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Alaska Wrap-Up!

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We are again on the edge of an epic road trip. Kate and I are celebrating the first of 37 days off from work and really excited for the upcoming trip as we pack up and get ready to hit the road. This trip is going to be a really neat way to wrap up our time in Alaska. Before getting back to the lower 48, we will take a 10 day water ferry down the coast of Alaska seeing glaciers, sea life, and stopping in a few smaller Alaskan towns along the way.

Today, I really just wanted to share with you some of my favorite memories from the last 6 months. Alaska is a must-do for any experienced travel healthcare worker. As I’ve shared previously, getting set-up here was tougher than most assignments, but the adventure and experience was well worth it.

During our time here, “Champ,” the RV we bought for chump-change, became our access portal to weekend adventure and camping without fear of rain, cold, or bears. Champ drove us as far south from Anchorage as Homer, a small coastal town at the tip of the Kenai Penisula, “where the land ends and the sea begins.” Down in Homer we met up with a nurse friend, Anna, that I had met on assignment in Colorado. She has found her way out hereto the great north the way a lot of other nurses and PTs have, working for the Native Hospital Corporation… If you’re open to being in Alaska for a couple years and paying off some loans, look into it, but that’s a whole other commentary for a different time. We knew Anna had adventurous plans for the weekend, but the end result was the coolest weekend this summer. The weather was perfect, 70 degrees and flat seas. We hopped on a water taxi that took us across the bay to a marked trailhead on a rocky and secluded beach. Feeling like we were exploring untouched land with bear spray strapped on each of our hips, we hiked into a glacial lake with ice bergs floating in it that had recently broken off the glacier at the opposite end. Past the lake, we hiked out to another isolated trailhead on another beach where we had tied off kayaks to paddle a couple miles over to the town of Halibut Cove. On the way to Halibut Cove, we paddled our kayaks across the flat bay seeing sea otters at close range, halibut swimming right underneath us, and giant starfish latched onto the bottom in more shallow water. Before taking the water ferry back to Homer from Halibut Cove, we explore the isolated community of 37 people that I think is best described as a super-rugged artists’ commune. One girl managing an art gallery told us about how in the winter she takes her snow mobiles across the bay to play hockey on the glacial like we had come from. Now that’s Alaskan.

Champ also took us as far north as Denali National Park where we visited when my parents visited in July. In the park, we managed to not see a single bear, but did see a caribou up real close. One of the things I love most about our national parks system is how quickly you can be way, way away from all other people. There’s a fact out there that goes something like: only 10% of visitors to National Parks ever go more than 1 mile from paved roads… that’s not the exact fact, but in Denali National Park with 7,370 square miles and one main road, you get the point. On the trip back down from Denali, we spent the night in Talkeetna, a fun outdoorsy town, but more importantly we spent the night all together in Champ. And slept like rocks. Anyways, that was another great weekend away in Champ.

My other favorite adventures that were a little closer to home were climbing O’Malley Peak which is one of the most prominent peaks visible from Anchorage, seeing the Northern lights from our apartment several weeks ago, and several weekend trips down to Girdwood including when we skied at Alyeska our first weekend here.

But, it’s time to go. We get on a ferry on Wednesday and do the ghetto version of an inner passage cruise before an all-corners of the country trip visiting family and couch surfing with friends. Eventually in mid-December we’ll land back in Colorado and do the usual and extraordinary winter gig back there.

Also, in exciting HoboHealth news, Amy Sheridan, a friend who has recently started working as a PT in Doha, Qatar will be sharing her experiences on this blog. I know Amy has stories for us, and I can’t wait.

Stay tuned, many, many updates in the next few weeks!

(Click the photos below to enlarge!)

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THE Journey

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Oh yeah, it’s getting back to that time again. Time to road trip. Let’s face it, the reason we go to work on assignment every morning is to pay for this very expensive habit we haven’t been able to kick yet… TRAVEL! I really do think the bi-annual cross country trips have become two of my favorite parts of the year. I don’t know why I enjoy them,

Glacier

On the road trip up to Alaska in Glacier National Park.

