5 Years Nomad - Chapter 4
Fall 2021
We take off on vacation, going through Mount Carleton Provincial Park in New Brunswick on the way back from the Islands (I recommend it!!), the Saguenay, and Charlevoix. A little remote work here in cafés and a lot of the outdoors there.
I take on my first 80 km trail race at the Ultra Trail Harricana Canada (UTHC). I do it from start to finish with my friend Vincent; it was a wonderful day without too much trouble.
We then head back to my dad’s cottage in the Laurentians, and we work hard on Nomade recruiting. The recruiting cycles seem to follow the seasons, so we’re right in the middle of the fall rush. Émilie enjoys making calls to future Nomads, and we prepare their assignments on the Îles de la Madeleine. I find in her an extraordinary ally for what’s to come.
At the same time, on our end, we throw out feelers to the Côte-Nord and Gaspésie for a contract for the two of us. Being 2 nurses who work in the ER, intensive care, monitoring, resuscitation, triage, we tell ourselves we’re bound to find something eventually!
Good news: the Maria hospital seems to be in need and interested in our applications. We offer a first 3 weeks of availability. Perfect for dipping our toes into a new environment, we figure.
We hit the road toward the Baie des Chaleurs in Gaspésie on October 10, and we stay in a little cottage at the foot of the Pin Rouge ski mountain, about thirty minutes’ drive from the hospital. Nothing too far to be at the base of over 400 meters of elevation gain!
Émilie takes a day schedule and I take evenings so I can manage Agence Nomade during the day. The phone starts ringing more and more for the agency, and we enjoy it.
We’re both appreciated at the Maria hospital; the unit manager, Marie-Hélène, lets us know she’d like to renew us quickly for another assignment. We love Gaspésie and work in a very, very busy ER, it’s incredibly stimulating, but the goal of leaving the Islands wasn’t to go settle down long-term in a new place. We gently decline the Gaspésie offer, promising them we’ll be back, but right now we have a taste for adventure beyond Gaspésie. We still make up for it by proposing several Nomads to the health center who are available in turn to come lend a hand with the staff shortage.
We can still say loud and proud that “Gaspésie, I love you”!
We’ll meet again.
After a getaway to Toronto, we sign a new contract with the Cree Health Board that lets us confirm a 3-week assignment in the ER of Chisasibi, in the Cree Territories of James Bay. Finally, heading north! I was really eager to go, since I’d received a lot of wonderful comments about Chisasibi, and Émilie and I are happy to launch into a new adventure.
Winter 2022
With our passion for the outdoors and my call of the mountains, we reach back out to the Maria hospital to spend the holidays and the start of winter there; we figure there’s no better place to settle than in the heart of an outdoor paradise.
We both go back to the ER, but this time I manage to get part-time hours. The rest of the time will be devoted to managing the company. Émilie and I handle the management of about sixty Nomads across the province. I wake up early every day, 7 days a week, to get on my emails and my to-do list that never ends. Between managing the Nomads, managing recruiting, the call-back lists, the problems, the invoices, the payroll, the cash-flow management, it’s starting to add up to a lot.
I don’t take enough time to enjoy winter to my liking; I have to pass on the invitations to go cross-country skiing with the Nomads more often than I’d like, since my presence is required on the phone or in front of my computer. In the moment, I don’t complain too much; I feel lucky to have so many healthcare professionals interested in going on assignment and who want it to be me and Émilie taking care of them before, during, and after their stay in the region. We do it with all our energy and the best intentions in the world, and we learn that managing people is truly an art in itself. We learn every day and stay in a tiny house by the sea. Our remote-work office really isn’t embarrassing, let’s say!
Also, it’s in early winter that Claudia and Yorick made the jump to Nomade; we brought them closer to us in Gaspésie for a long assignment, just the way they like them. Very happy about the reunion!
See you next week, for Chapter 5!