Story by Stacy Maitha, BSN, RN | Director of Clinical Services at Interstaff
I first met Mildred in 2005, in a crowded maternity ward at a mission hospital in Kenya. I wasn’t a nurse yet. I was a first-time mother, far from the familiar comforts of the U.S., about to deliver my first child in a shared ward with ten other laboring women. Each bed was separated only by a curtain. My husband, Kenyan, and the only man in the room, sat beside me as we both watched the quiet choreography of compassion unfold around us.
Mildred was the nurse on duty. She was responsible for all ten of us. Ten women, all in various stages of labor, each with her own story, her own fears, her own pain. And Mildred, calm, unhurried, deeply competent, moved from bed to bed, offering skilled care and steady reassurance with a grace that defied the scarcity of her environment.
There was no infusion pump for my IV; Mildred counted the drips by hand. The fetal heart monitor was housed in a worn wooden box, its fabric belt frayed and overstretched from years of use. Still, she made it work. She adjusted, improvised, and delivered care that was both safe and compassionate.
When my labor progressed faster than expected, there was no time to fetch a doctor or move me to the separate delivery room. It was Mildred who delivered my healthy son, confidently, skillfully, and with the calm assurance of someone who has faced uncertainty before and met it with resolve.
That day, I didn’t just give birth to my first child. I also witnessed what nursing can look like at its most human and resilient.
The Thread Between Two Worlds
Fast forward to 2013. I had since returned to the United States and become a registered nurse myself. By 2016, I was managing an emergency department in a busy tertiary teaching hospital. The environment was as high-tech and high-stress as they come, with monitors at every bedside, electronic charting systems, rapid response teams, and the constant challenge of staffing shortages.
No matter how well-resourced we were, the problem was the same one echoed in hospitals across the country: there simply weren’t enough nurses.
I often found myself thinking about Mildred. In the middle of another short-staffed shift, or during one of those long nights when patient volumes spiked and morale dipped, I’d imagine what it would be like to have a nurse like her on my team. Someone with her composure, her adaptability, her instinct for patient care.
I knew she would need training, orientation to electronic documentation, exposure to new protocols, perhaps some additional clinical refinement, but I also knew this: you can teach skills, but you can’t teach heart. Mildred had it in abundance.
From Personal Experience to Shared Purpose
In 2020, I joined Interstaff, and everything came full circle.
Here was a company that understood exactly what I had seen and felt: that talent is universal, but opportunity is not. Across the world, there are thousands of skilled and compassionate nurses like Mildred, eager to grow, serve, and bring their gifts to new communities.
At Interstaff, we help make that possible. We support international nurses through every step of their migration and integration into the U.S. healthcare system, from visa sponsorship to cultural transition to professional training. But more than that, we help hospitals find their own “Mildreds”, nurses whose resilience and care can transform not just patient outcomes, but entire teams.
Why Global Nursing Partnerships Matter
Every hospital leader today knows the challenge of nurse staffing. Vacancies persist. Burnout rates climb. The demand for experienced and dependable nurses continues to outpace the supply. However, there’s a global story behind those numbers —a story of untapped potential and shared humanity.
Around the world, there are nurses who have honed their skills in resource-limited environments, learning to innovate under pressure and carrying an unshakable commitment to patient care. These are not just capable clinicians; they are the kind of professionals who lift entire units.
When hospitals partner with Interstaff, they aren’t just filling staffing gaps. They’re building bridges to communities of skilled nurses ready to contribute meaningfully, to patients who benefit from consistent and compassionate care, and to teams that rediscover what collaboration feels like when every member is fully engaged and supported.
Our process is intentional. We don’t just recruit. We prepare.
Through structured clinical transition programs, cultural and communication readiness, and ongoing support even after placement, we ensure that international nurses thrive in their new environments and that hospitals experience true workforce stability, not temporary relief.
The Heart of Our Mission
When I think about the work we do at Interstaff, I still think of that day in Kijabe. Of Mildred counting IV drips by hand, checking fetal heart tones with a monitor held together by determination and tape, staying steady as life arrived in her hands.
Her story is not unique. Every day, we meet nurses who share that same spirit. They have cared for patients through power outages, pandemics, and shortages of everything except compassion. They are adaptable, skilled, and profoundly committed to the people they serve.
These are the nurses we bring to U.S. hospitals, the ones who will stand beside your teams, not just as staff, but as partners in care.
And that’s what Interstaff is all about: connecting talent with opportunity, hospitals with hope, and patients with the nurses who never stop showing up.
A Personal Invitation
When I look back on my journey, from being a patient in Kenya to becoming a nurse leader in the U.S., and now helping international nurses start their own American stories, I see a single thread of connection. It’s the belief that excellence in nursing isn’t bound by geography. It’s nurtured by opportunity, mentorship, and a shared calling to serve others.
If you’re a hospital leader wondering how to strengthen your workforce, I invite you to imagine what your own version of Mildred could bring to your team. Imagine the stability, the renewal, and the reminder of what drew all of us into healthcare in the first place.
At Interstaff, we don’t just recruit nurses; we build partnerships that restore balance to healthcare systems and support hospital teams. Because every Mildred deserves a place where her skill and spirit can shine, and every hospital deserves the kind of nurse who makes that possible.
Ready to meet your next Mildred?
Let’s start the conversation.
Visit www.interstaffinc.com or connect with us to discover how global nurse partnerships can enhance your team and improve patient care.
