I am currently on assignment in a town called Gainesville, Georgia. No, no, not Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville, GEORGIA! Most people assume I am working in Florida when I tell them about Gainesville. No gators here in this Gainesville! I have to be honest; I had never heard of this town before this assignment. It turns out it’s a wonderful place for an assignment! Situated in an area deemed Northeast Georgia, adjacent to the Appalachian Mountains (the most beautiful mountains in the U.S. in my opinion) and right next to beautiful Lake Lanier, it’s a nature lover’s paradise and a relatively short drive to the city life of Atlanta and other lovely towns.

The Hospital

Northeast Georgia Hospital is based in Gainesville but has a few different smaller locations, including Braselton and Barrow, and plans for a Dahlonega facility. At 557 beds in Gainesville, it is quite large and is a level II trauma center, has labor and delivery services, cardiovascular services, and dialysis capabilities, as well as 23 operating rooms. Outside of Atlanta, it offers some of the most comprehensive services and state-of-the-art technology.

I have been quite impressed with NGHS. I would recommend this hospital based on my experience in the peri-operative area. They use EPIC for their EMR (electronic medical records), which is the best charting system I have seen.

What to See and Do in Northeast Georgia

Hiking

If you are anything like me and love nature and WINE, 🍷 you are in for a treat!

Hiking abounds! The Appalachian Mountains provide an incredible backdrop for all kinds of amazing hikes dotted with incredible scenic mountain views, waterfalls, and lush forests. I found a super great site that lays out all the hikes around the Atlanta and Northeast Georgia area, atlantatrails.com. It is very detailed in the trail terrain, distance, difficulty to be expected, and directions.

The infamous Appalachian Trail (AT) starts in Northeast Georgia at Springer Mountain and ends at Mount Katahdin in Maine. I have now inadvertently been to the beginning and the end of the Appalachian Trail! Maybe a sign I need to do this hike one day?! In the summer of 2019, I had the good fortune to spend my time in beautiful Maine as a camp nurse, and that is another wonderful area to visit.

Whether it is the AT or other trails, Northeast Georgia provides for some spectacular hiking! Some of the trails I was able to explore and enjoyed included Amicalola Falls, Raven Cliffs Falls, Blood Mountain, and Preacher’s Rock. It would take months of consistent hiking, though, to really see all Northeast Georgia has to offer. Happy hiking!

Northeast Georgia Wine Country 🍷

Now to my close second favorite part (ok, probably my top favorite) about Northeast Georgia…. the wine! Did you know there were wineries in Northeast Georgia? Me neither! I was pleasantly surprised!

Despite being in the well-known hot and humid south of the U.S., the Georgia foothills provide moderately cooler temperatures and rich soil for grape growing and winemaking. From muscadine to sweet wines to more heavy-bodied wines, Northeast Georgia has it all!

Some of the wineries also have full-sized restaurants and also do superbly done brunch. Who doesn’t love brunch? There are also tasting rooms in the quaint little town of Dahlonega, GA, which is just 30 minutes outside of Gainesville and where I happen to reside for this assignment.

Some of the wineries near Dahlonega include Wolf Mountain, Montaluce, Three Sisters, Kaya, Cavender Creek, and Frogtown Cellars. A little further out near Helen and Cleveland, Georgia, you can find one of Georgia’s oldest wineries Habersham Winery, Yonah Mountain, The Cottage Vineyard and Winery, and CeNita, to name a few.

Charming Towns in Northeast Georgia

Dahlonega

I live in Dahlonega, Georgia; pronounced Duh-lawn-egah for my non-Georgia resident friends. It took weeks of purposeful practiced pronunciation as I read it as dall-o-nega (akin to Talladega) as any typical part unabashed southern redneck may do. 😂 It is derived from a Cherokee Native American word meaning yellow, as it was found as a gold mining hub in the 1800s.

At any rate, Dahlonega is about 35 minutes outside of Gainesville and is a quaint town locally revered as a Hallmark movie inspiration with its picturesque small town square surrounded by the Smoky Mountains, particularly during Christmas. A local Dahlonega bar also debuted in a country music song by Ashley McBryde, A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega. Who knew?! The square has many cute little restaurants and shops, and wine tasting rooms. If you like Greek food, you MUST visit Capers on the Square. I probably ate there 5 to 6 times during my stay, don’t miss the goat cheese and fig flatbread… to die for. They also have delicious baba ganouj, gyros, and moussaka.

