From the Jungle to the Asphalt Jungle

A traveler experiences the best of both worlds by living in Costa Rica and accepting assignments in New York City
Helena Greaney, RN

My travel nurse career started in 2005. My husband and I decided to move to Costa Rica where he could open a pub, and he wanted us “to move now while we were still young enough to do something else”. We were living in Boston and I was working as an advanced practice psychiatric nurse after having worked several years as a nurse manager. Advanced practice work was independent, interesting, and most of the time I liked it. But I was working many hours and had to continually strive to find a balance between work and not-work. As we were preparing for our move, I discussed with my husband the possibility of signing up with a travel company in case we needed more money. He was agreeable and I began networking to out more about travel nursing—this took some effort since it does not seem as if many travel nurses are employed in Massachusetts, at least in my specialty.

Katheryn was my first travel nurse friend. She is a psychiatric nurse and had been traveling a few years when I began writing to her via email. She told me all I needed to hear to decide to start traveling. I signed up with her agency and worked at her hospital in the San Francisco Bay area. She picked me up at the airport, helped me get my license and fingerprints in Sacramento and assisted in my search for housing. I remember feeling shocked and overwhelmed the first few days. I was not familiar with the Bay area and there was a lot of paper work to prepare for my first assignment. Once I started working I was fine. I was confident of my skills and it was interesting to be in a new work environment. The hospital was acute with an average length of stay of 5 days and documentation was streamlined which allowed more time for patient contact. I met many travel nurses and the regular staff was friendly and welcoming. I had several contacts in the Bay area including a first cousin, whom I had never met, a close friend from high school I had not seen in several years, and a couple from Boston who had just moved out there. I felt like I had an instant community and it was great to reconnect with everyone. One of my friends lent me a car which was important for the spread out Bay area.

After completing two separate 13 week assignments at this hospital, and talking with other travelers, I decided to try New York City. There, I would not need a car and I was close to my family in Connecticut where I could see my nephews growing up. I actually grew up near NY and had always thought I would live there someday. So I got my chance.

For the past three years I have been traveling to the same hospital in New York. I have settled into an evening shift while I enjoy New York, visit with my family and make new friends. I have a good relationship with one of the nurse managers who has placed me in an assignment each time I wanted to come back. The last time she said she had 20 applicants for one position and when she saw my name she moved me to the top. Working the evening shift in New York is great. I have my mornings to myself, and since New York is the city that never sleeps, it is safe coming home on the subway at midnight.

It works out better for me to take the housing supplement and find my own place to stay. This is a stressful process but each time I go back it gets easier. It is great to go back to the same hospital with the same group of nurses. I have mostly worked on a detoxification unit and I have learned a lot from the other nurses about treating this group of patients. Friends visit me often, and we go to Broadway plays, music venues, and great restaurants. My husband came one time for a week at the end of one of my assignments and we went to all the great New York pubs.

One of the women I rented from said to me, “I think it is good you come back every year. It is good to be in New York. You should do this even if you do not have to work”. And now I agree. The more I return to New York, the more this lifestyle suits me. I spend some of my time in Costa Rica and some in New York City. The contrast is invigorating and amazing. I like having the structure of a work situation and regular income when I am in New York. And in Costa Rica I am immersed in nature with fabulous views, the sounds of the jungle all around, time with my husband, and time to myself. As one of my new friends said “it is the best of both worlds.” Being a travel nurse makes it all possible.

Health Care Traveler, November 2009, pages 37 and 39