The Atlas Life #53 - Chloe Lattimer, Travel ICU RN

Rich Smith: So it's been nearly a year since we started doing the Atlas Life. 52 episodes so far, talking to our nurses, talking to all of you, our healthcare travelers that are out there on the road doing what you do everyday.

Rich Smith: Thought it'd be fun to reconnect with one of the very first episodes that we did. Chloe Lattimer, she was a first time traveler, went to a very difficult hospital in California for her very first contract and has not looked back since. That first one that Chloe did, I thought, this is it. Not only is she an Atlas nurse, but she loves life and she loves everything that she does while she's out there on the road.

Rich Smith: So for our one year anniversary of the Atlas Life, I wanted to bring Chloe back and kind of catch up with her again. Talk to her, see where she's been and then get an idea of where she's going from here after one year of traveling. Where she's going from here and kind of what her hopes and dreams and all of that is, so enjoy. Happy one year. We'll do this in another year. If you want to do this email or message me, I would love to talk to you online.

Chloe Lattimer: So last time we talked, I was in Fremont, California. That was my first contract and it was with Kaiser. Had a really good time there, I met a lot of really cool people. And then in the spring, I actually went back to Ohio. We had talked about Cincinnati and how I went to school in Cincinnati; and I went back to the Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, a place that I had never worked before. And I worked on a cardiopulmonary step-down, which was different for me. But I actually liked it so much and had so much fun in Cincinnati that I actually didn't leave until December. And now, I am back in California working again for Kaiser at Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills, so that's in the Los Angeles area.

Chloe Lattimer: I don't know that I would go back and do anything differently. I've enjoyed all of my experiences so far. I'm definitely really happy that I took the leap and went to Kaiser Freemont first actually because it's been really beneficial this go around that I took that leap last year. But yeah, no I've been pretty happy with it.

Chloe Lattimer: It has surprised me how many different things I ended up doing as a nurse. I've actually almost been a travel nurse as long as I was a nurse before I started traveling. I think it's just really interesting how much I've learned about different areas of the hospital and everything.

Chloe Lattimer: I actually took my Atlas Adventure money and went to the Dominican Republic because I have some friends there. It's a place I like to go a lot; and then lots of fun stuff in California honestly. Those are pretty much the places I've been.

Chloe Lattimer: You just have to be flexible. Your company is going to really appreciate you being flexible. I mean, there was points, I was precepting new nurses at my last assignment and they were like, "Chloe, can you just stay?" It's because I was flexible to do those things, flexible to floating, things like that.

Chloe Lattimer: I think also building the relationship with the recruiter in the company, like you guys. I've already told many of my friends, which I've tried to refer or successfully referred, that the only reason I actually have this job right now is because Reinie and I have the relationship that we do. We talk all the time and people within the company knew that I was looking for a place in LA. Literally, the only reason I got this job is because someone dropped out of this contract and they were like, "Oh wait, Chloe. The name Chloe has come up in our mind like 50 times because Rainey and Chloe keep annoying us about LA." So that would be my advice.

Chloe Lattimer: There was a brief moment when I looked into getting a Florida license because I think it'd be really cool to get to go down South. Maybe San Diego, if we can swing that one. I don't know. I heard a lot of people have fun there working. I'm still pretty content with Cali.