Today after a the lightest assignment I have been given since starting, I got to participate in a my-weekend-crew tradition of going out to breakfast at Third Street Diner after work Monday Mornings. The veggie omelet and hashbrowns were good but the best part was the chance to get to know the girls I work with even better. Laughing and joking as they share funny stories about their children and work is not only good end of the shift decompression it is important to love and learn from other people and this group of ladies has been so welcoming. I have enjoyed to opportunity to learn from them, and work beside them, and now getting to spend time with them outside of work.
Travelers and Recruiters Unite
I was contacted a week or two ago about writing a blurb about myself, travel nursing, and my recruiter and agency and that they in turn would be writing a little blurb about themselves and what they do and it would be posted on the travel nurse Facebook group page titled “Travelers and Recruiters Unite.” To spotlight the roles of each, company/recruiter/nurse, individually. It was fun to get the notification that it was up today and read what they had to say.
Genesis Medical:
“Genesis Medical Staffing has a home office located in Omaha, NE. We are definitely a small company but we staff in all 50 states and we work with nurses, surgical techs, and allied health professionals –Diagnostic Imaging, Radiation Oncology, Rehab Therapy, Pharmacy and more. Genesis is a Faith Based Company–very unique in this industry.
We take a Christ-like approach to staffing and treat everyone as individuals with their own motivating factors. We tend to have a more family feel to treating others as they wish to be treated.
Genesis medical is a small company that focuses on service over sales. We staff nationwide and as a whole have over 40 years experience in the staffing world.”
This is a spotlight posted on a Facebook travel nurse group yesterday spotlighting my recruiter Erin Bluml:
“I have worked for Genesis Medical for 1 year and have a total of 6 years in Healthcare Staffing. My title is Client Representative; handling both Nurses and Clients.
I’m originally from Omaha, NE but my home is Denver, CO. I enjoy anything outdoors – hiking, biking or just hanging out at the many parks or patios (Mmm, Beer!) we have here in Denver! I’m passionate about my own personal travels – I love to experience different cultures, people and take in the overwhelming beauty of the world. So helping others get to experience these things is very important to me.
As I mentioned, helping others travel and have new personal and professional experiences is one of the most rewarding/enjoyable parts of my job. I also enjoy educating new possible travelers on the industry to help lead them to the right decision.
Sarah Sherman Owens(L/D RN) is a current traveler of mine. Sarah just gets it – she is relatively new to traveling, but I appreciate her urgency/promptness and overall communication skills. She’s passionate about constantly learning more of her profession as well as a commited Mother and Wife. Sarah travels with her husband and 3 children, educating them by experiences through their travels. I love to read their blog to keep up with everything that is happening on the road. I truly admire Sarah’s commitment to her career and Family as well as appreciate her giving me the opportunity to be a part of it all!”
Then the spotlight on me as the nurse:
“Hi my name is Sarah Owens I have been a Labor and delivery nurse for almost nine years now. I became a L&D nurse after the profoundly empowering experience of the supported natural labor and birth of my first child. I wanted other women to come away from their births feeling just as loved, supported, and empowered as a mother.
Just in this last year (April) I dove into the world of traveling as a nurse. I have loved the new challenges it has presented me with as well as the daily opportunities to grow as a person. I travel with my family: my husband Chad, a nine year old son, seven and four year old daughters, and our puppy/teddy bear a three year old Newfoundland.
We are on our second assignment, the first was in New Mexico the land of enchantment, now we are in Americas dairy land, Wisconsin. We live in such a beautiful country and as travel nurses we get to see it all and it’s not just some short week long vacation.
I work for Genesis whom I met at the travel nurse conference, my recruiter is Erin Bluml. She is very personable, I like the clear communication. I don’t have to wonder if I’m going to have a place to stay when I get to my assignment. I got my first months schedule several weeks before the end of my previous assignment. Erin knows I prefer to be contacted via texts and she has completely respected that and I don’t know that she has ever said, “Hey, I just wanted to call and reach out to you.” I love (insert sarcasm) getting those calls when I’m trying to catch some sleep between night shifts. Although I plan to work with the recommended handful of travel companies if I can continue to find the jobs that fit me in the areas we have not yet explored I would like to stay with Genesis and Erin.
