Three Kids, Two Pets and One Husband = A Fun Travel Nursing Journey
By Melissa Wirkus, contributor
For Kathleen Chandler, RN, travel nursing is anything but a solo endeavor--in fact, it is a family affair.
A postpartum nurse, Chandler enjoys taking her entire family along when she goes on assignments with her travel nurse staffing company, American Mobile Healthcare, an AMN Healthcare company.
Travel nursing has taken Chandler and her family to locations such as El Paso, Texas, Phoenix, Ariz., and San Diego, Calif., and she decided to share her adventures with the world when she entered the Traveler’s Journey Video Contest, sponsored by Travelnursing.com and American Mobile.
Her video, entitled “The World to Gain," takes viewers on a fun adventure following Chandler, her husband, three kids and a dog (and most recently, a new cat) as they explore the country by way of travel nursing.
"I love travel nursing and my family goes with me, so we thought the video would be a fun thing for us to do," she said. "Every time I travel, I travel with my family. I've never left home without them."
Chandler and her husband homeschool their children, so travel nursing provided the perfect opportunity for the couple to take the family along on assignments to different locations that could also offer new learning opportunities for the kids.
"I think it's a great experience for children, especially if you are homeschooling. When we were in Arizona, we were able to take them to see the Grand Canyon. It was nice for them to actually see things instead of just reading about them."
In addition to giving Chandler the freedom to take her family with her, travel nursing has allowed her to meet new friends, learn new skills and grow professionally as a nurse.
"I think travel nursing helps you to be very flexible. You get to learn how things are done differently at different hospitals, so it does help you to learn new ways of doing things and grow that way," she explained. "You learn that there is not only one right way to do something and you learn from different people, so you can definitely advance your career in that regard."
"I like to meet people, meet different friends and see different parts of the United States, and not only different places, but different cultures too."
Chandler also loves travel nursing for the flexibility it provides in her schedule. "Most of the time as a travel nurse you are only working three days a week, since they're 12-hour shifts, so the rest of the week you have time to explore the area that you are in. I like to travel a lot so I like that aspect of it--that I can go and see different parts of the world and get paid for it."
Watch Kathleen’s video here to get an inside look into the Chandler family's adventures in travel nursing.
In the 2011 Traveler’s Journey Video Contest, sponsored by American Mobile Healthcare and TravelNursing.com, nurses were invited to share their experiences, adventures and stories about travel nursing in a two-minute video. The Grand Prize winner, Seth Snowden, who was chosen by online voters, received an iPad 2 and a $500 gift card. Share in all of the semi-finalists’ journeys with travel nursing on American Mobile’s YouTube channel.
© 2011. AMN Healthcare, Inc. All Rights Reserved.