The Road Less Traveled: Exploring Allied Healthcare Travel with TNAA | TotalMed

Nicole Meyeraan
So Allied Health is really anybody in a hospital that is working on the patient care team that's not a doctor or nurse. So whether it's imaging techs, so we do a lot of like CT, ultrasound techs, MRI. Those are really, really hot right now. Respiratory therapy. So a lot of therapy like physical therapists, respiratory. A lot of physicians, like in the laboratory, people who are looking at patient samples and biopsies and all of those different things. It's a small term for a really big subset of people in the hospital.

Will Hunt
Traveling gives you so many different opportunities to do so many different things. I worked in inpatient, outpatient, skilled nursing. Schools, like I said, I worked in so many different settings trying to figure out what was going to be the right fit for me.

Brooke
Hi everyone, welcome to MDF Instruments Crafting Wellness Podcast.

Will Hunt
My name is Will Hunt. I am a physical therapist turned recruiter here at TNAA and TotalMed. I am based out of Chicago, Illinois now, but I'm originally from Cleveland, Ohio. That's where I got my doctorate in physical therapy. And I was a travel physical therapist for about six and a half years before joining the team over here as a recruiter.

Nicole Meyeraan
My name is Nicole Meyeraan. I am a senior director. Allied recruitment here with TNA and TotalMed. I currently live in Florida. My prior experience is I've been with TNA and TotalMed for almost four years now. And then before that, I worked for another company. So, Total, I've been... In the healthcare space, about 15 years and recruiting over 20.

Brooke
Amazing. Can you talk a little bit about your journey into allied recruitment and like what drew you into the healthcare space?

Will Hunt
TSo I became a physical therapist after a shorter career in actually marketing and tourism. And after some soul searching— not to be corny, but it brought me into physical therapy, long story short. And then I became a traveler right out of school. So I started traveling as a new grad PT and I loved it. It was fantastic. It brought me all across the country. Most travelers do have an expiration date as a traveler, and I was no different. So when it came time to settle down in one spot, I didn't like the perm options that I had. And my original recruiter, who's a dear friend of mine, said, have you ever thought about recruiting? And I said, no. And she said, you should. So three years later. Here I am. And it really it's provided me an opportunity to really stay connected to the travel aspect of everything. But also, I loved being a mentor to new grads and to new travelers as well. So I really get to bring that experience and, you know, help them see whether travel is right for them or not.

Brooke
Awesome. Nicole, what about you? How did you get involved with Allied Healthcare?

Nicole Meyeraan
So I feel like I kind of fell into it. You know, I was a recruiter before, not in healthcare, though. I've done a lot of different fields. Retail, I've done. I've done sales and marketing, some perm placement, contract. And then I kind of just... fell into an opportunity where I interviewed with a company, you know, that was healthcare staffing. I was like, you know, I've never done this. I know nothing about it, you know, and I've kind of just learned as I go. And one of the things before I came to TNA TotalMed was we really had like We were recruiting for all different types of roles, but we really saw a lot of allied needs out there. And so that tended to kind of just be our focus. So when I heard about the position with TNA to kind of help spearhead and start in allied division, I was like, oh my God, I would love that. That would be perfect for me. I love the allied space and I've just learned so much. So I kind of just jumped in, fell into it, but I love it.

Brooke
And Will, as a former traveler yourself, is it because of that expiration you were kind of speaking on that kind of made you switch into recruitment? Can you talk a little bit about what you mean when you say expiration? Is that because people tend to like— get older and they want to settle down and the traveling life isn't as much for them because they want to get more stable with maybe having a family or something like that.

Will Hunt
So when I say expire, you hit a bunch of different things on the head. You know, some folks, it's because they want to have a family. Some folks, they just get, you know, traveling can be. Um, it can be a lot and you might take a break for a while, you know, you're tired of moving around or whatnot. Um, Typically when I say that it's because they've gone firm for one reason or another, you know, a lot of travelers take that last contract and then they're like, 'I love it here.' And then I'm not leaving. That's kind of what happened for me. Although I was coming back to an area I was familiar with when I landed here in Chicago, I took one last contract and said, 'You know what? It's time.' But also some folks look at it from the other end of the spectrum, and it might be the twilight years of their career, and they want to spend a few on the road, and it's time to retire. It's a way to kind of transition, make a little bit of extra money, and then really kind of ease on into the sunset, if you will, into retirement.

Brooke
Yeah. And I, you know, if I were in the healthcare space, I would a thousand percent be a traveler because I love to see the world. I love different experiences, meeting new people, working at different places. That's really kind of like my vibe. I know that there are just people out there who really just like that more like adventurous, less, you know, knowing where you're going to be six, eight months down the road. You might be in a different city or a different place. You guys explain. And break down a little bit about what allied travel really means and which professions fall under that umbrella.

