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When Scott Carpenter’s friend was in the hospital, he didn’t know how to help. “I saw changes happening to him and didn’t know what was going on,” he says of the experience. When his friend passed away, Scott decided to become a nurse. “I wanted to get into nursing to help people because I felt like I wasn’t able to help my friend.”
Scott became a nurse because he knew he wanted a job that could change people’s lives. But when Scott started travel nursing, he did it so he could care for others and take care of himself. Travel nursing meant he could pay the bills, save for retirement, and see the country.
Travel nursing meant higher pay
With bills looming, Scott decided he needed to find a career path that would help him accelerate financially — being a travel nurse was that path. He says, “One of the main reasons I started traveling with RNnetwork was because I had a lot of bills I wanted to pay off.”
Originally, Scott was going to work with another travel nursing company, but then he learned he could earn more with RNnetwork. Scott’s recruiter, Lisley Elmore, has become a close friend to Scott and always makes sure Scott gets the best rate.
“Pretty much my salary doubled when I started travel nursing with RNnetwork,” he says.
Retirement savings
Not only does that larger salary help Scott live better now, but he is also using his money to build a better future. He shares, “As I look to the future of travel nursing, my goal is to build a retirement that I’ve never had. You know, I want to be able to retire, but I have no money, so I’m finding that working with RNnetwork and traveling enables me to save a lot of money.”
Travel the country
However, the benefits of travel nursing have expanded beyond achieving his financial goals. Scott had dreams of seeing the country, and travel nursing has helped him live that dream in two ways. First of all, travel nursing has helped Scott accumulate enough money to pay for the trips he’s always wanted to go on.
“I’ve been able to get my bills paid off, so if I want to go on vacation somewhere, I now have the resources to do that,” Scott shares.
But just the nature of travel nursing has meant that Scott has gotten to see different parts of the U.S. “Another reason why I wanted to start travel nursing was so I could see the country, see all the different states and what they have to offer,” he says.
His favorite assignment so far has been New Orleans. “It has such a huge, old history, and I really enjoyed going to the museum tours, cemetery tours and Bourbon Street.”
Eventually, Scott hopes that travel nursing will take him to the west. “I actually have never been to any national parks, so my goal is to work across the country and get paid to do it,” he says. “I want to go to all the national forests or parks and then head up the coast, go to the wine country, end up in Washington and then work my way back.”
A great opportunity for anyone
Above all, Scott is a travel nurse because it’s a great opportunity for nurses — whether new or experienced. To those who have recently started their nursing career and are thinking about becoming a travel nurse, Scott says, “I definitely recommend it, especially these young nurses who are coming out of nursing school. Once they get a couple of years of experience, it’s a great opportunity for them to see the country and make great money.”
But Scott is also confident travel nursing is a great opportunity for those who’ve been working as a nurse for a while.
“I think for the nurses who have been out there, have been working in hospitals for years, this would be a great opportunity for them for a change,” Scott says. “This would be a great opportunity for them to travel and see the country.”
Are you interested in learning more about travel nursing? Give us a call at 800.866.0407 or view today’s travel nurse job opportunities.
