Traveling ER RN Kristi Creighton - The Atlas Life #84

Christie C.: It's one of the benefits of living in Omaha and working with a company that's in Omaha. I do get to put a personal face on the company. It's not just a transaction, it's not just my job, it's friends and people that I get to know.

Jason H.: And I like to meet the people I work with as well. And I kind of make it a point to meet as many of my travelers as I can. But like I said, blessed that she's here in Omaha and get to see her more than most.

Christie C.: Hi, I'm Christie Creighton. I'm an emergency department nurse and I've been traveling for about two years now. I know I was in a contract with another facility, different travel organization last summer, and we connected, we talked for quite awhile before that contract was over.

Jason H.: Yeah, I reached out to her just from one of our leads, you know, kind of cold calling and I noticed going through our leads that she's from Omaha, Nebraska, and I always kind of key in on that, key in on those types of things. I like to work with people from Omaha.

Christie C.: The first time Jason and I spoke, we spent probably an hour on the phone and we never talked about contracts. We just got to know each other. I like having a recruiter that wants to know me, and that way when challenges come up and a job isn't available where I really want to go, he says, "Well, what about this?" And he knows me well enough to know that I'm willing to consider things I may not have even thought of. So sometimes I'm even surprised where I end up.

Christie C.: I always wanted to be a travel nurse. I have children at home, but they were getting older, and about to graduate, and it was something I wanted to do for my career. I started out as a paramedic. I did pre-hospital. A lot of ER nurses started out with pre-hospital care because that fast pace is something that we just enjoy. I knew that that was where I wanted to end up as a nurse in my career and I wasn't wrong. The best part of travel nursing is getting to pick where I want to go. I don't stay around Omaha. I'm looking for places that are unique, places I haven't been to. I spent the summer on Nantucket. I got to spend an entire summer on a beach.

Christie C.: Some of the downside of that is that facilities contracts are written to protect facilities, not the travel nurse, and you are looking for a new job every three months, but all of that is manageable if you've got the personality that you can just jump in and "Hi.", you know, I've never met somebody that's not a friend.

Jason H.: Christie's great. I mean she's very straight forward, which, which I love. I mean I try and work, I'm very transparent. That fits her perfectly. I mean she doesn't need me to sugar coat anything, doesn't want me to.

Christie C.: No.

Jason H.: And, and we both kind of respect each other in that process in that way.

Christie C.: Jason's amazing. This is-

Jason H.: Well, thank you.

Christie C.: This is my fourth travel company. I've been a nurse in, a travel ER nurse for two years. When things go wrong, he's there for me. And that ultimately is what matters. It's not just about the money in my pocket. It's about the fact that Jason, and in fact all of Atlas, has had my back.

Jason H.: And she's cake. I mean, she's low maintenance, but you know-

Christie C.: You are the only person that would say that about me.

Jason H.: But I mean you are though. I mean you're very self sufficient with everything. But if something, you know, something hits the fan, you know, she knows I'm going to drop what I'm doing and she's my priority.

Christie C.: I am going back to Massachusetts. I love New England, love the fact that I have family near there. I like the energy in New England. So I'll be there in a couple of weeks.

Jason H.: We have her headed to Salem.

Christie C.: Yep.

Speaker 3: Going to hang out at the BOOston and meet and greet.

Christie C.: Absolutely.