Nicole Meyeraan
So allied health is really anybody in a hospital that is patient, like working on the patient care team that's not a doctor or nurse. So whether it's... Um, imaging tech. So we do a lot of like CT, ultrasound techs, MRI. Those are really, really hot right now. Respiratory therapy. So a lot of therapy, like physical therapists, respiratory, a lot of positions, like in the laboratory, people who are looking at patient samples and biopsies and all of those different things. It's a small term for a really big subset of people in the hospital.

Brooke
Yeah. And that's so surprising because I don't know that I've really heard the term that much. I know I've heard it, but I didn't really know. And now that you say that, it's like, wow, what a scope it is. Can you guys talk a little bit about a traveling ally professional differs from traveling nursing or is it just the position that makes it different?

Will Hunt
It's more or less the same. So typically when you're talking with folks, the easiest facsimile is to say, are you familiar with travel nursing? Most people have heard of that. So you can say it's very, very similar, but it's, you know, your own profession, obviously. Contracts are typically the same length, 13 weeks. We hear about that all the time. To a new facility, you have to onboard for that facility, et cetera, et cetera. You've got to learn those department specifics. So it is very, very similar. The only thing that I can think of really that's going to be that different is you have a lot more variability in schedules based on profession. For example, therapists like myself are typically Monday through Friday day schedule, whereas nurses. And imaging techs and whatnot might be 410s, they might be 312s, they might be days, they might be nights, they might be swings. That's really where the nuance comes. And that nuance, though, is found in between each discipline, not so much the difference between nursing and allied.

Brooke
Nicole, you've been you've been leading an allied recruitment for a while. And can you talk a little bit about how the industry is involved in the past year, especially post pandemic and like during the pandemic?

Nicole Meyeraan
I mean, I think it's been interesting because before COVID, there was definitely a need for allied travelers. It just wasn't, I think. as prevalent as nursing. You know, I did a lot of like per diem positions. So hospitals were just starting to utilize and realize that they could use contractors for allied roles. So we had... A good amount. Respiratory was a big one at that point. But then once COVID hit, it was kind of crazy because all of a sudden, just all the jobs stopped. I would say for a good... two three months we were like, 'Where are all the jobs and then all of a sudden it just kind of blew up. So at that point, respiratory got really big. Um, after that, what we've seen is just a big, not even a shift. I mean, it was starting to happen a little bit before, but after we've seen a big demand in all our imaging specialties. So CT, MRI, ultrasound, those are really, really big. And that demand has just gone through the roof. And a lot of it, I think, is due to those types of images— those texts— right, that those images are taking are used to diagnose patients, figure out what's going on, to then admit them, have surgeries. We've been really busy with imaging. And then recently, respiratory started to pick up again. So we're seeing a big uptick in that as well.

Brooke
As I know, I mean, a little bit about travel nursing. And I know during the pandemic. I think it's actually to be under your umbrella of recruitment and to have someone who's kind of looking out for your best interests when you're on these assignments, helping you with your contracts, protecting you. Those professionals were probably in it better. scenario than the ones that were in those stable positions already. One of the advantages of working with recruitment. Can you talk a little bit about what are some of the most in demand? roles right now I know you mentioned respiratory therapy is there is there anything else that's kind of that maybe didn't have its stay in the sun as much that you see kind of the trend trending towards a need respiratory definitely has that like cyclical nature flu season cold and flu season It is, you know, RC, all those things that really do have an uptick for respiratory.

Will Hunt
As far as everything else, we're always going to see a growing need for therapists and imaging specialists, like Nicole was saying, because of the way that they're utilized. in so many different areas of healthcare that you don't necessarily think about also outside of the hospital. So travel therapy, for example, has always been really big in the space of skilled nursing, long-term care, and also home health. And so you're going to keep seeing those things grow. You're seeing a lot more imaging clinics popping up as well, in addition to, obviously, the staffs that are set to be there, because as the populations grow, as... As we age more and we're here longer, essentially, we're going to need more health care. And that's, you know, that's something that we've known for a long, long time, that there's going to be an increased demand on the system. And subsequently, you're just going to see that growth of both. professionals entering the space, but then also the jobs that go along with them.

Brooke
Are there any places that you find you get more allied workers to? Is there a state that certain locations that seem to need this more than other cities or states?

Will Hunt
Great question.

Brooke
I don't know.

Nicole Meyeraan
I just think, honestly, everywhere there are definitely certain specialties. Plenty of jobs, pretty much in almost every state. So it's great if someone, you know, they're open and they want to travel or sometimes they may be specific. A lot of times we'll have multiple options. And it definitely is like those therapy positions and the imaging. There are also some specialties where there's just a decrease in jobs.

