Travel Nurse in Fresno, California

Holaaa!! Sorry I've been gone for sooo long! I guess life got the best of me and has been keeping me busy...with good things though! So I am going to update my blog starting from where I left off, to try and keep things in order. So that takes us to Fresno, California...

I'm going to try and focus on working and living in Fresno, so this post should be fairly short. And than my next posts will be more fun! About all of my adventures throughout those 3 months...mostly of which consisted outside of Fresno :)

So to start, job wise: I worked at on the Discovery Unit (general pediatrics) at Valley Children's Hospital. When I first arrived, I was very warmed and happy to see giraffes ALL over (that is their logo); it gave me this inner comforting feeling (don't ask...I'm weird).

They were everywhere <3

Overall, I would say the assignment went well and paid well. I was able to request my own schedule and they pretty much gave me what I asked for. My managers even let me adjust my schedule around Christmas time/NYE so that I could spend it with my family since they were there to visit; I really appreciated that. Most of the people were nice and told me things to do in the area, although they have a lot of older nurses who aren't the friendliest - but whatever, that has nothing to do with me. As far as staffing, I would say it was staffed pretty well for the most part - at least on my unit - and I got decent assignments, so I never complained. Although, I know another traveler who got the worst assignments - I don't know if it was on purpose or what, but I know I just tried to stay on everyone's (the charge nurses) good side to avoid that. Two of the WORST things at Valley Children's...1) Meditech (their computer system) SUCKED! And sucked is an understatement. It's the WORST EVER, and they will never get a new system because it costs too much. I needed an extra day of orientation just to practice more of the online charting. It's not intuitive at all! It was ridiculous. I felt soo stupid and almost incompetent as a nurse. So glad that's over. Eventually I caught on, but never again will I work somewhere that uses Meditech. And 2) I had my 1st code during my second to last shift working there :( It was out of nowhere in the middle of the night. Extremely sad and very scary. It's crazy when it's your own patient; I was just like in shock and shaking, helping when I could, while everyone else took over the code. I don't know whether the kid eventually lived or not. So I just prayed for the kid and left that behind..

Living wise: When I first got to Fresno, Carson and I stayed in a hotel for the first few nights until we could move in to the apartment. It was like my first real time staying alone in a hotel; it kinda made me feel responsible and really independent :) Once again, I happen to choose a nice apartment in a good area. I stayed at Dominion Heights. Spacious, lots of sunlight, huge bathroom...perfect for Carson and I. I was fortunate enough to meet a girl in orientation that let me borrow her big flat screen TV for the whole 3 months I was there. One day during my stay, my washer machine leaked and like half of my apartment flooded right before I had to leave for work, but maintenance came and pretty much got all the water out and dry within 2 days, so that was good. Overall, I would say I chose a good place to stay...but what ruined like the whole experience was that I forgot to turn in my 30 day termination letter on time and therefore had to pay like $600 extra when I wasn't even going to be living there! So don't make that same mistake! I was pissed, but by law there was like nothing I could do about it because it's in the contract. Grrrrrr.

Top pic is the lobby :)

Silly man!

Completely avoiding laying in his new bed lol

But finally did :)

Pros of Fresno (in no particular order): 1) Good shopping - they have a lot of new/nice shopping centers/outdoor mall with basically every store, and for someone who likes to shop, I appreciated it. 2) It's right in the middle of LA and the Bay; equal distance (3hrs) between both, which was nice for me (I will kind of miss that and only that). 3) I met Olivia in orientation and we became the bestest of friends! It was so nice to have a close friend in that boring town and to have someone to chat with at work to make the time go by. Olivia and I worked out together at her gym after work, got breakfast and ate "crack" pancakes a couple times lol, traveled to LA for my birthday, and went out with some girlfriends she met through a coworker. I can say we definitely experienced Fresno together - it was an experience, nice to say we did it (I guess), but we definitely won't be back. 4) I found a really good dog sitter on Rover.com. Her name is Karla; we used her on multiple occasions. She was awesome and reasonably priced. Grateful for her. 3) On one of my last nights there, I went out to dinner with Gabby (a coworker I got sort of close with) to an Italian restaurant around the corner from us, which was nice ending to Fresno... It's the little things in life that I value.

Night out in Fresno to see "The Sweet Spot" with Olivia & the girls

Got to spend my last shift in Fresno w/ Olivia!
I was so happy to be out that joint! lol.

Cons of Fresno: 1) The people that live there have grown up there and have never been anywhere else in the country or even California for that matter, so they are like oblivious to the outside world. And the black people...they are stuck in like the 19th century! Like who wears long white tee's and baggy pants anymore??? Like really?! Lol. Come on. The one time I went out to the bar with Olivia and the girls, we couldn't believe it. Olivia and I just shook our heads lol. 2) It's in the middle of nowhere/nothing to do. Nightlife sucks. The only thing they have going for them is Yosemite (which I still haven't visited). 3) They have bad weather during the winter months (cold/foggy) unlike other parts of California. I was kinda mad I chose to go there at that time (I didn't know any better). But then I heard that their summers are awful too! Very hot, humid, with like sand storms and stuff...no thank you. So yea I'll just pass on Fresno altogether.

So yea...as you can see, it wasn't the greatest experience, but I made money and made the best of it. I spent most of my time off either in LA or the Bay; I was hardly in Fresno. I quickly learned the route to LA and got very familiar with taking Amtrak up to the Bay. I just couldn't fathom the thought of staying in Fresno lol...okay let me stop being dramatic.

Now on to the fun stuff! Stay tuned...