I despise packing everything into the Accord, I hate long days in the car, but I guess I love the whimsy of quick side trips to places not listed in Fodor’s and feeling the reality of just how big this country and world are. Too deep? Don’t worry it won’t last.

Don’t get me wrong, meow. I love the time we spend on assignment in a wide variety of locales and the excitement of truly living in and absorbing a place’s culture. Enjoying the adventure here in Alaska is exactly what is to blame for the long time between writings over the past few months. But, the truth is, I’m usually looking forward to the next trip and destination.

On the trip from CO up here to AK we had really wanted to take the ferry that comes up through the inner passage with whales, glaciers, and general awesomeness. We got started too late, missed the opportunity to book, and instead were forced to take the coolest road trip of our lives. If you followed my Facebook and Twitter through the trip, then you know some of the highlights. The 4,000 miles took us from a Brian Mulligan course in Denver through some of

British Columbia

Camping in British Columbia. A beautiful night, but I think we were pushing the season… brrr, chilly!!!

the most beautiful and desolate land I’ve ever seen.  It hard to briefly share the whole trip and experience because some of the best parts of the trip were where there was very little at all. The hundreds of miles between tiny villages amazed me.

The road trip was a great time but a long way to drive. This time around, we have our ferry tickets booked and will getting on the boat headed south 4 weeks from now. We have done a lot of fun road trips over the years of travel PT and I remember a particularly fun road trip that Kate and I did with four other classmates from Boston to L.A. while traveling out west for clinical rotations. This road trip excites me as much as that epic trip back in 2005. This time, our itinerary will take us to three of the four corners of this country, and I can’t wait.  These road trips are my best chance to post some good picture and stories, so stay tuned as November and December grind on.

 

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THE Housing

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Finding an apartment here was TOUGH! …more on this in a minute.

There’s a lot of different ways to get your housing on travel assignment. By far the easiest way is having your staffing agency set up the housing for you. If you don’t know the area and really have no preference on location, the housing is typically pretty nice and turn-key ready. On the other hand, you could take the tax-free housing stipend and find housing on your own.

There is a financial advantage to figuring out the housing on your own and taking the cash. It keeps all the money in your reimbursement package and away from the resources it takes for a staffing agency to find and arrange your housing. In fifteen-or-so assignments, I’ve only had my recruiter get housing for me once. If you haven’t searched for your own housing on assignment, you’d be surprise at the amount of temporary and furnished housing that is available. Craigslist is how we almost always find our housing. If we can get to the assignment a few days ahead of time, that’s usually enough time to hit Craigslist hard and find good housing in a fun neighborhood before work starts.

It turns out Anchorage rental housing has a 98% occupancy rate. That’s REALLY high. We were lucky enough to have an open invitation with friends in Wasilla, whom we ended up crashing with for over 2 weeks. [whom?] There was so little availability in rentals around Anchorage that we really didn’t get a chance to see many apartments. Luckily, among the 3 apartments we looked at, was a nice two bedroom, utilities included, deck, washer/dryer, and parking.

The apartment is more than we like to pay for rent, but with a location convenient for work, plenty of room for visitors, and slim pickings for other options…. it’s worked out just fine. Which is a lovely segue to the larger message: With a little patience in finding housing and finding a job everything works out just fine. As a travel PT or PTA, you may go a week or two without a job or work for a week while living in an extended stay with all your junk in your car, but IT ALL WORKS OUT JUST FINE.

The Things We Look For In An Apartment:

-Furnished               -Short-term lease

-Washer/Dryer        -WiFi

-Parking                     -Utilities included

 

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THE Job Search

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I promised a few blogs about how we got all our details settled on this current assignment. Given the location (Alaska) being so far away, the popular season we are here in, and a number of other unpredictable factors, setting up this assignment was tricky.