Brooke
Can you walk us through a little bit about like if an allied worker wants to come and work and decides they want to go into traveling, can you talk about like what the onboarding process is like, how someone were to like get involved with you guys and what you offer them?

Will Hunt
So the simplest way to put it is. When you're working with an agency and a recruiter like myself or with Nicole or anyone here on the team, we're going to work as a partnership to build a profile that stands in as your resume, essentially. We're going to gather up all of your certs, all of your work history, all of your references. We're going to put all that into a nice little package, and that's going to be what we're going to use when we're submitting for a job. Then let's say, Brooke, you and I are working together to find a new travel opportunity. We're going to talk about all the jobs across the country. And I'm going to say, what are the things that you want to accomplish? What are your goals with travel? Maybe it's money. Maybe it's exploring the country. Maybe it's trying new settings or new facilities. And we're going to take all that information and you and I are going to have an in-depth conversation, multiple of them actually, about, hey, I'm seeing this job here, this job here, and this job here. Here's where they kind of fit and align with what your goals are. What are your thoughts? From there, if it's a match based on everything that we're seeing on paper, we're going to submit for that job. And then we're going to hopefully set up an interview. That interview process is then where you get to ask them questions just as much to see if you like them and that they're a good fit for you just as much as you are for them. So it's a little different than your perm opportunities there. And then hopefully we get the job. And that's kind of the front end of everything. Every new contract comes with new compliance, though. Just like if you were to start a full-time job at a hospital, you do have to go through, you know, a drug screen, a physical, titers, all those things. We help and organize all of that with the travelers. So that way, you're good to go. You step in on day one and you're ready to hit the ground running.

Brooke
What happens there if someone is going to want to work in a state? Do you help them with their licensing?

Will Hunt
Yes, it is. It is a thing. It depends on the discipline. Every discipline is going to have different rules. The biggest ones that we think about are typically therapies and imaging for licensing as well. Some facilities require that license on hand, even just to submit for the job. So, if it's a state that folks really know they want to go, I think of like California—typically, it's known for having a pretty challenging licensing process for both imaging and therapies. I tend to tell folks, if you know you want to travel to California, it's your bucket list location to go to California. I say start that process because it can take up to six months to get that license. Start that process, get it going. So that way, on contract two or three, we can say, 'Hey, we've got the license here. We're ready to go to that facility. Other places, licensing is really, really quick and you don't have to worry about that. So, like a state like Illinois, which has a 24-hour and 48-hour turnaround for imaging license, is a really easy one. Facilities might not have the same requirements in place to have it on hand. If you don't have it on hand and we can get that job, we're going to help with it, of course, naturally. We're going to help you with the process. We're going to pay for it versus reimbursing you for it later down the road.

Brooke
TAnd that's actually really smart and something that I would think I would think of. But, you know, you don't have to wait for maybe the destination or the place you want to go to. You can go do other assignments while you're processing, getting licensing in the place that you want to end up. So that's really something that's like it's one of those moments where you're like, 'Oh, yeah, I can just go do some other assignments.' But it might not be something that people actually think of. Like they might be start waiting to start because they're like, 'Well, I'm not licensed in this place that I really want to go to without.' Correct. Their feet wet. So that's a really great point to make.

Will Hunt
It just depends on if you have a list of places that you really want to go. I tend to tell travelers, you know, I tried my best not to just collect licenses just for the sake of having them. I tried to be a little more strategic on where I was going to go and when. Um, so that's why, again, I say, if there's somewhere you really know you want to go, I was like, I say, I was like, go get that license, get that process started. So that way we can work towards it. But if it's somewhere that's an easier license that we know about already, then maybe we're not going to. you know, forge ahead quite a bit of that.

Brooke
What happens once they're doing their contract, if they have any problems, issues, you know, whether it's at work or with their housing or any kind of things that might pop up as a traveler? Can you talk about the support you offer? We can expect as far as support.

