From educational pioneer to the operating room: A nurse’s journey to AdventHealth

Before coming to the United States, Shalenie Teves worked for the vice governor of Sarangani in the Philippines and owned a school dedicated to helping nurses pass their English exams.

Teves had previously worked as a nurse in the Philippines, and after some encouragement from her husband, decided to re-enter the profession, leading her to the operating rooms of AdventHealth DeLand.

“We were traveling to Jacksonville, and I saw there was a hiring event at the Daytona International Speedway and there were nurse openings,” she said.

Teves went into the hiring event with 10 resumes and came out a job offer.

“That was the best decision I made in my life,” she recalled, as she was hired on the spot.

Teves still needed to pass several qualification exams to become a nurse in the U.S., however. She embraced the challenge wholeheartedly and took part in AdventHealth’s Transcultural Assimilation program, designed to help international nurses successfully transition and assimilate into the U.S. health care system. She credits much of her success to the program and calls her nursing role a dream opportunity.

“Some people are telling me this is the American dream and I think yes. This is a miracle,” she said.