In the past, I’ve worked with a few travelers who have negotiated their own contracts, but Kate and I had never done this. I’ve had some interest in it, but not enough to actively pursue it. There are advantages and disadvantages to both using a recruiter and going the independent route. When you do have a recruiter from a staffing agency, they are your advocate, your negotiator, and your first point of contact for any issues you may have on contract. Also, while we typically choose to arrange our own housing and travel, many staffing agencies will handle this for you if you like.

On the other hand, as an experienced traveler, having the securities of a recruiter as a third party representative comes at a cost. …a real monetary cost. The idea that really attracts people into arranging their own contracts is that you eliminate the middle man and the cost that goes with paying the middle man. Therefore, an employer can dish out less and you get the same or more.

On this assignment, we had a friend in the Anchorage area who was willing to drop our names around town and find some potential employers for us. This worked, this worked very well. Kate quickly got a job offer with a private practice just outside Anchorage. There was a period of stress where she had to be willing to be her own advocate and ask for certain details in her compensation package. Now, she is making good pay and has many of the tax free benefits that a recruiter would be able to offer. The clinic she’s working for has even allowed her to use a car that different therapists have driven over the years, SWEET!

My contract took a little bit longer to develop. I continued to search with a few recruiters, but nothing was really working out. I found a lot of jobs that had repeat travelers lined up for the summer or were just too far from town. We had already started our road trip to AK when another contact of my friend called wondering when I was available. The job hadn’t popped up on any of the searches because the director didn’t want to work through a staffing agency. As it worked out, my benefits are comparable to what I would make through an agency, but by eliminating the middle-man, the clinic is likely paying far lower than they would pay a recruiter… WIN-WIN!

Ultimately, we’re pleased with the jobs we’ve found. The jobs are where we wanted, when we wanted, and are professionally/mentally stimulating. The story of our success negotiating private contracts on this assignment does come with a warning. There were additional stresses having to negotiate our own benefits without a recruiter as a go-between. Also, we would not have been able to negotiate if we hadn’t worked with so many recruiters in the past. Also, if something were to go wrong with the contract, the assignment, or anything it’s on us! The buffer through a middle man is a nice comfort that frequently comes at only a small cost to the clinician.

Here are a few things that I recommend are in your contract whether you go it alone or work through a recruiter:

-Guaranteed 40 hours pay

-A 30 day notice clause for either party to end the contract

-Travel, housing, and licensure fee reimbursement

-Negotiating any planned days off ahead of time

-Holiday schedule and pay

I do have friends and past co-workers who have made their own contracts. We did not do this, the places we were working for had used contract staff before and had their own contracts. I have seen some independent contract examples if you’re interested.

 

 

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The THE Series

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The THE series. Of all our travel assignments this one has been the toughest to find THE housing, most unique in finding THE jobs, and longest of THE roadtrips. We left our apartment in Aspen 4 weeks ago today, we have put 4,500 miles on the car, racked up 8,000 frequent flier miles, and will finally move into our new place in one more week in Anchorage.

As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I feel like one role of this site is to develop a knowledge-base of travel healthcare experiences in an environment not influenced by recruiting companies. Everything Kate and I have been through over the past 6 weeks needs to be shared with other travelers, and can be used as a template for how-to and how-to-not.

Expect in the coming weeks the THE series: THE housing, THE job search, and THE first few weeks (a working title). Thanks for tuning in, travel safe.

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The Perfect Day.

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Big Horn Sheep near the end of Jasper National Park. There were dozens of the guys on the side of a cliff… more pictures to come!

Via Twitter and Facebook I recently promised a quick update… so here I am. I am going to try to keep it brief and to the point. In advance, please forgive any spleling or grammar errors, I’m in a little hurry to get off the laptop, and all the French road signs have fried my little American brain. 🙂 I hope that when this trip is over, I can motivate myself to write about some of the adventures we’re having. If history is any indication, I will lose motivation and this current blog will have to suffice.

