Traveling ICU RN, Grace Birmingham - The Atlas Life #76

Grace B.: Maggie's my people. So people that I refer to Maggie are my friends and they know how I am. So when I tell them that I love Maggie and I love working with her, they know that it's someone that I do well with. And it's like I said, my people.

Maggie Hammer: Yeah. I hope Kate and Anthony see this.

Grace B.: Yes.

Maggie Hammer: They should be here.

Grace B.: They're my people.

Maggie Hammer: Yeah. They're our people. Okay. I'm Maggie hammer. I'm a recruiter.

Grace B.: And I'm Grace Birmingham. I'm an ICU nurse. So I slid into Maggie's DM's. I had seen her name on the Facebook page a bunch. I was looking for a new company. And her name had kept popping up in comments. So I sent her a message and told her I wanted to work with her. I lived in Ohio my whole life. I went from Cincinnati, Ohio to Cleveland. So it wasn't a big change. So I decided that travel nursing was my opportunity to get out. The best part of traveling is, I would say meeting all different kinds of people. I've been in the South, I've been in the North, I've been kind of all over. So you definitely see different ways of doing things and different types of people. I have forever friends that I've met on assignments, I've gone back to visit them since I've left assignments. And there's people that I talk to every day that I never would have met without traveling.

Grace B.: It's hard to kind of have that first day jitters all over again. You get comfortable in a place. My current assignment, I've been almost eight months. So you get comfortable, you know who you're going to work with, you know kind of how things work. So starting all over and learning a new system, learning new people, all that is very intimidating. I'm trying to go to Boston next. I'd like to do Massachusetts, if Maggie can get me there.

Maggie Hammer: We will. We will. Mark will.

Grace B.: My dad grew up in Massachusetts so I've grown up going to places outside of Boston and-

Maggie Hammer: That is my bucket list. I will 1000% with her because we're going to go visit.

Grace B.: Yes. I've only done day trips so I'd like to live there and it's expensive to live. So while I'm traveling is the chance to do it.

Maggie Hammer: Yeah. She's a friend. We've gotten close, [inaudible 00:02:06] her appreciation, she's easy to work with with. It's way different, it becomes an entirely different job when it's that personal feel than it is just, "Here's your assignment. Talk to you in a few months. We'll talk in a couple weeks."

Grace B.: We connect a lot more.

Maggie Hammer: Yeah.

Grace B.: Yeah. Maggie calls me and I look forward to answering her call. And she knows kind of what... she knows who I am and relates to that. So it makes it a lot easier to talk to her because I'm in constant contact with her. I talk to her at least twice a week, I'm sure. Whether it's text or call.

Maggie Hammer: People like Grace, who are appreciative, who show up to work. That's what I want. I want people that I can go hang out with, that I can go take trips with, that I can go visit because that is my goal is to meet each and every one of my nurses in person. And she's somebody that I would take time off work for and I would pay for a flight to get out.

Grace B.: She'll come see me in Boston.

Maggie Hammer: Yeah. Yep. Let's say that again. Yeah. I'm going to go to Boston.

Grace B.: My advice to a first time traveler is be very open. You're going to be very out of your comfort zone. You have to be kind of welcoming to everyone. You don't know the kind of people you're going to work with. You don't know the kind of unit you're going to work on. So you have to be very flexible. You can't be stuck in one way. You have to shift. Atlas cares about you as a person. You're not just a number to them. You're not a paycheck for them. They care about you and they care about your wellbeing. They're not going to put you in a situation that you're uncomfortable because they're not okay with that. So they are worried about you as a person.