The WellSpan Spotlight

Patient stories

Once upon a time in York: Volunteers read books to NICU babies

2025_INET_WS York NICU baby reader volunteer Tim Wilson 1

Tim Wilson carefully picks up the tiny baby and snuggles her in his arms.

“Oh, aren’t you the cutest thing?” the 77-year-old retired Marine colonel says quietly, as he rocks baby Elena McEvoy in a chair at the WellSpan York Hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), which cares for premature and critically ill babies until they are strong enough to go home with their families.

As monitors beep, babies fuss and nurses move throughout the unit, Tim settles in to read “I Love You to the Moon and Back” to Elena, a 4-pound, 10-ounce baby swaddled in a fleece sleep sack.

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Volunteer Tim Wilson reads to baby Elena McEvoy.

Tim is among a group of specially trained volunteers who read to NICU babies using books supplied by a program called “Nora’s Pinwheels and Pages,” which provides a free book to babies each month they are in the NICU. The program was started in memory of Nora Gene Sharp, who started her life in the NICU and is the late daughter of NICU nurse Carissa Sharp and her husband, Chip. The Sharps provide the first two books to babies on their own, with the NICU reading program providing the others.

Supported by the WellSpan York Health Foundation as well as community fundraising, the program has distributed more than 1,300 books to NICU babies since its inception in 2019.

Research shows that reading, talking and singing to infants enhances their brain development and has a positive effect on their language, vocabulary, listening and memory skills, as well as their social and emotional development. In fact, the single strongest predictor of children’s academic success is the quality and quantity of words spoken to them in the first three years of their lives.

NICU graduates go on to receive other books through the Reach Out and Read initiative, which distributed more than 6,700 books to patients of WellSpan pediatric practices across the region last year. The program is part of our Spotlight on Children’s Health program.

Tim, a grandpa of seven and a York resident, never seems to run out of conversation topics when he is holding a baby. He has read this chunky, rhyming board book so many times that he has it memorized but he is in the moment as he talks about baby bear and mama bear, describes the northern lights depicted in the book or tells the baby how much he or she is loved.

His impact is so great that his nickname is “The Baby Whisperer” in the unit.

“I just like talking to these babies,” he says, his face beaming. “I say, ‘Would you like a story?’ It’s very calming to them, someone talking to them and hearing friendly voices. I tell them how pretty or handsome they are, how they are going to grow up to be big people.”

Like Tim, all of the NICU readers are also volunteer “cuddlers,” who hold babies in the NICU. In addition to his NICU duties, Tim volunteers in the WellSpan York Hospital pediatric unit.

“This is my relaxing time and the way I can give to others,” he says of his weekly Thursday evening session in the NICU. “There’s nothing better than holding a baby. That is the best!”

Parents of babies and the NICU team all appreciate the books from the program and the attention from Tim and the other volunteer readers and cuddlers.

“Babies can be here for five or six months,” says Wendy Hawse, a nurse and NICU clinical coordinator. “They need to be held and read to and receive the stimulation. The babies truly benefit from this reading program.”

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Tim reads to Alice Toomey, held by her mom, Rachell.

Rachell and Ronald Toomey of Dover have twins in the unit: Alice and Ronald, who each weighed just a little over 1 pound when they were born. The couple visits their babies every day and have supplemented the NICU-donated books with their own collection, kept in a container near their babies’ cribs.

Rachell holds Alice as Tim reads to the baby, everyone enjoying the experience.

“I work in education, so I know reading and literacy is very important,” says Rachell, a cyber school career experience manager. “The babies love it. Their eyes are wide open, and they are looking around when they hear a story. I love the reading program.”

Nikki McEvoy of York smiles as she watches Tim read to her daughter, who snoozes contentedly as Tim’s voice gently rises and falls as he turns the pages.

“I think it’s great,” she says.

You can help support Nora’s Pinwheels and Pages by going here. Choose the NICU Fund in the designation drop-down menu, and type “NICU reading program” in the comments box.