The Atlas Life #48 - Ariel Alexander, Travel Oncology RN

Justin Jones: I think my favorite thing about, especially new travelers, but any traveler is just kind of seeing where they go and seeing pictures on Facebook and seeing what they're doing out there. You kind of live vicariously through them as I'm sitting here in cold Omaha in the winter and I see them go to Greenville, North Carolina and she'll probably be going to the beach and going hiking and stuff like that. It's just fun to see.

Ariel Alexander: My name is Ariel Alexander. I am an oncology nurse. I just was at Saint Francis in Tulsa, Oklahoma and I'm headed to Greenville, North Carolina. I was in a softball league over, out on Fort and we usually would get done with the softball and then go to karaoke at Boondockers. So we're playing, and I noticed a couple of your guys' shirts said Atlas Med Staff. So I was like, hey, I'm looking to travel in the next year. I'm with this company now. Like what do you guys have to offer kind of thing. And then they're like, well that guy serving the ball horribly.

Justin Jones: She was already looking, already kind of talking to another agency and a good agency here in town. But she just kind of, we hit it off and she hit it off with some of the account managers at Atlas and just kind of liked our vibe and our culture.

Ariel Alexander: Yeah. I think that was like what really made me realize I wanted to like go with Atlas was how well like I just like fit in and you guys were hilarious and just like really welcoming. I think that was the biggest like hook I think. Ever since I knew I wanted to be a nurse, I knew I wanted to be a traveling nurse. So I just decided to give myself a time and stick to it and not let myself back out.

Justin Jones: Like a lot of first time travelers, she kind of wanted to test the waters and just stay kind of local, within driving distance of home and stuff like that. And so we were kind of looking around the area. We were looking at Wisconsin pretty good, tried some places there, didn't work out. And then Tulsa worked out and so the distance helped and now she's kind of ...

Ariel Alexander: Let's go.

Justin Jones: Willing to go anywhere, so that helps.

Ariel Alexander: The best part of travel nursing is, I would say, the experiences that I get to encounter, all the new people that I get to meet, just being able to see how a different hospital's culture works. Probably the hardest part, especially being my first travel assignment, was only getting like a day of orientation and then they're like, all right, there you go, sink or swim kind of thing. And I was actually surprised at how well I was able to adapt. I think another hardest part of traveling is making so many awesome friends and then having to leave.

Ariel Alexander: Best experience I've had as a travel nurse so far. Just meeting my best friend now Jen who we'll travel together. We'd spent a whole weekend going down to OKC and a little bit South of OKC and just exploring those national parks and seeing a lot of the cool side of Oklahoma that there is. The best part about working with Justin is I can call him like just stressed out, crazy, out of my mind, like, chill out, you're fine. I was just really comfortable. Just, it's more of a friendship than like being employed together kind of thing.

Justin Jones: She's easy to work with and she's willing to kind of try anything, try to go anywhere now especially, and also she's just an awesome oncology nurse. She's an awesome person, but she's an awesome oncology nurse. She's not only chemo certified, but she's worked at UNMC for a long time, bone marrow, stem cell stuff, so she's extremely qualified. So I know if she gets an interview somewhere, she's going to get the job and that makes it a lot easier.

Ariel Alexander: Where I see myself going probably absolutely anywhere. I mean, I'm open to whatever. I did end up applying for my Oregon license and I did get my Oregon license, so that'd be really cool. Anywhere where there's outdoors things to do, like throw my kayak in a lake and just explore the surroundings is mostly mostly what I want. Like just cool places and I'll make the fun after that.