We also have our blog that has a lot on it about travel nursing, traveling as a family, homeschooling, national parks.We are taking tours of all of the Capitol buildings of all the states we have been through. It is… owensendeavors.com”
I have learned more about my company and recruiter through all of this and thought that I would pass it on because it might help answer some questions for others who are unsure how this travel nurse thing works.
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Field trip Friday!!!
We have heard a lot about The Dells and the Ducks. So today we went to Wisconsin Dells to ride the Ducks. Wisconsin Dells is an area that was made famous by a photographer when photography as an art form was in its infancy. People around the world were charmed by the photos and dreamed of one day seeing the beautiful river and landscape for themselves. As the adventure seekers and tourists arrived there was need of hotels to house them, and restaurants to feed them. Boats gave tours of the beautiful river, as more and more people came more attractions were added to the tourism based settlement until it became what it is today. The Ducks are amphibious vehicles that were designed for military use in WWII.
We were pretty excited to ride on one and learn something about their history and WWII in the process.
The Dells is nearly two hours drive from our apartment and the route suggested by the GPS was complicated with major construction so we ended up driving through a lot of back country roads. These kind of interruptions are often annoying at first but so far almost every time they have lead to some fun discoveries. This time as we started passing buggies and wagons and cute kids and old men dressed in black and white with full bushy beards we realized we had wondered into Amish country!
I didn’t get any good pictures and I didn’t want to be too obvious although they are probably used to it. Their farms were all beautiful.
When we emerged from the back roads we found ourselves just outside of the main drag in Dells.
We got into town just about lunch time so we parked our car, bought our tour tickets, and picked one of the recommended restaurants for a pre tour lunch. We window shopped on our way there and back it is similar to Durango CO, and Lincoln City OR in the small cute little shops department.
After Lunch we took the “bus” to the Original Ducks Tours.
Eve chose the back seat and was so excited for this ride with no car seat.
The tour was full and the guide was funny.
The wind going through our hair and the spray of water as we dove in and out of the river and lake were fun. The corny jokes were ok but they kind of detracted from the amazing ness of the hunk of engineering we were sitting on and the beautiful scenery that surrounded us.
We did some more walking around after the tour. Caleb and Hannah decided that we needed a Duck for our next vehicle they were ok with it’s top speed of 55 MPH or 11 knots but I think the exhaust fumes and loud engine may get old.
We drove through town, roller coaster row, and checked out all of the water parks and amusement parks that made up the town. There were so many in one place! The we headed home.
We made it back with some daylight to spare. Myra and I got out for a sunset stroll that was just gorgeous.
We had a short budget meeting, Dave Ramsey would be proud. And crashed early.
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Thunder and lightning
As I checked in at the front desk last night I was handed keys and told to hurry back to the OR my patient was delivering via emergency C/S. Here they have a certain person assigned each shift to be the circulator so the mom’s nurse is the baby catcher. This was my first time back in the OR since leaving Silverton, no worries though the OR is not as scary as it sounds to all you non-medically bent individuals. The NICU team was handling the recessitation with the pediatrician as orchestrator and baby was starting to pink up and get some muscle tone as I walked in. The mother, unable to see what was going on, was straining her neck and ears tuned in to hear that first cry that had not yet come. After a quick look at baby, color, and tone I was able to update mom on babies status, head of hair and cuteness factor much to the mother’s relief. It has to be so hard in that moment, as a parent, when you wonder if your baby is ever going to cry and then after what seems like an eternity it comes and all the fear and anxiety pent up exits your body with a flow of tears. This little one was adorable and after breathing became less of an overwhelming task and the NICU team left she laid there supported by her daddy on the pillow looking at her mother with the most expressive little face moving her mouth with direct eye contact as if telling her mother a huge exciting tale. Life, it’s delicate balance, and dramatic reminders that we are not in control are kind of an awe-full sight when witnessed first hand in this way. It is a good reminder that we are dealing with people and this is not just a job. As we wheeled out of the OR I got a call from the lead saying I was getting a labor admit….what? Someone else was going to take over my recovery and I needed to get going this pt was going fast. I am not as quick at all of the paperwork, admission process as most of the nurses here and the admission checklist is long so needless to say we got an IV site, pored in the bolus, got the epidural, and had a baby so the admission stuff didn’t happen until after delivery. I got my C/S mommy back after the recovery (and delivery of the new patient). Being two deliveries down on paperwork I was relieved to not be given the next admit. The other nurses were very helpful as I dug in with a shovel to unbury myself from the mound of paperwork and by 1 am I was pretty caught up. I have a feeling that there are probably a few things I forgot but I kept looking everything over and there was nothing I could find.