Charming Dahlonega at Christmastime

Helen

A Bavarian-inspired town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, Helen is full of charm. You will think you have just teleported to the Bavarian region of Germany! The architecture is stunning, and downtown has plenty of shops and German-inspired restaurants. It was revamped in the 1960s and modeled after Germany’s Bavarian region to increase tourism and bring life back to the town after an economic downturn.

Other Charming Towns

More towns to see within a relatively short distance include Clayton, Blue Ridge, Ellijay, and Cave Spring, to name a few.

Additional Things To Do in Northeast Georgia

Gainesville is pretty neat in itself! It has a quaint square downtown area with shops and restaurants. Gainesville boasts lakeside views of Lake Lenier, popular for kayaking, paddle boarding, and boating. A special little treat for my garden lover friends, the Atlanta Botanical Gardens has a branch in Gainesville and is a lovely respite area! Moreover, they have special events like “Wine in the Woodlands” nights with food trucks and wine, so be sure to check their events page.

In the mood for big city life? Atlanta and the metro area are only about 70 miles outside of Gainesville. Plenty to see and do there as well!

Pro Tips for Northeast Georgia

Ideal times to visit and or do an assignment – Spring to Fall (Winters are dreary and cold and gray and not a whole lot of snow to make it a great winter destination)
Travel Nurse Housing is surprisingly expensive in Gainesville! This is likely because it is a lakeside community as caters to people making mountain/lake getaways. I opted to live in Dahlonega for much more reasonable pricing, although a hike from the hospital.

I hope you enjoy Northeast Georgia as much as I did and put it on your list to visit! With wineries and nature, you can’t go wrong. Happy travels!

Gypsy love,

Katie

We’ve come through half a year of uncertainty…and chaos. One of the tools that can help us continue to navigate these trying times is our old friend, resilience. As travel nurses, having resilience is vital. Your work environment and assignments are ever-changing, even more so now, due to the pandemic.

Resilience Defined

A typical definition of resilience is the ability to recover from and integrate adversity, setbacks, or surprises. I like the image of riding a wave, like a surfer: when we can surf the ups and downs of life, we build strength and skills to help us stay on top of the wave, and when we fall, to get back on the board and try again. Like a wave in the ocean, we can’t control what happens in life; all we can do is respond.

Building Resilience

The great news about resilience is that it’s like a muscle that can be strengthened through a process of continuous growth; you may never be done, but you can keep getting better at it.

Resilience depends both on inner and outer resources to be properly nourished and bolstered. The internal conversations, beliefs, and resourcefulness we have can be learned and practiced and are supported by external factors, such as our web of social supports, access to stabilizing services, and other environmental factors, such as political stability, access to healthcare, safe housing, and education, to name a few. It’s different for everyone, but regardless of where we are each starting, here is a simple process to follow to help strengthen your resilience.

Step 1: Acknowledge

When something bad or unexpected happens, what is your typical response? Do you acknowledge it or ignore it or just try to get past it as quickly as possible?

There’s real value in taking a moment to acknowledge what is. When we avoid or resist something, that thing has power over us. However, when we take time to name what is, we deflate some of its power and intensity. The ability to be with what is is a powerful skill and vital to building resilience.

So, when the next challenge, obstacle, or disappointment happens (because it will), take some time to ask yourself these questions:

What impact does this event, information, or change have on me – emotionally, physically, logistically, financially, relationally, spiritually?
How do I feel about it? What is the name of this feeling? (and actually feel those emotions in your body)

Please, DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! If you don’t acknowledge what’s happened, it will keep nudging you in different ways until it gets your full attention. Deal with it now, so you can integrate it and move forward. The only way out is through.

Step 2: Accept

The next step in the process is to accept what is. This is difficult for many of us — we resist and regret and rail against the way things are. Here’s a distinction that may help: Accepting something doesn’t mean you condone what happened or is happening; it just means you accept that you can’t change that it happened or is happening.

When you accept what is, you free up your energy to focus on what you can control (your response to the obstacle, challenge, or loss). Acceptance can require a mindset shift to move out of resistance, and it can take some practice. Some helpful things to tell yourself might include:

Change is inevitable.
This, too, shall pass.
I cannot control what happened/is happening to me; only my response to it.
I can do hard things.

