The Hospital. Big hospital in a small town! I had a horrible beginning to finding a place to stay! I had planned to stay at an Extended Stay for the entirety of my contract. It started off rocky because I got there after check-in time and there was nobody to check me in so I got a hotel room the first night. In the morning, went to my first day of orientation and got out in time to check-in. I may have not looked at the reviews as well as I should have and ended up at the “bug hotel”. Once night time hit on my first night, bugs started coming out of the wood work (literally!) and I had to get a new hotel room ASAP!– Money I didn’t have down the drain and essentially no place to stay. I was super down and didn’t know where I would find somewhere to stay with such short notice. Someone in my orientation knew a nurse renting a room and that’s what saved me! Everything went smooth from there! Take my experience and learn from it. Don’t do what I did, do your research!
Southern hospitality for sure! This is a 418-bed hospital, and the only one in the city with a 56,000 population which means a wide variety of patient population. Before working we had to pass a pharmacology test, EKG exam and the BKAT. The most tests I’ve ever had to do before working. I enjoyed all of my coworkers on the Cardiac Progressive Unit, everyone was friendly and I never worked weekends which was perfect! This was my first Epic EMR conversion travel assignment which increased the pay. Before the EMR conversion I had to learn McKesson and dealt with that longer than Epic. Patients ranged from Med-Surg Tele to those with chronic and acute heart conditions such as: Atrial fibrillation with RVR, CHF exacerbation, newly diagnosed conditions, diagnostic testing, etc. I definitely was able to use my skills here and was also challenged.
I came across this male nurse (murse) working on my floor; I immediately noticed he was handsome and saw a “brand” on his arm showing he was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Since I am a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. I immediately greeted him, asked what things there were to do in town, and if he could get me in contact with some Sorority sisters  in the area. Meting him and his “bruhz” definitely made my time there more exciting! I have family that lives in Bainbridge, GA so I was able to visit with them as well, my aunt took me to a restaurant called Rickies for some good southern cooking and it was on POINT!!

Fun and Food. Let me emphasize SMALL town here, but of course I made it fun 🙂 … This is a college town with Valdosta State University and has Moody Air Force Base. My first weekend there, my new murse friend invited me to a step show. I met his line brothers and some other Deltas, a good beginning to fellowship and meet new people. From then on I got invited to the parties and when they were grilling! That got old quick because I got tired of being around college people.
So aside from that, there is a restaurant/lounge called Big Nick’s on Baytree Rd., really enjoyed going there to eat and some nights they had a live band. If you like Indian food, eat at Passage 2 India, some of the best Indian food I’ve eaten! Valdosta Mall didn’t have many stores; the best way to find cute clothes to wear would be online shopping. Don’t waste your time going there; I wasn’t very successful in finding anything. Clubs? Didn’t go to any; they weren’t recommended to me. My coworkers invited me to a bonfire with drinks and food, and when I got there I made everyone take shots. LOL. That was a really good time; I never experienced this close relationship with coworkers anywhere else. Atlanta was about 3 hours away so I drove there pretty often to meet up with friends and family, that was my way to have fun.