I stopped and picked up bread on the way home from work, walked Myra and then settled in at the table to wait for the kids to wake up. It didn’t take long. I managed to stay awake long enough to have breakfast and do most of the CC review with the kids. As I disappeared upstairs Chad yelled after me, “Hey, you can’t leave, what am I going to do with out my TA.” Lol, it’s good to feel loved. I woke up to a superman show of force by the underwear brigade.
Chad had planned a date night dinner for us for after the kids went to bed so he made them a separate dinner and then they got their scooters out to walk with Myra and me to the park.
There are no dogs allowed at the actual park so Myra and I paced up and down the road while the kids played. It was misting/sprinkling and we could hear the thunder and watch the storm clouds coming through, but we figured it was the end of the day if we get soaking wet who cares…it’ll be just part of the fun.
The breeze had picked up on our way home, so Eve and I walked with our arms stretched out singing, “think of the wonderful things, it’s the same as having wings.” And pretended that we were flying.
After the kids were all tucked into bed reading Chad surprised me with this amazing dinner.
so delicious.
The thunder/lightning storm was at a full rolling boil and it had not yet started downpouring so we took our dessert out to the back steps and sat in the dark watching the most spectacular, better than IMAX, natural fireworks show with surround sound thunder, the chirp of crickets and other insects, and the medium breeze and smell of cut grass and rain. I hollered to the kids who could hear through their window to watch the “fireworks” so they sat on Caleb’s bed next to the window and enjoyed the show too. Soon it started to rain so we reluctantly moved inside and watched from the dining room table as we sipped our ice tea and shared Chad’s hot tamales until bed time. When we headed to bed we discovered that the rain had made it into the open windows on the front side of the apartment and had gotten the floor and bed a little wet. We climbed in bed and continued to watch the flashing lights. It has slowed down now but what an amazing show I feel so blessed to have seen it. God is amazing!
I tried to get some picture of it and they aren’t very good but I’m going to share them anyway.
Categories: Family Time, Fulltime, Fun, kids, Travel Nursing, wisconsin, working
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Another day
No big updates, I got home from work early, made it out on a run, walked Myra and still was back before there was any stirring in the house, although within 10 minutes everyone was coming downstairs and getting ready for breakfast. The kids are already pretty good at their week one songs, and Chad found the cycle three music on the computer from last week. I stayed up probably too late Hanging out with them. After a shower and some zzzzzzzs it’s hi ho, hi ho off to work I go.
Categories: Fulltime, Homeschool, Travel Nursing, wisconsin, working
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New School Orientation
Today has gone well, as I have managed to remember the songs from CC cycle three. The last time we did it was three years ago (at least the ones from the first week). The kids seemed to enjoy their work and boy I am glad that we have been doing some math for the last month so there was absolutely no walls put up about that. Eve participated and it was so cute to hear her sing the infinitive song. Some of my friends, one in particular (you know who you are ;0) ) has been encouraging me to share a few more details about what our homeschool day looks like, for those of you who are also road schoolers/homeschoolers or just curious. Maybe a run down of what works for us and how we cover the different subjects. I am not going to cover that today but you can watch for it in the next couple of weeks I will describe what we have done for the past five years and what has and hasn’t changed as we transition to school on the road.