One of the most helpful tools I’ve used for several years is the silver linings mindset. I ask myself: What is the learning in this experience? What is the gift of this happening to (or for) me? This shifts me out of victim thinking and into empowered thinking.

Accepting what is, especially when it is bad and full of uncertainty, is difficult. It just is. Once you can begin to accept, you can move on to the next step of strengthening resilience.

Step 3: Assess

Assessing is the step where you shift from reacting to responding. It’s when you begin to look forward and formulate a plan so you can move from uncertainty to possibility. It’s time for your logical, rational, hard-working brain to step up to the plate.

Ask yourself the following questions to assess what you want and what you’re working with:

What do I want? Or, What’s the best I can hope for?
What do I have control or command over? What are my choices?
What are my skills and capabilities related to this?
Who and what are my current supports, and what other supports might I need?
What can I let slide right now so I can direct my energy to this plan?

Based on your assessment, formulate your plan of action. Then move on to the final step.

Step 4: Act

You guessed it: the final step is to take action. This action might be doing something or not doing anything based on your needs, capacity, and assessment. Maybe all you do is keep surviving. You focus on what you can take off your list of responsibilities. Maybe you reach out for a connection with another human. This is not necessarily a time to take on more, or new, or big….unless it is for you.

One of my favorite frameworks for creating a realistic action plan that you can actually implement is to keep it simple by asking yourself these three questions:

What can I STOP?
What can I START?
What can I SHIFT?

Begin with the easiest first step, and build from there.

As this pandemic continues for the foreseeable future, circle back through the 4 A’s as needed to absorb new challenges that come your way. Because they will come, and take note of how quickly you bounce back or don’t—no judgment; only grace. Remember: We’re all doing the best we can with what we have available right now. That’s enough. You’re enough. We’re all enough. We’ll get through this, and we’ll learn valuable things along the way.

If you are a new travel nurse or looking into becoming a travel nurse:

START HERE

Travel Nurse Guide: Step-by-Step (now offered in a PDF Downloadable version!)

This article was provided by Professional Nursing Services.

As a recruiter, I often get asked by new nurses. Why do people even consider travel nursing?

Everyone has their own reason, but these are the ones I hear most frequently.

Adventure

Traveling is a great opportunity to see more the world. Travel Nursing gives you the opportunity to see more without hurting your bottom line. The average vacation is four days and that not much time to take in a location.

The average travel nursing contract lasts 13 weeks and there is a lot more opportunity to seen an area when you can explore it for weeks on end. Whether it is hiking the Rocky Mountains or visiting the Met in NY, the extended-stay allows you to really take in the whole area.

Pay

Travel Nurses can make a lot more money than staff nurses. Some nurses aren’t worried about where they go or what they see but are there for the money and more money. There are a couple of different ways to effectively maximize your pay.

Picking the right location, everyone wants to go to Cali and the pay seems great but the cost of living takes a lot of the extra money you make. Picking a less desirable location usually has good pay with a very low cost of living.

Taking the maximum subsidies allows you to get paid without pesky taxes and it is completely legal. You will want to consult with an accountant to make sure that you are doing it right.

Pay can be a great motivator for people who aren’t picky on their location.

Experience

When wanting to move up the ranks having experience in different locations with different methods looks great on a resume. While travel nursing is not for everyone, there are a lot of great opportunities for those who want to try it out.

Finished the travel nursing guide and are ready to look for an assignment?

Check out our travel nurse jobs!

This article was provided by TNAA.

Don’t get comfortable yet. As the country shifts into this new phase of the crisis, we must adapt to industry-standard changes and slightly more personal freedoms outside of work. Staying up-to-date with varying state regulations has always been a burden carried by travel nurses. Like the disease itself, our way of life — on and off the unit — changes by the minute. More than ever, it’s crucial that your agency remains vigilant by ensuring they’re protecting their nurses, reacting to market trends, and ensuring they’re available to support their nurses.

Industry Changes & What You Need to Know

Between the influx of crisis assignments and the numerous canceled contracts, it’s safe to say the healthcare industry is trying to find its footing. Many travel nurses find themselves wondering whether the facility will provide adequate PPE, or how state emergency declarations impact licensure. Keeping up with these changes can be overwhelming — hello, news overload — and nurses have enough on their plates. You need your agency to have your back. Check with your recruiter to see how your agency is protecting you during this time.

