Meet Sara, Our Youngest ICU Nurse

A nurse in southern Iraq, Sara Khaled, smiles for a photo.

There aren’t a lot of 17 year-olds working in intensive care units. But for Sara, it was all she’d ever dreamed of. Now, two years later, she’s still the youngest person on “the unit” and loving her job more than ever. She hurries around the ICU, checking on her patients and helping make them as comfortable as she can. Our international staff brag about how enthusiastic she is each day and how quickly she adopts new procedures. In a busy environment that can quickly overwhelm, Sara thrives:

“I’ve only ever worked in the ICU, and I don’t want to work anywhere else!”

She couldn’t stop smiling as she told me about her love for nursing. Especially caring for children and babies. “When a baby cries you can hold it and comfort it until it stops…I love that.”

Sara Khaled sits on a hospital bed with one of her patients.

But she’s also just so excited about the local heart center. She’s excited about being part of something that’s growing in her hometown. She’s one of the first to be part of a new kind of nursing for Iraq, and we’re honored to be working alongside her!