Let’s set the tone. Tonight, Kate and I are tenting near the beginning of the Alaskan Highway, about 140 miles inside Northern British Colombia. We’ve avoided camping until this point, but today was milder than previously and the $110 “Motor Inn” across the street seems unappealing. We’re sitting at a picnic table munching at a road-dinner and I have a La Fin du Monde beer cooling in the remnants of a snow bank behind me. UPDATE! I have a La Fin du Monde beer in my hand. For those of you not familiar with La Fin du Monde, it’s a Canadian beer that is considered one of the better craft brews around and costs youan arm, a leg, and your first born to get a glass in the U.S.  Seriously, I bought a 750 ml (22 oz?) bottle of this stuff for cheaper than a glass of cheapo wine would cost back in the states. The beer, the tent, the road laundry going in the campground laundromat, and this picnic table all remind me of the incredible adventure we’re on. When we hit Mile Zero of the Alaskan Highway today in Dawson Creek, BC we had already drive over 2,300 miles to get there, after the 140 miles into BC, we have about 1,500 left! But, I’ve strayed from the point, I wanted to briefly write about yesterday, which was an awesome day.

Jasper National Park sign in Jasper. The Red and White flying in the background. There would be people in the picture, but they were all watching hockey.

To explain yesterday, I need to start the day before. We had intended to visit Glacier National Park in Montana and drive to Calgary where we would stay the night. Glacier, while beautiful none-the-less, was minimally-open. The local town, St Mary, MT, was all but a ghost town. We managed to grab a coffee and Power Bars in the local grocery store which had opened for Saturday only. Anyways, our scenic trip was cut short, but left us with some awesome pictures and a moose sighting. Because our time was short in Glacier, we arrived in Calgary early and decided the only logical step was to drive onward to the town of Banff. So, we did. Banff is one of Canada’s (and North America’s (and the world’s)) great ski towns. We expected to find it in off-season mode like we had found Aspen, Grand Targee, Jackson Hole, and Big Sky before it. Disclaimer: we didn’t actually go to Big Sky, but we were near it and I assume it was empty. Instead we found a large ski community gearing up for closing day at its biggest resort, Lake Louise, and expecting another 2 weeks out of another local mountain. There was only one choice: Ski. Nothing really mattered: conditions, needed travel miles under our belt, cost, nothing. We were going skiing. So after a mostly restful night’s sleep in the expensive ski town/YWCA’s version of a hostel, we headed out skiing. It was a great day of skiing that rivaled any spring skiing I’ve done. Huge open bowls, decent soft snow up top, and even a few fresh tracks. WOOOOO!

I swear this isn’t fake. Seriously.

The rest of yesterday was a beautiful drive through Banff and Jasper National Parks… a must for anyone passing through mid-to-Northern Alberta. Saw many glaciers, huge mountain peaks, moose, elk, caribou, and big horn sheep (not a single US plate). This post will have to do for now, future posts depend on internet availability, time, and motivation. We’ll be in touch!

 

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Back to Travel

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As I frequently do, I’ll begin this blog with an apology. The last couple writings from me have been exactly what I hate in a blog, whiny. However, don’t mistake me, I meant what I said.

I need to explain my over-arching intent for a short moment. I like talking about travel, but also want to write about physical therapy (another passion of mine) and about the logistics of this travel PT business. I think I have a lot to offer in these realms, and I always hope that others will participate and add to the conversation and body of travel PT knowledge!

So, while I’ve strayed from the path in the last few posts I intend for this blog to be concise, amusing to a chuckle-worthy level, and mostly about my travels as a Traveling Physical Therapist. I will now complete this blog in the form I feel most at peace with:

This is the 4th winter Kate and I have spent in Aspen. I have posted some of my favorite photos over those four years below. I hope you’ll take the time to click through the thumbnails to the full size pictures and enjoy some of the memories with us.

In addition, I plan to have my nice camera with me over the next few weeks to hopefully catch some other nice photos that I may share here before the up coming road trip in exactly 4 weeks!

