Business owner, registered nurse and mom of five, Laura Burch Yeager, 42, starts her go-go day at 6:00 a.m. with coffee and a phone call to husband Gary, a pilot serving in Iraq. She finishes 14 hours later, in bed, when she jots down her to do list for the next day In between, Laura runs her nurse staffing company, Independent Nursing Services (INS), works several labor and delivery shifts each month and manages the schedules of five children (Alexis, 20; Skyler, 17; Lauren, 16; Colton, 14; Merrick, 10). “The Energizer Bunny—times two” is how INS VP Betsey Hood, a mother and grandmother, describes Laura.

In 1995, wanting a flexible schedule after the birth of her second son, Laura left full time nursing and signed on as a subcontractor Better pay allowed her to work half as many shifts, but it meant a two hour drive to a small hospital in Portales, NM Her beloved grandmother Elsie Rylant and 5 month old son Colton would accompany her, checking into a Super 8 motel behind the hospital while Laura worked a hour shift. “My grandmother was such a blessing in my life,” says Laura of the woman who raised her “I remember it snowing and her carrying Colton in his car seat up to me at the hospital to nurse. ”

Soon fellow RNs were asking Laura to refer them In 995, a large hospital in nearby Clovis, NM, asked her to officially handle its temporary staffing. Since then, her business has grown to five offices with a database of about 8,5 nurses. The enterprise started on a shoestring and still operates with a “waste not, want not” philosophy that’s fundamentally eco friendly.

Office furniture is secondhand, and the kitchen is outfitted with ceramic mugs and dishes instead of disposables. Scratch paper is used on both sides, then shredded and donated to a local school, which gets a recycling credit that helps purchase school equipment. Staffers use Web software to teleconference INS even conducts a professional development book club that way, and when travel is necessary, they bunk together in hotels. And last year, INS invested in new online protocols that have allowed it to make many functions paperless. “Each nurse we’d register in the past was a binder’s worth of paperwork,” says Laura “These days we do pay stubs online so we don’t have to use a stamp or waste an envelope. ”

Laura has made it a point to create kid friendly workplaces. Children are welcome in all INS offices—and not just when they’re out sick from school In the home office, there’s a rocker for new mothers and, in the summer, a room with television and video games for older children. During summer break, the office has hosted more than a few games of hide and seek, weathered a few water cooler mishaps and had the foyer decorations co opted for games. “If you need to hold a private conversation, you just shut the door, or you tell the kids to pipe down,” says Betsey. And if a baby cries, “there’s a woman there to pick him up immediately We just pass him around. Babies bring life and energy. ” Laura’s gift to mothers returning from maternity leave? A Pack ’n Play, which she person ally sets up in the new mom’s office. “Walking in and seeing that crib reaffirmed my son was welcome,” says Abby Lettenmaier, marketing director and mother of 9 month old Jackson.
 

Independent Nursing Services: Hobbes, NM
Mission: To staff temporary nurses at major hospitals nationwide
while keeping paper usage and waste to a minimum
Founded: 1995
First profitable year: 1996
Employees: 17 office staffers, 321 contractors in 2008
Revenue: $6.2 million