With daddy doing the homeschooling, school lunches rock!
Categories: Family Time, Homeschool, wisconsin
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Gearing up for the school year 2014-2015
A slow morning, walk in the rain, and late breakfast started off our Labor Day. Followed by a frustrating trip to Barnes and Nobles, productive stop at he teacher store, and return trip home for lunch. After playing some sim city the kids settled in on an autobiography project and we snuck in school pictures. 2014-2015 school year ready or not…hear we come.
Caleb-5th grade
Hannah 2nd grade
Eve Pre-K
Categories: Family Time, kids, wisconsin
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Lake Superior!!!
So beautiful, so much more beautiful than Lake Michigan!
After church we turned north. We had not seen Lake Superior yet, and what better thing to do on a Sunday afternoon than a Sunday drive. Three hours and thirty minutes according to the GPS to Munising and the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
It is sooooo green here.
We walked to the first few overlooks.
We decided to walk to the lower over look.
The short hike down to the second overlook made us hungry for a longer hike so we ventured further down the trail another mile or so. There were way less mosquitos (nearly none) the kids nearly ran the whole way it was so fun. The beautiful beach at the end of the trail was the best bonus ever.
The roots and mud made for a really fun obstacle course.
The slow little river was dubbed, “the honey bucket river” due to it’s color.
It was going to get dark on us and the hike was longer than the mile it stated on the sign so sadly we said good bye to the amazing beautiful and superior to all lakes, Lake Superior.
was
I was bare footing it to strengthen my feet and as a child I enjoyed the mud and sand between my toes.
With the lake behind us and sunset in front of us we headed home.
Saturday in the park
We had planned a quick trip to Des Moines Iowa, mostly to visit the Capitol building, but I was tired and it would be a 6+ hour drive each way so we will save that for later. Instead we made a trip to the library to restock on books. After that we made our way back to the rocket park. The kids played while we read for an hour or two. Soon they were asking to read too so we headed home. At home we pulled out our dinning room furniture (camp chairs) onto the lawn. We sat in the shade of a big tree in the back yard and read until nearly dinner time. The girls had quit reading by then and had found a monarch missing a few legs to carry around on their finger as a pet.
They played in and around us. We were all just together, and enjoying being together. After dinner we went back out and I sat on the front porch watching Hannah scooter around the cul de sac while Eve sorted through the rocks next to the mailbox for the prettiest rock collection. Chad and Caleb played Settlers of Catan. It was a great and restful day. I finished Born to Run and am eager to start the next book.
Categories: Family Time, Fun, kids, wisconsin
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Feeling Tired…
Why has the every other day, crazy-early day shifts kicked my butt this week? Maybe because I haven’t been getting to bed as early as I should. When you have a run of shifts you can recoup for one day then go exploring but if you only get one off in a row do you recoup or explore? I was so happy to find out that I would have postpartums, and less happy to do a full admit in the last hour of my shift, while still having all my couplets. And here you have to chart on every mom and every baby every hour, and one of my babies had vitals every hour. That and needing to tape report on all my patients made me stress that I wouldn’t get to something. I was just glad that she hadn’t come earlier as I would have imagined them keeping me doing the induction and my three couplets. Needless to say I was very glad to turn in my keys and phone and head for the car. A previous patient recognized me as I was walking down the hall, she called to me and waved. I ran to tell her goodbye and congratulations on cooking her little “bun” as long as she had. It is fun to be able to see on occasion that you do make a difference in people’s lives. I held the door for them as they got all of their stuff out to the car.
I’m still wiped, ready to crawl into bed and sleep for a couple of days, but it was just the reminder I needed to keep on plugging away doing what I was meant to do, even on the days I don’t feel it.
Categories: Friends, Fulltime, Travel Nursing, working
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Owens Endeavors 