Nicole Meyeraan
I was going to add this anyway, because I wanted to highlight like one of the things too about sometimes people are worried about jumping into travel or contract is just that they won't have some of those benefits that they would get from a perm job. And so this is all part of it, but just, I think sometimes that's a little bit of a myth kind of, because, you know, one of the things we offer is we offer day one insurance. We have a clinical team that's there to support. So kind of like you were saying, if there's an issue on the assignment, they don't know what to do. Um, we have a team of clinical professionals who can help them, help them answer questions, help them navigate. A lot of them to have been travelers before, which is really great. So they can kind of give them advice on how they would navigate a situation or what to do, or even if they feel like, Hey this assignment is not a good fit for me or it's not safe. I don't feel like I'm being safe for the patients. Like our team can advocate for them. So that's really great. The other things we offer too, I think is just having, we do have a great payroll team. So travelers are paid every week. Each traveler will have like an assigned payroll person. So, not just a general, but they'll know, okay, my payroll person is Mary. If I have a problem, I can call Mary. She will look at my pay, make sure everything's good. You also have assigned housing. So, that's one of the things— we have a housing department. They kind of do a couple of different things, but they can offer leads for people. For example, if you're like, 'Hey, I don't want you to book my housing, but can you give me some leads so I can call around and just kind of see what I can find?' We can give them a list of leads. We also can book book their accommodations for them if they want. So we have a couple of different options like we can do extended stays. We do have relationships with like different landlords and furnished up through Furnished Finder and a couple other things that we can set it up for them. And then a lot of times we can actually help with some of the upfront costs because I think that's a big, sometimes deterrent for people to get started. It's just saying, 'Hey, you know, I don't know that I can afford to go and do a lease and, you know, all of those things.' So those are things that our housing department will actually help with, which is great. And we've had times too with our housing, you know, if there's like some kind of emergency or natural disaster or whatever, like our housing team can jump in and help them find a new place right away. So it's definitely a perk of working with us.

Brooke
It takes like a lot of anxiety out of people probably because you just need to make sure you're fed, you're clothed and you're housed before you need the three things, right? So. If you can take the anxiety and pressure off and say, hey, we're here to help you find that place and to walk you through that process. I think that's probably one of the biggest things that stops people from moving forward is just that fear of the unknown. That's really amazing that you guys offer the whole individual payroll person. That's also really, really incredible. Will, can you talk, since you were a traveler for many years, can you talk a little bit about what your biggest challenges were? Maybe one of your favorite places you've ever... works or a travel experience you really liked?

Will Hunt
I could talk about my travel experience for literally hours if you wanted. I loved being a traveler. I joke sometimes, I love being a physical therapist, don't get me wrong, but I loved being a travel PT almost more. The challenges that you talked about, you hit it right on the head. Most professionals in healthcare, like I can be a PT anywhere. I know how to be a physical therapist. It's, you know, the ins and outs of. Getting to a new facility, figuring out how they operate, that's always the challenge. But for me, I walked into every new facility that I went to and wanted to be a part of that team. I wanted to pretend like I was there the whole time and really acclimate to... how they operate, so that way they were excited to see me every day and then sad when I left. But the housing challenges obviously are a real thing. It just depends on the area and what you need. Some folks need more, some folks need less. I got really lucky. I had some great contracts in different areas. I found awesome housing. Some of my favorites were in Fayetteville, North Carolina, actually, a place that not many people think of. My specialty when I was in school was neonatal intensive care, and I got a call one day for a job in North Carolina. And they're asking me all these questions about my NICU experience. And I didn't know why until the very end of the conversation. I go, 'Why are you guys asking so much about this?' I thought this was an adult job. They go, 'Oh, no, we needed partial coverage on our NICU.' And we thought you were a perfect fit. We saw your resume. I was like, 'Oh, okay.' And then I stayed there as long as I possibly could. It was amazing. Job-wise, that was probably my favorite. And then location-wise, probably Tacoma, Washington. This is one of my favorites. I fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and all the things that you can do out there being from the Midwest originally. I didn't know that existed and I was out there on a school contract for a long time. So I think that was probably, those were probably two of my favorites. Traveling gives you so many different opportunities to do so many different things. I worked in inpatient, outpatient, skilled nursing, schools, like I said, I worked in so many different settings, trying to figure out what was going to be the right fit for me. And You know, eventually I landed on acute care is the right fit for me. But I really love that. And then the flexibility with a time off is also great. I got to make sure I get spent lots of holidays with my family. I took off, you know, for long vacations. I was able to do a service trip to Guatemala, which I thought you guys had done as well. The challenges are, like we said, the unknown. Figuring out how to be a PT is the easy part. It's figuring out where you're going to live. I would say, where do they keep the socks, the walkers and the gait belts? That's what I need to know. And then I can then point me to my patient.

Brooke
I love it. And I think you kind of hit too on a little bit on just like the friendships that you make, because I feel like you probably have friends all over the place because you go and you work. And you meet people and work with them and then you finish your assignment and you move on to something else. And I feel like that's one of the perks of traveling is that you really get to meet a bunch of new people that maybe you would have never met and create those friendships and those. You know, adventures and experiences together that you would have never had it had you not gone into travel. Absolutely.

Will Hunt
Travel is a small world. I know that, you know, the world seems huge, but your village only grows as a traveler. You meet new clinicians, you meet new people, you know, literally from all over the country, like you said, that really become a part of not only how you practice, but also a part of your life. You know, some of my closest friends are definitely. literally a country away at some times and they you know they're huge parts of my experience as a traveler um but it really you're you're right it really does it opens up your world in a very unique way yeah and just real one one quick point too i think you know, like how you've segued from doing that to now being in recruitment as a traveler.

