When Travel Nursing Brings You Closer to Family

It wasn’t easy for Doris Harding to find out that her son, Sean, was going to be deployed to Afghanistan in June. When she found out she knew she wanted to spend time with him before he got sent abroad. But how could she? Sean was stationed in Hawaii and she was living in Virginia.

“The thought of someone you love as much as a mother loves her son and him going to war was overwhelming. I did not know what to do,” Doris said. “I had a job and commitments in Virginia, knew nothing about Hawaii, and the only thing I knew was I had to get there and spend good quality time with my son no matter what.”

Typically, when people talk about travel nursing, the most common concern is being apart from family and friends. Travel nurses deal with isolation and loneliness on a daily basis. And yet, Doris found herself in a unique position of considering travel nursing, not to leave family behind, but to be closer to them!

She recalled, “I was working as a nurse and had heard about travel nursing, so I looked up and did some surfing online. Almost right away I started getting tons of emails and even phone calls, which even felt more overwhelming than the thoughts I was feeling.”

“Then I got a call from Cirrus—from Brent, the best recruiter ever. He was the first person I talked to who didn’t make me feel like I was the fiftieth person he had spoken to that day. He really listened, made me feel like he really was hearing my concerns and fears about jumping into travel nursing, and I just really enjoyed him.  And that feeling never went away.”

Brent was Doris’ guiding hand throughout the whole process. He answered every question, addressed every little fear, and provided Doris with information that she didn’t even think to ask.

She continued, “And the staff, especially credentialing, were the same way with me. There were bumps on the road and glitches, but the support staff worked them all out and I felt they were all as sincere as Brent in trying to make sure I had everything I needed to get where I wanted to go.”

Within a week of first contacting Doris, Brent was able to lock a PEDS ER contract for her in Hawaii, where she spent eight glorious weeks as a travel nurse. The position didn’t only pay well, Doris got what she wanted—she now had plenty of free time to spend with Sean before his deployment.

“Within an amazingly short time, I was working AND I was with my son. Cirrus went above and beyond. Got a great nursing experience working with and learning about the culture of Pacific Islanders and got to spend quality time with my son,” Doris said.

With her travel assignment done, Doris is now back in Virginia where she’s getting ready for her next assignment, this time closer to home.