Credentialing: Your agency should ensure the issuing of your emergency temp license before your start date. Plus, they should have a plan to follow up on permanent license status so you can continue working if/when the state of emergency lifts.
Clinical Support: Your agency should focus on supporting you through the acute portion of this crisis. Do you have a team available to assist with concerns surrounding PPE and mental health resources?

Adapting to the New Job Market

Between limited surgeries and low hospital census, it seems that work is scarce if you’re not an ICU nurse. Yes, we’re talking to you OR, PACU, and even some NICU nurses. It’s a terrible time to start travel nursing because there are no jobs, or that’s what chatter across social media would have you believe. But that’s not the case. Jobs will return. As America adjusts to a new normal, so will hospitals. It’s crucial to prep your file now so that when positions open, you’re ready to be one of the first nurses to submit. Think about it; you can count on seeing an influx in elective surgeries, from knee replacements to trigger finger surgeries. Plus, with summer rolling in and states reopening, there’s sure to be a rise in emergency surgeries from accidents and injuries. Operating rooms will reopen, and when they do, every OR and PACU travel nurse will submit for the same jobs.

Prep Your File: Focus on updating your skills checklist and references to reflect any recent travel experience. Your recruiter is your best ally, armed with market knowledge of what hiring managers want to see from travel nurse profiles.
Remain Flexible: As jobs open, we expect a tidal wave of nurses applying to each job. Increase your chances of landing a job by remaining flexible on location, shift, and any day-off requests.
Stay Available: Travel nursing is always about speed. When your recruiter submits your profile for a job, try to keep your phone available. Look up the area code and should you miss a call, call back as soon as possible.

Hiking, Exploring & Changes to Expect When You’re Off The Clock

While Texas beaches are open, lodging at Arkansas state parks remains reserved for in-state residents only. Confused? You’re not alone, and unfortunately, no one really knows what to expect in the coming days. So, what can you do on your day off? Here are a few tips.

Outdoor Exploring: Before you pack up your gear, check to see what restrictions are in place. State tourism websites, nps.gov, and local government press releases keep updated restriction info listed. Be sure to pack any items you need to remain socially distant and ensure you can practice good hand hygiene.
City Exploring: With social distancing guidelines in place, it can be difficult to get a feel for your new city. Expect some level of overcrowding at those must-see venues, so you may need to get creative. Try to go when they’re not typically busy, or see if you can reserve a more private experience — for instance, booking a private tour for you and your fellow nurses.
Local Exploring: Travel nurses know, there’s a big difference between visiting those must-see attractions and really getting to know the local culture. A great way to do this, while self-isolating or remaining socially distant, is to create a local bucket-list. Ask around and visit local food blogs to find out what you need to experience, from notable take-out dining to a city’s staple local shops. Essentially, those local treasures that will help you remember the area.

Seeking Support

Above all, the COVID-19 pandemic impact highlights a glaring need for travel nurses — real support. Over the years, the industry has shifted as agencies, and travel nurses alike trended toward do-it-yourself technology and minimized communication. As the coronavirus spread, all aspects of travel nursing changed by the minute. From contract cancellations to shifts in housing options, it’s more important than ever to have a team behind you as you navigate these unchartered waters. So, what is support? It’s knowing that you have people in your corner to find you clean, safe housing after hours. Feeling confident that you can communicate with your agency’s payroll team to fix any mistakes. It’s believing that your agency’s focus remains on connecting you to high-paying, quality travel nurse jobs while continuing to protect your interests along the way.

Finished the travel nursing guide and are ready to look for an assignment?

The Hospital

What to See and Do in Northeast Georgia

Hiking

Northeast Georgia Wine Country 🍷

Charming Towns in Northeast Georgia

Dahlonega

Helen

Other Charming Towns

Additional Things To Do in Northeast Georgia

Pro Tips for Northeast Georgia

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Resilience Defined

Building Resilience

Step 1: Acknowledge

Step 2: Accept

Step 3: Assess

Step 4: Act

If you are a new travel nurse or looking into becoming a travel nurse:

Travel Nurse Guide: Step-by-Step (now offered in a PDF Downloadable version!)

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