Brooke
Travel is a small world. I know that, you know, the world seems huge, but your village only grows as a traveler. You meet new clinicians, you meet new people, you know, literally from all over the country, like you said, that really become a part of not only how you practice, but also a part of your life. You know, some of my closest friends are definitely. literally a country away at some times and they you know they're huge parts of my experience as a traveler um but it really you're you're right it really does it opens up your world in a very unique way yeah and just real one one quick point too i think you know, like how you've segued from doing that to now being in recruitment as a traveler. Travel is a small world. I know that, you know, the world seems huge, but your village only grows as a traveler. You meet new clinicians, you meet new people, you know, literally from all over the country, like you said, that really become a part of not only how you practice, but also a part of your life. You know, some of my closest friends are definitely. literally a country away at some times and they you know they're huge parts of my experience as a traveler um but it really you're you're right it really does it opens up your world in a very unique way yeah and just real one one quick point too i think you know, like how you've segued from doing that to now being in recruitment as a traveler.

Nicole Meyeraan
I will say, I mean, there's a big reason why most of our specialties, we don't travel them right as new grads. Part of it is when you're a traveler, you have to be able to go to a new place, jump in. Sometimes you don't have a ton of orientation either, right? You might have a day, you might have like a couple hours of HR. Then you're going to go to the unit. And so you have to be really comfortable. I always have to be comfortable being uncomfortable a little bit as a traveler, right? Because you're going to be thrown in. So you have to be pretty confident in your skills. So that's a big piece, too, is just deciding when the right time is to travel. Sometimes people get, you know, really excited about the opportunity to go see new places or the money and they maybe aren't ready yet. I hate to say that, but like getting a little more experience definitely can help. So I think that's a big piece of it. But also, just going. Going into the assignment, knowing number one, it might be a little crazy and hectic, right? Sometimes there's a reason they need a traveler and it's maybe because they're short-staffed, right? Most of the time it's their short-staffed, right? So you might be stepping into something that's a little. Crazy, so just knowing that you have to be flexible—right? You can't anything's going to be perfect all the time. Right? You have to kind of go into it with that kind of attitude: 'Okay, I'm going to see what I can do. I'm going to go in and help I mean, and part of the thing that's great about having good recruiters a lot of times they are going to hopefully kind of tell you what you may be stepping into. Just being honest and transparent with you, like, 'Hey, this place is understaffed' or 'this might have this.' So just know going in. So I think being super flexible, being ready as far as like the timing in your career— when it's the right time for you to travel— is a big thing. And then just being, you know, professional, and more just willing to kind of roll up your sleeves and do whatever. Right. Because sometimes, as a traveler, you're going to end up doing it. A lot of just kind of random things, whatever they need. And so I think just really being able to go in there— with an open mind, being flexible, wanting to help people. I mean, again, at the end of the day, that's what you're there for is to help the patients. But it also then will help you as a traveler learn more. Those are the biggest things that I see is just somebody you kind of have to have that attitude going in. If you go in expecting everything to be perfect, you might set yourself up to be upset.

Brooke
So I really sound advice. And I think it's almost like a little bit of a, like a warning expectation of, you know, cause that we have a tendency as humans to do that, where we're like, we get really excited and we get our hopes up about stuff. And we tend to look more on the bright side of like all the good things that are going to happen from this experience. You bringing like the reality of like they're really understaffed and this is a chaotic time and whatever it is that's going on, I think. Actually, can lessen the anxiety too and set them up for more success. It's going to be a little bit of a transition and a little bit of like a learning curve as I have to get to know these people who work with each other all the time and how they like to work and how I'm going to fit into this whole thing. So I think. That's really great advice. One other thing I would like to say is that you got to sink or swim. And sometimes, you know, you, you can learn really quickly if you, I think, if you were to do it too soon before you were ready, kind of what you were speaking on. You would maybe do yourself a disservice by not having the best experience and then maybe not wanting to continue it later when, as if you had just waited until maybe you were a little more confident, a little more sure, and a little more ready. Then that experience would have been a different thing. So, you know, and sometimes that's what forces you to grow too. Some people really thrive in that kind of environment, but for the most part, I think it's. It's definitely something to consider. You need that sound advice. You need someone to say, 'Hey, this is the reality.' Like I have the experience because I've worked with countless allied professionals and this is what they've been through. You can kind of see the writing on the wall a little bit and prevent those, you know, the problems from arising in the first place. Yeah.

