Moving forward

I try not to look at it as leaving or moving on but moving forward in my quest for financial freedom. Though I love nursing ,it is merely a vessel to get me to my ultimate destination of financial freedom.
I have enjoyed my stay here in Bakersfield(did I really say that?) I have met some wonderful people. The small hospital feel makes me remember my first hospital where you knew everyone not just the other nurses but the housekeepers and the dietary people , the transporters and the pharmacists by name. It's been nice. The staff has been very welcoming to all the travelers. I would like to thank Heather, Micky, Kat,Hazel,Hee Seon, Jaime, Pat,Tracy,Sherri,Lisa,Karen and Maggy for helping me through this assignment. I loved working with the travelers Stephanie,Tanya, Tania. And I always love working with new nurses and showing them that nursing is fun too...Susanna and Dora. I appreciate the night shift for always making it a nice place to come into in the morning. I also want to thank Sharon and Mary for being understanding and helpful with my schedule. I have also met some other great people like Maria,Jon,Mike and Freddie. I hope all of their jobs get easier.
The new place I am going is a bit bigger 250 beds in San Pablo California. We are hoping the weather will be nice for the upcoming summer. Plus it's very close to San Francisco so our friends and family can visit.
One of the harder part of this traveling thing is trying to get the timing right for the assignments. I particularly do not like to work for Christmas or New Years so I have to count the weeks and decide what length of assignment to take next. So, I either need to stay at this next assignment for a few extra weeks or take a shorter assignment next. We will have to see.

California Dreamin

Hi Everyone. Yeah I'm California Dreamin here in Bakersfield...dreamin of some sunshine and dry weather. Ok , I shouldn't complain too much cuz it's not snowing and 30 degrees like my friends in Rhode Island or Cleveland. We are only 2 hours from the coast and 4 hours from Vegas. But it's really hard to take a day off when the hospital is calling all the time. I went to Oklahoma this last week for my niece's wedding and their weather was better than here. I was off work for 6 days and the hospital called me 3 times to come in to work. It's nice to be wanted...and it's job security, right? I could stay but the grayness might just kill my good attitude so we are choosing to move on...probably to the bay area. At least the water is right there...and fog burns off.
Mercy Southwest is a cute little place..26 med-surg tele beds and 8 ICU beds. We have a secretary and a monitor tech a charge nurse and 2 nurse techs...nurse patient ratio is 5:1. It's not bad , hard on the nurse techs to have 13 patients. The patient turn over is pretty rapid...los is usually 3 days ER is always full...makes me wonder what these patients did before this ER was open, I guess they sat in someone else's waiting room. The staff nurses are very nice and helpful and grateful for our help. There are quite a few travelers here. The apartment complex I am in boasts population of 150 travelers.
The town of Bakersfield doesn't have a lot to offer that I have found but it is a growing community. There are houses and housing complexes popping up all over the southwest side. We made it over to Pismo Beach for Valentines Day. We enjoyed beautiful sunny weather and rode 4-wheelers on the sand dunes, huh? It was fun and a new adventure. We drove through Morro Bay and reminisced about our time there. We are planning a couple of days in Vegas before we head north early next month.
Still working on getting some picture on this blog so you all can enjoy the scenery with us.