Enjoy!

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Travel Healthcare Websites

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I had something I wanted to blog about, I have totally forgotten what that was. I got on a tear tonight. I’m excited, I’m on fire.

It all started when a friend wrote to see if Kate and I would be at the traveling healthcare conference that’s coming up in October in Vegas. I love the idea of it, I’d love to be a contributing part of it, and I know that no matter what, it’d be a great time.   …in fact, maybe we’ll go.

However, it led me on a little exploration of its organizers and the sites that are similar to HoboHealth. There are more sites than you would think and as best I can tell, HoboHealth is the smallest of these site that will turn up on a few basic google searches. What got me so fired up is that everyone else is fricken SPONSORED! Isn’t the purpose of our sites to help fellow travelers, to advise them in the ways to get the most out of their employment and travel experiences!? Let face it, staffing agencies are financed by us working in whatever job is available and willing to pay for us, not by us waiting around for our perfect assignment. While there are VERY GOOD staffing agencies, there is a direct conflict of interest in them paying us to give good advice!!! A site promising to aide travelers in their decisions cannot be funded by the very entities travelers are doing business with.

I have my own recruiters that I trust greatly, and I have plenty of companies that have failed at the task of holding their travelers’ needs at the center of their business. If you are one of the very few recruiters that works with me, know that Kate and I consider you within our personal circle and have the greatest trust in you. I wish I could plug my friends here, but it undermines the whole point of this website: To help travelers navigate the complicated business of travel PT and to help travelers have positive, well supported assignments in their own paradise.

I’ve spoken with some of my recruiters before about partnering, but never followed through, I never really knew why. I’ve visited sites identical to HoboHealth with 5 times the visitors and wondered how they got all that traffic. Tonight, when I realized those sites are advertising some of the very staffing agencies I despise, I figured out why this site has remained both independent and less visited. Our participants are real travelers just looking for tips from other travelers with no bias. Staffing agencies make their money on the work we do. They should be pleased to have us work for them and should work hard to keep us happy and protected. I love the opportunity here to help other travelers find the same joy in travel physical therapy that my wife and I have.

If you’re a site like HoboHealth without corporate backing, get in touch, let’s help each other help others. If you’re a traveler, ask questions and learn how to travel happily with companies that will support you, not companies only looking to earn their profit off your skilled work. I have found the companies that are willing to support me in my extravagant travels to awesome places with awesome people, I want you to find yours.

Oh man, I’m fired up…. and I finally feel like there’s a purpose to this very time consuming hobby.    🙂    Thanks for reading, I promise more light-hearted travel pictures soon.

 

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Legality Schmeegality

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I don’t really like blogs that are a pointless rant, so I promise I’ll try to keep this productive and at least a little informative for anyone who hasn’t yet been through  getting a new state license.

Kate and I are currently seeking our Washington and Alaska licenses for some potential work this coming summer. We have 4 licenses in common; I have Illinois and Vermont, and she has Florida, 7 states total. To simplify things, we’ve dropped being current in all but two states, our Home State which is the Vacation State (seems contradictory), and Colorful Colorado. Simplify? Yeah, I thought so, until both Alaska and Washington requested official license verification from every state where I hold or have ever held a license as part of their PT License Application. That’s a spousal-total of 11 licenses that need verifying through mostly snail mail and hand written checks. Who uses mail and checks!?!? Even the USPS has online options so that you don’t have to use the mail!

The Best:

1. Florida – $25 and an online submission will get you verified

2. Colorado – No fee and you may fax your request.

 

The Worst:

1. Hawaii – For only $15 per request you can have a verification sent within 20 days of receipt of your written request via mail.