Will Hunt
And that self-awareness, Brooke, that you're talking about is really key. Being able to say, 'Hey,' I'm comfortable in my skills that I can step in and do the job, but also I'm, I'm comfortable being uncomfortable, like Nicole said, or maybe the awareness that I'm not okay with that. You know, when I took my first travel job, I talked to a lot of my PT mentors and professors. And one of my mentors still to this day, she said, you were made for traveling. It's like not all new grads are, but she goes, this is for you. She said, you know what you're doing. You know how to act for help. You know how to navigate unique situations. You were made for this. It really, I took it to heart and it stuck with me the whole six plus years that I was a traveler. And I think, you know, that's the type of advice that worked for me, but it might not work for everybody as well. Like I said, self-awareness is really important.

Brooke
Yeah. And sometimes you don't know— you know— you don't know— you think you can handle pressure in certain ways, like that, but when all the elements come at you, because it's not just the pressure of the patient and doing your job wonderfully, it's all just like. The stress of a new place, a new living situation, where you're away from your family, your friends, and now you're making—like, just all the extra stresses that you don't have that stability that you normally have in your life. Some people can really thrive in that, and some people can't at all. And so, it's just no—it's having self-awareness, but also, sometimes you don't know until you try. Like, sometimes you have to learn. 'Hey, this wasn't for me,' you know, but, but maybe future.

Will Hunt
And that's okay.

Brooke
Totally. Can you both speak a little bit on just the growth that the, the professional and personal growth that you've maybe seen from the start of maybe someone who's never done traveling at all. And then, you know, maybe he's done it now for a few years and just kind of. What traveling has kind of changed them and grown them into? You've kind of seen that's been inspiring in that way.

Will Hunt
Because the growth of any clinician as a traveler, I think, is just going to be... it's going to be, I think, more personal in a lot of cases that they're going to feel it than in a professional way. Because like I said, in a lot of cases, we can do our jobs almost anywhere. I mean, obviously you pick up things from, you know, when you're working with a new staff and things like that, you pick up new techniques, new ways of doing things that are going to help you grow professionally. But I think of like some of the first time travelers that I had that were like, I'm really scared. I don't know if this is right for me. And then after their first assignment or two, they're planning the next 18, 24 months of travel life. Like, I want to go here. I want to go here. I want to go here. And just the way that, again, it opens up their awareness. of what's available to them. We don't have favorites, but we have favorite travelers. It was from a small, small town in the middle of the country, had never really left that small town. And she started as a traveler and she got that bug so bad. And she explored literally. two-thirds of the country before taking a break, which is what she's doing so she can learn CT. instead of just doing x-rays. So it's like, it does open up your mind to think, okay, I could do this next step in my career, and it could open up these other doors as a traveler. I've got a lot of travelers who are like, 'How do I get more travel opportunities in a new way?' And sometimes that involves taking a break.

Brooke
Yeah. And sometimes, yeah, sometimes you get, you have to rest to get stronger. You know, it's like, you know, you can't just work out every single day because you're just going to keep tearing your muscles. They're never going to rebuild. But if you work out and then you take a break, sometimes you come back and you're, you're stronger than you were before. So. I think that works across the board for this. Absolutely. For the travelers who are on the road, what's the best way? Are you guys communicating with them? Email, phone, texting? Is it just open communication at any point in time? If it's 3 a. m. and they're on night shift and they're having a problem? Can you walk me through a little bit like what that's like as far as how they communicate and if they have a problem like randomly in a time that's not a normal business hour?

Will Hunt
Sure. At the end of the day, communication— when it comes to just like normally with a traveler— everybody's different. I have some travelers who love a phone call. I have some that say, 'Please don't call me.' They just want a text, and that's easy enough. We do have, and most agencies do have, an emergency line available that is manned 24-7. Heaven forbid something goes wrong when you're on that night shift. When you're in route somewhere, we do have that emergency line that can be picked up. And that is something that we give every traveler before every assignment. We leave it in our out of office communications. We leave it in, you know, automated messages. So that way, even if it's a holiday, somebody's going to be there for you if you need it. When it comes to just general everyday communication, some are on autopilot after a while and they don't want to check. They're like, 'Yeah, I'm good. Please leave me alone.' And some I check in with and we, you know, we chit chat. We've become good friends over the years. You know, we catch up on how's life. Once a week, once every couple of weeks, it just kind of depends on the person.

Brooke
Do you guys have advice for someone who might be curious about, you know, ally travel with you guys, but doesn't really kind of know where to start? Can you just give some advice on that aspect?

