Panama City Beach

First travel assignment: Panama City, Florida
Dates: March 28th- June 25th, 2005
Address: 1219 Thomas Drive Unit 85
Panama City Beach, Florida 32407
Emerald Pointe
Hospital: Gulf Coast Medical Center

I was excited and also pretty nervous going into my first assignment as a travel nurse. I wasn't sure what to expect. I chose Panama City because I knew one of my friends from Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Lea Todd, lived there. We had a good time going to the movies, dinner, and getting manicures and pedicures. We also had Gilmore Girl marathons. I also chose Panama City because it was close to Tallahassee and Valdosta. I went to see my college roommate and really good friend, Cindi, at least once a month or so and she also came to visit me a few times. She even came to help me pack up. My best friend Annie also came to see me while I was there. I went to Valdosta twice while I was there, once to ride to St. Simons with Chuck, Brooke, and Lauren and once to meet my dad so I could see him for a few hours. I stopped in Tallahassee on the way back and stayed with Nita, also from Tallahassee Memorial. I also saw everyone from the hospital a couple times too, which it was really good to see them and tell them all about my new experiences. My nephew Luke was born right before I finished up this assignment. He was born on June 21st, 2005. I was able to meet him 3 days later! He was a wonderful addition to the family. Lauren went around calling him "my baby." Too cute!

I met a lot of great people at the hospital. Pam, also a travel nurse, was hilarious!! She’s from the Boston area, which I was determined to get there for an assignment. We went to the dog races in Ebro. Randy, Heather and her two girls also went. It was so much fun. She went to Manchester, NH. Randy is also a travel nurse. We started on the same day. I went to the dog races with her a second time. We had a really good time. She went to Gainesville, FL. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to keep in touch with many people from Gulf Coast, except Lea.

Gulf Coast Medical Center is a small hospital. The unit was only 11 postpartum beds, 10 labor and delivery, and 10 pediatric rooms. The overall experience was a good one and good learning experience as well. The nurses were welcoming and helpful. I learned a new way of dispensing medication, called Electronic Medication Administration Record (EMAR) and used Meditech for charting.

My place was at a resort complex called Emerald Pointe. It was a small one bedroom, one bath cottage. It was like someone cut a single wide trailer in half lengthwise. It was cute, but I couldn’t have lived there long or with anyone else. It was pretty small inside, especially the bathroom. I even felt tall in the shower, which is saying a lot considering I am only 4' 11 1/2"! It had everything I needed, i.e. TV, bedding, dishes, etc. It’s definitely a good place just for a weekend at the beach. It was about a 10 minute ride over to the beach.

I also bought my Toyota Rav4 while I was there. I love it. It is so cute! I needed something bigger to carry around my things from one place to the next. Besides, my Honda Accord was beginning to fall apart and definitely was not going to be able to carry around all my belongings.

I went to California with Heather Gibson , who I met at Tallhassee Memorial, at the end of this assignment. We had so much fun. We explored Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Santa Barbara. The main reason for going out to California was to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain to ride the roller coaster “X”. It was so much fun, but the scariest roller coaster ever!!! We also road Goliath, that is always on the Travel Channel. It was a lot of fun too. The traffic in LA was insane! There are so are so many people in LA and they all seem to have a car! Also, they all seem to need to be at the same place at the same time! Oh well, it was fun to know that I could drive in LA traffic without any problems. If you can drive in LA, you can drive anywhere!