Fresh Start (Working For A Different Species)

I clocked out of my last shift at Chorian General Hospital and gathered my belongings from my locker. The last two years had passed in a flash. After acquiring my Associate Degree of Science in Nursing, I passed my state nursing boards, and I accepted a position at the hospital as a means to an end. I was able to work full time, fulfill needed courses for my online Bachelor Degree of Science in Nursing, and have the majority of my credits paid for by the hospital. While I finished my obligatory second year of employment as a Registered Nurse, I feel blessed to have been the first member of my family to acquire a college degree. Besides the degree, I’ve gained priceless knowledge in both the Intensive Care Unit and the Emergency Department at Chorian General. The last six months had even provided me with the opportunity to work as a Charge Nurse in the ICU. Although I was appreciative for my ED experience, I was happy when the opportunity presented itself for me to return to the ICU. Besides tuition reimbursement, my secondary goal was to receive as much hands on nursing experience as possible to add to and pad my resume. If not for wanting more experience, I would never have ventured into the ED. I much preferred the more solitary, routine, although at times, challenging ICU environment. The ED was just too unpredictable for my comfort and I simply do not like to rely on others for my safety, which is often the case in the ED. Others being: Security, Physicians, Hospitalists, numerous other Nurses, Emergency Medical Technicians, Paramedics, Police Officers, Supply Personnel, Maintenance Workers, Janitors, and Housekeepers. If anyone in that long list of individuals drops the ball, you could be in serious trouble or worse yet, lose patients seeking help.  My return to the Midwest took into account several important variables. My parents are aging and my younger siblings have begun to reach adulthood. Because both of my parents divorced and remarried, all of my siblings are quite a bit younger than I, so I hope to see more of them now. I knew when I started my employment at Chorian General that my eventual goal was to move closer to home as soon as I had enough experience to do so confidently. After achieving the rank of ICU Charge Nurse, I felt confident that once my degree was completed, I would have both the skills and knowledge to be able to get a job almost anywhere. Coupled with my impeccable work record, I knew I could start sending out resumes. After months of searching but not finding what I was looking for, I received an email from a traveling nursing agency who said they ran across my resume on an online nursing job board. You Travel RN was wondering if I was interested in a position almost directly between my parents’ homes. Originally I felt the offer was too good to be true. I flagged the email and kept it without responding, but just couldn’t stop thinking how perfect such a position would be for a young but experienced nurse such as myself. The November schedule came out and I began thinking about Thanksgiving. The idea of yet another holiday without my family turned my mood rather somber. After a week of hemming and hawing, my curiosity got the better of me and I began to research. First I researched You Travel RN. I found out this travel nurse agency was huge and worked mostly with private pay clients that required skilled care,  close monitoring, and discretion due to their positions and/or status in society. I quickly became aware there were five regional offices. The office I had my phone interview with was located in Minneapolis, Minnesota and serves clients in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. When I took my Nursing Boards to obtain my Registered Nursing License, it was only slightly more expensive to add other states to the application papers and test for several at one time instead of testing for each state individually. Knowing I wanted to return to the Midwest after acquiring my degrees and experience, I added Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin to that initial application for licensure, not knowing for sure where I would end up. You Travel RN serves all the states I applied for, so when they offered me the position after no more than a telephone interview, background study, licensure verification, and reference checks, I jumped at the chance. The You Travel RN nurse assignment agreements are for 90 days at a time. I could work virtually anywhere for 90 days. If it wasn’t a good fit with the client or the company, I would move on. I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about seeing my family for Christmas. It had been almost a year since I had been home. It may sound cliche, but there really is no place like home. There are things I would miss about Chorian that just weren’t seen much in small town Midwest. Things like a variety of foods from different ethnicities, large shopping complexes that you could visit within thirty minutes of my apartment, large hospitals with specialties and unlimited trainings you can attend without breaking a sweat. I smile to myself as I remember that my BSN was earned 100% online, and proved that the vast majority of subjects one wants to learn,  or Continuing Education Units one needs for renewing licensure, can be accessed online via the World Wide Web. I laugh at myself silently for my use of the outdated term my mom used to use when she purchased her first computer. Ironically, before I left for college, my mom was better with computers than I was. I took my high school studies seriously, but I was too busy playing softball and volleyball to waste time sitting in front of a computer.  