2. Vermont – Written request. They’ll deposit your check and then have no record of your request.    <– happened to me

3. Illinois – Don’t bother calling, you’ll be on hold for 2 hours.

 

So, back to point, I’ve spent four hours getting these 2 applications together and probably have another 2 hours to go. Most of this time is a result of pre-internet legislation that dictates you do things as you would when mail and and personal checks were pretty much your only options. Part of the reason these laws have persisted is that no one likes to open their practice acts. When a practice act is modified, it offers a chance for other professions and interests to alter the law for their benefit as opposed to the benefit of PTs, PTAs, and patients. HOWEVER! Should you find yourself in a state with an open practice act and the chance to have your voice heard, please beg that licensure be brought into the 21st century, argue against the arbitrary barriers that keep well qualified professionals from practicing in a place that could probably use them, and educate your colleagues on the difficulties these laws place on state employees who must waste their time dealing with all kinds of paperwork for information quickly and easily available on the internet (fsbpt.org).

Really, I’m being a little melodramatic. Getting your license in a new state is generally a matter of paperwork, if your status as a PT/PTA is healthy, there’s no reason you won’t be licensed if you can get the paperwork to the right places in a timely matter. We’ve been licensed in many states now and have a greater burden because of it, if you’ve only worked in one state, it’s pretty straight forward.

Well I have to run, I’ve got some applications to fill out and an currently open Colorado Practice Act to leave my mark on.  🙂

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Emergency Room Physical Therapy

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I’ve been wanting to write about this topic for a while. A few recent events compelled me to put some thought down on proverbial paper.

The 3 things that compelled me: 1. Working in the ER, 2. Attending ER PT meeting at CSM, 3. Chatting with a friend at CSM who is an ER Physician.

I need to define my nomenclature before I get rolling here. I use ER (emergency room) because while I acknowledge this area of a hospital is larger than one room, the abbreviation ED makes me giggle.

I like working in the ER. Things happen in an ER that you don’t see anywhere else on this earth. Bring use you mangled, your acutely and traumatically injured, your impossibly intoxicated, and (most importantly) your clinically insane. I like the ER because it is exciting and it breaks up the day.

At this recent meeting at CSM…

I must break for a moment and fly my APTA flag. 13,000 PTs, PTAs, and students attended CSM this year. This is the most ever, and the numbers have been growing by a large margin every year. In addition to CSM attendance, APTA membership has risen over 80,000 with 22% of those members belonging to my favorite section, Orthopaedics. One last quick plug before I move along: If you’re a PT or PTA and not an APTA member, you’re missing out on being a part of one of the greatest times for our profession. The public is learning how well educated and trained Physical Therapists are and the entire healthcare community is realizing how unique and essential our skill set is in every setting.

At this recent meeting at CSM, a group of PTs who work in the ER go together and discussed exactly what it is we do. The answers were varied, some PTs are dedicated full-time to the ER, but many are there on an as needed basis. Some PTs are there as a musculoskeletal first line, diagnosing and practicing true direct access PT, but the majority are there as another part of the team following physician orders.

I have already written more than I like to in these purposefully-brief blogs, so I think the best I can do is to share my experiences in the ER. On my very first travel assignment back in Lowell, MA, we were occassionally called to the ER when the decision to admit or discharge was based on mobility. This is my 3rd at the hospital hear in Aspen where we are called to the ER multiple times every day to address the many LE injuries that occur in a town with four ski mountains. We typically are called in for gait training and brace fitting, but our greatest gift to the patients is what we teach them. We have a knowledge of their impending recovery and rehab that no one else offers. While surgery is a frequently necessary and vital part of their journey back to health, it only consumes a few hours. We are the experts on the rest of their 2, 4, or 6 months of pain, healing, and ultimate return to activity. Research shows that with PT involvement in the ER patient recovery is faster, patient satisfaction is higher, and costs over the course of this patient’s injury are lower. PT should be an important part of every emergency room. I have some work to do in the ER here to increase referrals for conditions outside of the legs. On your next assignment you can ask about the ER and see how much PT is used.

The group of PTs that held the meeting at CSM have an online list serve where PT and ERs are discussed. If you have any interest in Emergency Room PT or are just curious, you can sign up at: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ptined/