Nicole Meyeraan
I think part of it is just gathering information and knowledge. And thinking about what's important to you in travel, right? Because you want to make sure that you align yourself with an agency and a recruiter who can support those things, right? So it just really depends on, what are their goals? What's important to them? And then, really doing a little bit of research, right? There's a lot of agencies out there. There's a ton and it's very competitive, right? So. And they all offer different things too, right? And different benefits. So it's, again, just looking into that, kind of maybe narrowing it down. I know we've told people in the past, like, 'Hey, talk to a couple of different recruiters because every recruiter is different too.' And figure out, like, what is your style? What do you prefer? You know, communication is obviously important. Do they communicate the way you want them to communicate? So I think that's the biggest thing. But then once you do decide, okay, I really like Will from T &A and TotalMed, I'm going to work with him. Typically, I would say your best bet is to work with one recruiter at a time. I know sometimes they do say 'work with multiple' and that's fine, but I do think. If you have one solid recruiter and they have, they're going to have access to most of the same jobs that every other agency has. And so, just really being able to work with one and like having them know what you're looking for and know, you know, the ins and outs of what's important to you. I think. It's great. And you may, and part of it too, like you may talk to Will and be like, 'I'm not ready yet.' But that's one of the things— is when you're ready, then we'll have everything and we'll go then. I mean, sometimes I know. And maybe I'm going to steal Will's thunder, but there was someone like when he first started, he was talking to her and then she just wasn't ready. And then I think he finally booked her on her like first assignment sometime this year. So I think he was. Oh yeah. I know you're talking about.

Will Hunt
Yeah.

Nicole Meyeraan
Make sure it's comfortable. So sometimes, you know, it's not— it is kind of like a long game thing. Like maybe you're like, 'I want to get more information, but I don't know if I'm ready.' And that's okay too.

Will Hunt
Yeah. I couldn't, I couldn't agree more. I think the best way to start that process is just have a conversation, you know, talk to somebody that's going to shoot you straight. That's going to give you the information. I think in the past, six months to a year, one of the biggest things that I have been doing actually is having those tougher conversations. And saying, you know, everything you're telling me, I'm not sure this is the, I'm happy to be a resource for you, but I'm not sure I'm the right one for you for reasons X, Y, or Z. You know, there's a lot more conversations I think about. You know, why it might not be the right fit, rather than why it would be, just because, you know, that process of elimination does really kind of help you hone in on what's going to be important for you. The only other thing I would add to is talk to travelers. You might not realize it, but you probably know a couple people who've had at least one travel assignment somewhere or worked with a recruiter at some point, whether or not they took a job with them or not. But yeah, just having those conversations. And really, you know, again, not to sound corny, doing almost a little bit of soul searching and seeing what are my goals? What do I want to accomplish? What will this bring me closer to? And then kind of going from there.

Brooke
Yeah, I find it really comforting, both of you, the way that you speak about process of the recruitment and the way that you...Say, you know, this isn't a one-size-fits-all type of situation. Everybody's different and you treat them as such, which I think builds a lot of trust here. Just the way that you guys speak about the advice and the leadership that you're offering to people, and just really telling them the truth, and maybe having those conversations and asking those tough questions that maybe they haven't even thought to ask themselves. And that's the kind of guidance that only experience can really come from, because sometimes you just don't know what you don't know. TNA and TotalMed merger that happened, which brought the two travel healthcare brands together. Can you talk about how that has impacted and aided in the support for allied travelers?

Nicole Meyeraan
I will say for allied, it's been great because With TNA prior, we were a small team. We were new, right? So we were just really working to grow our contacts in the field. I mean, obviously we had a lot of hospitals we already worked with, but, you know. Being able to merge with the TotalMed side, their allied team has been around longer than ours. And so they had some footprint with different clients that maybe we didn't, which is really great. But they're also allowed us to grow the specialties that we recruit for. We've actually expanded. I haven't counted. It's at least 20 different specialties right now that we travel. And so with that, too, we've had access to a lot more jobs. Just combining the two companies and the different hospitals. And we also do a lot of outpatient now. We've grown to do some skilled nursing, home health, which is something we didn't do before. So now I think it's great because if even if you want to travel, but you're not 100 percent sure you want to be in a hospital setting there, you know, depending mainly therapy, we do the rehab and skill. But there's different it's opened up a lot more options for some of our therapists that we weren't able to offer before. So I think that's been just a huge benefit. I'm trying to think what else I would add. I mean, that's the biggest thing I would say is just more jobs, more places we can send people and more settings.

Brooke
Well, it sounds like it's great for everyone involved. So you grew the specialties and I know we touched on a little bit, but is there an opportunity here for you to kind of like list maybe some of the specialties that people might not think of that can get involved with you guys that they're like, oh, I didn't realize they needed. this specialty and I'm, and I'm, I'm this fit. That's a hard list.

Nicole Meyeraan
So we talked, we've talked a lot about imaging radiology. If you're in those spaces, there's so many jobs available. And so that, you know, those are pretty well known. And I think therapy too. We added on a lot of like more tech roles. So like pharmacy technicians, dialysis techs, EKG techs, tele techs. There's not as many jobs available for those roles, but I do see it hopefully. It will expand as we're able to offer those those options to our clients now that we couldn't before. So I think those are big areas that people didn't really realize that you could be a trial. You know, with phlebotomy, a lot of the laboratory roles, too.