Setting my badge and keys on the bench, I zip up my bag with the last of my locker contents. I take one last look around as I place the strap from my duffel bag over my shoulder. A wave of sadness washes over me thinking this is the last time I will see this beige colored room and this hospital, in the foreseeable future. If plans fell through, I was told I was always welcome to return to Chorian General Hospital. The double paned metal fire door opened and in walked my best work friend. Tall, blond, and thin, Shaleen meets my eyes while wiping a tear from her cheek. I was hoping I would be gone before she arrived, but no such luck. In a strained voice she says, “Grace, I can’t believe you won’t be here,” she hiccups before finishing with, “anymore,” as she envelops me in a big hug.  That’s all it took, I had been holding back the tears, but this girl had been my main source of support throughout college and then our employment here at Chorian. The tears were now flowing freely for both of us, a combination of exhaustion from our three day weekend of twelve hour night shifts, the idea of not seeing each other again in the near future, and all the fun times we have had in the last five years. Sha was my best work friend, one of few I’ve let into my inner circle. “You know we will keep in touch Sha.” I took a breath, a step back, wiped my face with my open hand, and continued, “we are more than friends, we are sisters. Sisters are forever, that doesn’t change. You call me “The Text Queen,” for a reason. And eww… we just hugged in our uniforms before showering.”  Now wiping her face, Sha smiles, laughs quietly and nods as I wrinkle up my nose at the thought of all the germs we likely just shared.  “Walk me out?” I ask with a shy smile. Sha again nods, slips off her work shoes, and slips on her crocs. She then grabs her purse with keys before locking her locker and walking out arm and arm with me. On the way out the side entrance, we stop at the security desk to turn in my keys and badge and get my receipt as proof I turned them in. Who wants to be charged for equipment they returned? Being only 7:35 AM, Human Resources was not yet open, but Security would make sure they received my returns. I’m not a fan of day shift employees or all their smiles and sunshine us vampires don’t feel a need for. Don’t get me wrong, we are friendly, professional, and can be peepl-y when necessary, but morning people have way too much energy for my taste. Turning toward the door, the sunrise could be seen in beautiful pink, orange, and yellow, just poking over the horizon through the medium size windows outlining the side door that led to the night shift employee parking lot. Parking was one of the perks of working nights. The main clinic and hospital visiting hours were during normal day time hours, so by the time we arrived for our 7PM shifts, the lots were empty and we got our choice of parking. Top it off with the fact we were generally gone before the 8am clinic and lab rush started, and it was win-win. Add in the shift differential, lack of Administrators, and overall quieter atmosphere, well all except the ED, and there were plenty of reasons I preferred working night versus day shift. Of course my new adventure as a travel nurse in home health care would have varying hours. I was unaware of who I would be working with other than being told the elderly lady I was working with was 90 years old and lived in her family estate amongst the bluffside of Minnesota. Supposedly she had a fairly large family that either had homes on the estate’s acreage, lived nearby, or stayed within the apartments in the West, South, and East wings that had been added on to the main house. The nurse assigned to assist the family’s matriarch was assigned a private suite within the house near her bedroom. According to the recruiter I spoke with, even though the house was expansive, Grandmother stayed within only a few rooms since her mobility was no longer what it once was. Silently, I remember thinking to myself that it was almost a miracle that at the age of 90 years young, this elderly woman was still ambulatory. Apparently one of her favorite activities was to sit in the garden in the spring and summer or to visit the green house in the fall and winter. Sha squeezed my arm with her hand while teasing, “Earth to Grace, come in Grace.” I stopped walking, grabbed both Sha’s hands in mine and looked up slightly to make eye contact. “Oh Shaleen, I’m so sorry. I keep getting lost in my thoughts about this new assignment. Of course after working in an ICU with up to two very needy patients and the ED with 1-4 potentially unstable patients, depending upon acuity, one elderly lady should be a breeze right?” Sha smiled but before she could speak, I retorted, “I know, I know, be careful what I say. The universe may see that as a challenge.”  Sha nodded her head with a serious expression and exclaimed, “You got that right!” Clearing her throat, she continued, “ I want nothing more than to stay and even more to keep you here, but some of us have to work again tonight. Some slacker, decided to take a travel nurse position half way across the country. So that means the rest of us have to pick up overtime, until someone new is trained in.”  Now standing outside my Sport Utility Vehicle, Sha hugged me again, kissed me on the cheek and said before turning to walk away from me, “I will always love you Grace. Please keep in touch. I know you were meant for bigger things than Chorian General Hospital. Now, go finish your packing, get rested up, and drive safe on your way to Minnesota.” With a quick peck on the cheek, Sha was walking away from my SUV to her Sporty Ford Mustang. Her shoulders and head slumped forward, I knew she was walking away before we both lost it again. Leaving was a catch 22; my family was back home, but I truly enjoyed my work here and would dearly miss my friends, coworkers, the city of Chorian, and definitely the warmer more arid temperatures found here. Opening the driver’s side door, I toss my work back to the passenger seat and wave as Shaleen’s midnight blue Mustang roars by. Yes, this was bittersweet indeed!