By Claire Brocato, feature writer
Being
married to a military man, Terry Evans, RN, became accustomed to packing up and
moving to new places on a regular basis.
However, once her husband retired, the couple had no intention of putting down
roots. Instead, they wanted to continue their life on the road.
"What
makes travel nursing so wonderful" Evans said, "is that we get to choose where
we want to go, instead of being told where to go. What a treat!"
Terry
chose American Mobile Healthcare as her travel company because of the recruiter
she spoke to when she first contacted the company.
"Kathleen, the recruiter, was so friendly, with such a nice bedside manner,"
Evans said. "I liked the way she spoke to me, and I instantly felt comfortable
with her. She’s been my recruiter since I started traveling two years ago and I
wouldn’t give her up for anything!"
For
her first travel nursing assignment, Evans and her husband left their home in
Homer, Alaska, and traveled across the country to Port St Lucie, Florida. "Talk
about one extreme to the next," laughed Evans. "We loved it, though, and spent
10 months there."
During her travels, Evans also found the time to write a story, based on her
nursing experience, which has been published in a book titled, Intensive
Care: More Poetry and Prose by Nurses, an anthology of creative writing by
nurses from around the country and across the world. The book, compiled by nurse
practitioners Cortney Davis and Judy Schaefer, was released on Nurses Day 2003
and is a sequel to their first volume of nursing stories: Between the
Heartbeats: Poetry and Prose by Nurses.
"I
saw an advertisement in a nursing journal, asking nurses to submit their stories
and poetry," recalled Evans, "so I sent them a piece about a couple I’d met when
I first started working in a doctor’s office 30 years ago. The story focused on
my relationship with them, not only as a nurse, but also as a friend. It was
very special to me and I was delighted that the editors saw the value of what I
was trying to communicate."
"All
the stories and poetry contained in this book really touch on the emotions you
feel as a nurse—love,
fear, hope, and the desire to save lives. It’s filled with writing that any nurse can
relate to."
Evans
and her husband have since traveled to Brownsville, Texas; Chinle, Arizona and
Bouder, Colorado.
"Working as a labor and delivery travel nurse has given me the opportunity to
learn about the culture of giving birth amongst so many different kinds of
people," Evans said. "I’ve worked with Mexican, Haitian and Native American
patients and learned the special traditions and customs that each culture
associates with the birth of a child. It’s been a very enriching and rewarding
experience, and something I will always treasure."
"I
can honestly say that I have learned more in the two years that I’ve worked as a
travel nurse than the 30 years before that," she said. "It’s been an incredible
experience."
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