My First Assignment
As I mentioned here, I finally made it to South Carolina. And now…we back up in this story.
Housing
With travel therapy, your company will find you housing if you want them to. This definitely cuts down on the stress of finding a short-term lease while you are in a place you have never been to before.
However, when this occurs, you surrender your housing stipend to your company. So, by finding my own housing, the excess money I don’t spend on housing goes into my pocket. Obviously, this was the route I chose.
I began searching the normal places Craigslist, Air B&B and Zillow. Eventually, I found a place on Air B&B about 5-minute drive to work, very affordable, and the pictures made it seem just fine. I would be renting one room out of a 3 bedroom, so I would have 2 other roommates. Which was perfect because I didn’t know a soul in the state.
I arrive on a Sunday and I start work the next day on Monday. I pull up to an underwhelming house and meet the land lord. We walk in and there is close to 10 people hanging out in the living room…it was a party! Weirdly, I wasn’t in the mood after a full day driving.
I move in just the essentials to my room which was not the room that was listed online. The landlord then tells me that a different permanent tenant liked my supposed room more, so they changed rooms, and this was my new room.
I was exhausted so I didn’t argue. I was so tired, even the undisclosed cats that walked past didn’t faze me. The people eventually cleared out until what was left was myself, the guy who took my room, and a couple who lived in the other bedroom. Only one extra person than anticipated.
I then go out to my car to grab another bag. As I walk back into the house, I look in to a window of a room on the opposite side of the house from the 3 bedrooms me and the roomies are in. Inside, I see the back of the head of an old man who is just smoking a cigarette and watching TV.
WTF!
I get back inside and start talking to my roommate about who that was.
Me: “Who the hell is the guy in the back room?”
Him: “I have no idea, he has been living here since I have lived here”
Me: “Well, have you talked to him before or anything?”
Him: “Nope, he has never left his room since I have been here”
Me: Assuming he just moved in as I had “Oh, so you just moved in to?”
Him: “No. I have been here for 6 months”
Me: with shocked look on my face “But there isn’t a bathroom in that room…”
Also Me: *Quickly packs up car
I slept one long night there in defiance of what my family told me to do. I woke up, thankful to be alive and went to work.
Work
Work was, let’s say, different. Remember when I talked about the horror stories of travel therapy when you walk into a clinic in pure chaos??
Well I nailed it!
The company was still in the Stone age regarding documentation as they were still only using paper.They had 3 other travelers in the same clinic, which usually, is never a good sign.
You were responsible for anywhere from 2-3 patients per hour with the occasional 4th tossed in to really make it a fun time. Patient’s came and went as they pleased. Often showing up hours late, in which you were still supposed to treat them regardless of your current schedule. No cancellation, late, or no-show policy.
The schedule was a mess, billing was a mess, the manager was probably the biggest mess of all.On top of all of this, you also over saw 3 physical therapy assistants. Who in all reality were amazing, and made the job at least tolerable.
You also had 2 therapy techs to help you out with your caseload. When of course they weren’t running the managers errands, being a part time mechanic around the clinic, or “tailing an employee to determine if they had lied about getting lunch with their relative, or they actually were going to job interview at a different facility”.
TRUE FREAKING STORY!!
We all helped each other out whenever we could which lightened the load somewhat if one of us was particularly swamped that day. The craziest part was that I actually enjoyed going to work every day despite the horrible work environment because of these amazing people I worked with. What do they say? “Misery loves company?” The only difference is that my assignments always have a light at the end of the tunnel, they were stuck.
House #2
I told everyone about my horrible housing situation at work to which everyone laughed. Once the laughter ended, someone told me to look in to military housing as there is a large air force base in the town in which I was working. I did so and eventually I found an affordable guest house on a property out in the country.
I talked to the nicest couple with the heaviest southern draw I had ever heard. They invited me to come look at the place that night.I google map it, hop in the Buick La Sabre and drive to their place. I see the mailbox with their house number and pull in.
I enter through an extremely large archway with big white gates that are open at the moment. The wooded land entrance opens up to the largest front lawn I had ever seen, it had to be 3 football fields long. I follow the driveway up a small hill, and a large white house on top begins to take form and grow as I approach.
As I look around, 2 white vehicles sit in the garage, a cute white guest house sits across the driveway, and a small brown wooded house sits a few hundred yards behind the property.
I get out of my car and two dogs run up to greet me (which I later found out were named after civil war generals). If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’ll state the obvious. My new home for the next 13 weeks was going to be on an old plantation. Welcome to the South!
The owners come out to meet me and are probably the nicest people I have ever met. It is true what they say about southern hospitality. They show me the house which is old but perfect for what I need, and they are willing to rent to me even though I am not military. They decided that traveling healthcare was also giving back to the country.
It ended up being my favorite living situation to date. The owners were amazing and felt like family by the time I left. I think the only thing I won’t miss about living in the South is the cockroaches. Thank you Minnesota, for sheltering me from the most athletic bug on the planet. Seriously, the hardest things to kill.
Summary
I’m pretty sure every assignment that I start, my dad tells me “you can do anything for 13 weeks.”
Which does have some truth to it. The perks of traveling are that you get to work wit different people and in different settings, locations, environments on a very short-term basis.
If it sucks??
Guess what, it’s basically almost over by the time you come to this realization.
If it’s great?
You can possibly extend, you are closer to finding out what you are looking for in a full time position some day or you made some great friends in the process.
This assignment was by far the most chaotic I have ever experienced and it’s really not close. It paid the least out of all my assignments, which is broken down in my post about traveling reimbursement.
Yet, this did not deter me from continuing traveling healthcare. I was living in a brand-new location (my first time never experiencing a cold winter), surrounded by new people, making more money and on a new adventure. And I was headed to Boston that spring.
I credit traveling therapy for my new-found wanderlust in the world. I am already onto my 5th assignment now and I’m not stopping anytime soon.
Last Words
So, don’t let one horror story stop you. If I would have known what I know now, this situation, could have been avoided. But in hindsight, I’m glad it wasn’t. I learned more from that crazy assignment than all my others combined. And if I can make it through that assignment, I know I can do any other assignment out there.
Hopefully as I keep writing, I’ll be able to help others avoid these type of situations as well.
If you want to ask me any specific questions about my experiences or want to learn more about my traveling company or recruiter, feel free to reach out here! (A great recruiter smooths out the whole process)
