Travel Nurse Finds Home
Story 132

As healthcare continues to evolve and we work to move past the pandemic, there is still a nationwide shortage of workers, creating challenges at hospitals across the entire country. Because of this, traveling nurses often join our team to help during times of need. Sometimes, a wonderful thing happens in this scenario: They join the Adventist Health team and the communities we serve.

For Angela Sanders, RN, Nurse Lead in Pre-op and PACU at Adventist Health Howard Memorial, this was the case. Angela began traveling to Howard Memorial in May 2021, took a few months off after her first assignment, and then returned in March 2022. “I decided to become a permanent part of the team in May, and I love it here,” she said.

As an ER and PACU nurse, Angela had been traveling since 2000 to many places, including California, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Florida, and Louisiana, completing a total of approximately 20 assignments since the year she began. Traveling for pleasure is one of Angela’s passions, she said, and being a traveling nurse allowed her to check some things off her bucket list. During her travels, she lived on a boat in San Diego, learned to ride a motorcycle in Arizona, and visited Roatán, an island in Honduras in the Caribbean.

Of all these destinations, Angela chose Adventist Health Howard Memorial and Willits, Calif., as a permanent one. “I have never worked at a place so welcoming,” she said. “I have worked at critical access hospitals before, and they have always been my favorite assignments, but Howard Memorial is by far my favorite.”

The spirit of the community impressed Angela as much as the hospital’s culture. “In our department, we see many patients who have been cared for here in the past, and it’s always nice to hear their positive stories,” she said. “The patients are so grateful, and they are very generous with their ‘thank-you’s’ to us.”

In Angela’s spare time, she is a mother of three and grandmother of eight. They all live in Texas, where she travels frequently to visit. She also enjoys cooking, experimenting with food, and riding her Harley Davidson.