The Atlas Life #42 - Natalie Morris, Traveling Telemetry Nurse

Jamie G.: Natalie called in, actually it would've been July of last year. She called in during lunchtime and I happened to be one of the only people sitting at my desk, and I answered, and we connected immediately. She is very energetic and very into the outdoors and things like that. So with my Trail Boss RN page, we kind of went off for about a half hour just talking about the outdoors, what she likes to do, and she told me where she wants to go for the next two years traveling. Basically when she came to me she was like, "This is going to be a problem because I've got just over a year of experience." So of course, had to sit down with client managers and find out what's going to be the best fit for you. How are we going to be able to do this? Because there's not all, it's very limited to who will take a traveler that's no travel experience and only a year as an RN.

Jamie G.: So talked to Mike about Santa Fe. She immediately was like, "Santa Fe is one of the places on my bucket list to get out to." And we've had her out there since this last August. She came out immediately and said, "I want to travel here and I want to follow, maybe do some of the Appalachian trail, maybe." Just everywhere she wants to go is going to be based around mountains, or some type of an event, hiking, triathlon. She said she'd never been out to the West coast. She'd just came from Virginia. So we started her off there and she's loving it.

Jamie G.: Natalie is, she's just super energetic, a lot of fun to talk to. She's a blast to just have on the phone because you never know what's going to come out of her mouth. I don't want to say she's scatterbrained, but she has one thought about, "Hey, maybe we should go to Washington for this next one." And then the next time she's like, "Oh, you know, it could be too cold. It might be too snowy. Maybe we need to go here. Maybe we need to do that." So it's a lot of fun just interacting with her. And she's been a blast to work with. One of my favorites to work with.

Natalie Morris: I'm Natalie and I am currently on a Med-Surg tele assignment in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I've been traveling only since July of this year, so just under... It's now December. So it's just under five months. I was only a nurse for a year before I started traveling. I had called a few agencies, just Googled some travel agencies or travel nurse agencies, and I had talked to a couple and they weren't very welcoming or just one thing after another. We just didn't connect. And then I Googled top travel nurse companies to work for, and Atlas consistently came up in the very top. So I said, screw it, I'm going to call. So I did and you know, I called and I said I wanted to speak to a recruiter if I could. And then they just stuck me to Jamie.

Natalie Morris: I was very upfront with him. I told him my little experience that I had and if it were even possible, I don't know. And he was very much a can do, yes, we're going to try to do something, I will make this happen for you if you want it to happen. So I just kind of let Jesus take the wheel type thing. He really took care of it. He's awesome. But yeah, I'm really thankful I got hooked up with him for sure.

Natalie Morris: So before I'd moved to Santa Fe, so Santa Fe is actually, is that in town you're at elevation of 7,300 feet, which is higher than most places in Colorado. People don't really realize that, and I didn't realize that. I knew there were really cool mountains around here, and that's kind of my motivation. I'm trying to travel to places that I want to trail run, mountain bike, ski, do cool stuff. Rock climb. Yeah. That's kind of what I was wanting to do with traveling is go cool places that I want to ride and run.

Natalie Morris: And so far this place has not disappointed in any way. Best part, I think it's probably really cliche, but really outside of work you get that honeymoon period with a new place, you're super psyched to be there. And you know, I moved from Virginia to New Mexico, which has a very different culture, a very different feel than any place I'd ever been. I also get to learn, even with my patients and in my coworkers, I get to learn about the culture here in a way that I would not if I were just a tourist here for the week or whatever. So that's, to me, one of the best parts is you're almost like a local tourist.

Natalie Morris: You get to stay in a place for three plus months and you get to learn the really good spots, the good food, the secret stuff that you wouldn't if you were just here, just passing through. And I'm learning Spanish, which is great. My first day, my first night that I worked... because I actually came on as night shift, which I'd never worked night shift before. I worked night shift, and my first night I had two Spanish speaking patients. Only Spanish speaking. And I had very little help. I had some help but not a lot. And I was able to piece things together, but that was probably one of the more difficult... Not only am I in a new place, new hospital, new night shift life. I'm also trying to speak to these people. I can't, yeah, I didn't know what I was doing. But yeah, that was probably something I wasn't expecting because I was trying to learn Spanish before I got here. But that was probably one of the harder parts for sure.

Natalie Morris: I change my mind as to what's next probably every three or four days. Like yesterday, I was all excited. I'm like, "I'm going into Wyoming, screw it." And then this morning, I'm like, "Maybe Sacramento, I don't know." So I don't know, really. That's the cool thing about traveling, the best thing about traveling, is that every few days I get on the Atlas site and just look at all the different job openings available and where I could possibly go, what I could be doing in all these places. And I'm just going to run wherever I go. That's it. That's all.