5 Years Nomad - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Winter 2020

I’m having a blast, discovering the Islands in winter all over again, using the snowshoe trails to go for my jogs.

I get trained in intensive care, in the resuscitation room. It gives me new challenges, the critical care team trusts me, and it lets me develop new skills as a nurse, which I’m thrilled about.

While on vacation, I also always take the chance to head to Gaspésie Park for some back country with my friends on our winter classic, then take off to join my roommate Vickie, who’s on a student exchange in Spain, for a 2-week trip with friends.

I have a few Nomads under my care, but nothing that can’t be handled remotely; I take the time to manage my emails and run payroll from overseas. I find it enjoyable to be able to do all of that while traveling. A real digital nomad life.

March 2020

I got back from Spain 24 hours before the pandemic was announced in Québec. Goes to show you’ll never regret going on a trip (when will our last one be?!). I take off for the Islands, initially for 3 weeks.

Good news: no COVID cases on the Islands, everyone is being very careful, and travel between regions quickly becomes reserved for essential trips only.

I end up staying on the Islands without leaving until the end of the summer. Pandemic obliges. We were in a yellow zone without too many restrictions; we were literally in a bubble, far from all the horror stories in the long-term care homes and hospitals in the city.

The summer is just as enjoyable; friends and family come to visit me as the COVID reopening unfolds, and Agence Nomade slowly starts to get known. I cross paths with all kinds of new people, new Nomads, external students - cepi - contract workers. I tell myself that maybe, one day, all these folks could join the Nomade Family too.

I sign a contract with a CISSS in a non-remote region to offer a tandem between an urban region and a remote region. I receive hundreds of workforce-need emails a day that I can’t fill on my own, but I tell myself it’s better to take it one step at a time, slow and steady.

I complete the crossing of the Islands from end to end along Route 199 with my roommate Hiroshi at the end of August. A long 86 km day, what a joy to share that with my friend! Since there’s no organized race anywhere in the province, you might as well set yourself personal challenges!

End of 2020

Agence Nomade now counts about ten Nomads. Once again, everything is going well on my end between the emails, the recruiting, and the little assignment issues. I get approached by a big placement agency to form some kind of partnership; I’m curious to know more, but in the end I don’t hear back. Still, I tell myself that a certain amount of attention is heading our way.

I try to push recruiting in non-remote regions, but it works a little less smoothly and pleasantly than in remote regions. I notice it takes a lot of energy to try to confirm a single shift at a time, whereas in remote regions I’m able to confirm several months of work assignments for the same effort, and have a lot more fun doing it.

It’s as if I’m organizing a trip for someone heading off to discover a new region. I love travel, what could be more fun!

I develop a partnership with private residences in Charlevoix that are struggling to keep afloat with their staff shortages and COVID outbreaks.

I even have to deal with a healthcare professional who’s a “no show” on her work assignment on Christmas Day. I’m the one who has to handle it, I’m the one in charge!

See you next week, for Chapter 3!