Our #ARMS Travel Nurse Story
Patricia and Charlotte had worked together in the ER for several years at a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania. They had a great co-worker relationship along with being good friends.
One day, Patricia was ready for a change. “We actually started out as a three person group. Our friend Angela, Charlotte and I,” Patricia recounted. “Angela and I started talking about traveling. She also worked in Erie with us. I then texted Charlotte for a reference to start. And she’s like, ‘Hey, I’m actually looking at travel nursing too!’ And then we just decided to go all go together, and we all started out the same facility.”
Angela has focused on her family in recent years, but Patricia and Charlotte are still a traveling pair.
Taking the Leap into becoming a Travel Nurse
Both Patricia and Charlotte were a fan of the flexible schedule and rates that travel nursing can provide. They were tired of how facilities were treating their staff nurses after the hustle and bustle of COVID and were ready for a change of pace.
“Just with everything that happened through COVID and management and stuff, everything was changing,” Patricia said. “We just decided, well, it’s probably a good time for us to just adventure out and try something different, you know?”
And adventure they did! Patricia and Charlotte have not gone to even one assignment alone, as they travel as a pair to the same shift, facility, and department. They both shared that traveling with a friend can make easing into the sometimes nerve-wracking first day on assignment that much easier.
“I think we both have a good knowledge base of how emergency departments work and we both have a good work ethic, which is great because I needed somebody who was going along with that with me,” Charlotte said. “Patty fits in perfectly. And I think they see when we go to any facility, we both are good workers and we both have a large knowledge base so we can kind of just fit in seamlessly and we haven’t had any issues.”
“You know, it can feel isolating that first couple of weeks,” she continued. “We have each other, though, and we’re pretty goofy. I think people see that we’re just down-to-earth people and we’re just there to work.”
Being a part of the ARMS family
The travel nurse pair has been on quite a few assignments together with ARMStaffing, but specifically remembered one they took in Pittsburgh. “When we were in Pittsburgh, we did some adventuring. That’s where we learned about the pickle fest there, it’s just for pickles!” Patricia said. They have traveled to a few other towns in Pennsylvania and have even been up to Rochester, New York.
Patricia and Charlotte couldn’t leave the interview without saying a few kind words about their recruiter, Jennifer. “Jennifer has truly been amazing with us,” Charlotte raved. “Like, we can pick up the phone and call her and if she doesn’t answer or text back right away, we know the next morning she’ll be there to fix anything in a hurry.”
“I was going to say she’s been great to work with,” Patricia added, “she’s made it easy on us. We just tell her we may be interested in this or this, and she checks all the details out for us. She makes sure the facility knows that we are a travel pair and what our expectations are and that we do travel together.”
These two have been with ARMStaffing since the very beginning and we are so appreciative of their dedication, hard work, and friendship!
All About You
Here comes the lightning round – All of Patricia and Charlotte’s favorites.
Book:
Patricia: A Killers Mind
Charlotte: Where the Crawdads Sing
Movie:
Patricia: Independence Day
Charlotte: Avatar
Color:
Patricia: Pink
Charlotte: Purple
Interesting Fact:
Patricia: Lives on a farm and loves canning!
Charlotte: Has 8 wonderful children!
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