Children’s Hospital in South Bend. First she was a registered nurse and worked with other providers to care for patients in the level III NICU and served on the transport team. More recently, she has been a charge nurse, coordinating bed placement and nursing assignments in the 36-bed unit.

Even though her patients are small, they can make a 12-hour shift feel like you ran a marathon, she said. Though the years Ashlee has learned that something that may seem catastrophic in the moment, may end up being the best thing that could happen. “Also, it is ok to cry with a family when they are going through a terrible time,” she says.

In her own words…

Who is or was the most influential people/role models in your life?  My mom. I would not be the person I am today without her.  

What was your first job growing up? What do you remember about it?  I worked at Martin’s Super Markets my sophomore year of high school. I remember that giving away tea that was going to be dumped down the sink at the end of the night to the cute grocery boys was frowned upon. It was an unfortunate lesson to learn.

What is your favorite food? Movie?  Favorite food: I can never get enough sushi.  Favorite movie: Forrest Gump

What was your best/worst subjects in school growing up?  Best: Science, biology    Worst: History and geometry

If you could sit down to dinner with anyone (alive or deceased) who would it be and why?  My grandparents on my mom’s side. My grandpa died so unexpectedly alone in a hospital that it devastated me. I want to know if he was scared and be able to tell him goodbye. And my grandma, so I can tell her how much I miss her and how strong of a women I think she was.

In addition to medicine, what are you passionate about?  My family. Disney cruises.

What are your hobbies, interests?  Audiobooks, movies, Disney cruises!

Do you have pets?  I have an 8-year-old Golden Retriever named Sam, and a 1-year-old Newfoundland named Castiel.

What is something most people don’t know about you?  I love karaoke! I don’t even need “liquid courage” to go up and sing… But I will not sing without backup music, or when people ask me to sing them something.

Also, I have pretty significant social anxiety, but I think I hide it well from people who don’t know me.