Will Hunt
I think from the imaging side, everyone always thinks of x-ray, CT, MRI. Those are the kind of obvious ones. But there are roles for echo techs, IR techs, cath labs, radiation therapists who work in the oncology space. So there's a lot of opportunities there. Obviously on the therapy side, PTOT speech, and then assistance as well. PTAs, CODAs are also always, there's always opportunities out there for them. Not necessarily as many, but there are, if that's something that you're interested in looking into. you definitely can explore those options. I think the, you know, I know assistant roles have been tougher in recent years, but they are starting to kind of pop up a little bit more often. But yeah, so basically, if you work in healthcare and you're curious about traveling, you probably can. You just need to find out how.

Brooke
What's a myth or some myths that you would like to bust about allied health care travel? Like anything that you think that there's kind of like a rumor going around. This is the case. And you're like, 'No, that's actually not true.' Let me tell you the real story. Is there anything like that?

Will Hunt
I can think of a few myths in travel in general.

Nicole Meyeraan
Not specific, but I would say travel. I don't know. One thing I feel like right now people might be hesitant to travel, thinking that they can't afford it or their rates aren't as good as they used to be. There's definitely, I mean, for some of our specialties, they can make a good amount of money and there's a lot of opportunities. So I think sometimes people are hesitant because of just the cost of living, right? Daily living and things like that. Whereas I do think it is more manageable or feasible than they think.

Will Hunt
I think another big misconception is that you're, you know, your recruiter's out to get you. I think, and unfortunately, you know, those rumors and misconceptions do come from some grain of truth in the universe. Um, and I think it's unfortunate because I had a wonderful recruiter and that's why I traveled so long. And then she is the reason that I recruit now also. Um, you know, so I think the idea that, you know, your, your recruiters taking all your money is, is just not true. You know, a good recruiter is there to work with you and it's going to be excited to celebrate your wins no matter what. The other one that I think of often is that you're going to be on an island. Oh, you're traveling, you're going to be all alone. Well, as we've said, you know, your village only grows as a traveler. You're going to meet new clinicians. or new travelers even everywhere you go. And then, if you're ever concerned about things like mentorship or whatnot, you have to remember that again. The universe is getting, you know, our worlds are getting smaller. A mentor can help get you a lot of information, even though they're not on the ground with you. If you're traveling, you're going to go to terrible facilities. That must be a terrible place. That's also just...It's silly. It wouldn't exist if it was a terrible place necessarily. You know, they need some help maybe, but there's a reason that they're there and there are reasons to bring in that traveler. You know, some facilities live on travelers year in and year out. It's just part of their budget. So they're used to having a steady rotation. So you might go to some wonderful facilities. I mean, the Mayo Clinic uses travelers, you know, big hospital systems here in Chicago use travelers. There is a space and a need for them no matter where you go. So you can work at some really amazing facilities. Wake Forest comes to mind too. You know, Baylor also uses great facilities. All these great facilities use travelers.

Brooke
I think you bring up a really good point— you know, the recruiters aren't the enemy. You care about the travelers. And I think that's one of the great things about this podcast is because people can get to know. the recruiters and, and kind of your passion for travelers, where, where can our listeners and our watchers of this podcast, where can they go either personally check you guys out and also obviously to go check out if they are thinking, Hey, you know what? I think I want to be an ally traveler. I want to get into this space. Can you kind of just drop a little bit line and I'll put it in the link in the bio as well for anybody listening and watching to go check out their website. Sure.

Will Hunt
I think the best place to start is TNAA .com. It's going to give you a really quick landing page of all the things that you can find as a traveler. You know, if there's something specific you're looking for, all of our jobs are posted in real time. So you can see all those things on TNAA. com. Um, we do have a fantastic social media team, so you can find us on Instagram. Uh, you can find us on LinkedIn, on Facebook, travelers across America, uh, the whole name, not just the acronym. And I think on Facebook, it's the same.

Nicole Meyeraan
Look us up on great recruiters. That's another tool. And I don't know if a lot of, um, Travelers know about that, that there is, it's great recruiters and you can go on there and find a recruiter and you can read people's reviews, read what travelers or even just like candidates have put about recruiters and pick one. So that's another space where you can, like, if you're trying to figure out, okay, who do I want to work with? Who do I like? Like go there and read some reviews. Because that might help you also, you know, pick a recruiter and a company.

Will Hunt
Greatrecruiters.com is going to have a lot of great resources for you. And it's going to be more, it's going to cover more companies than just one as well. So it's a little more agnostic way to start looking.

Nicole Meyeraan
We have a big allied recruitment team now. We're at 30 recruiters. So even if you're hesitant, I'm happy to talk to somebody and match them with someone that might be a good fit. So I can definitely give you guys my email too.

Brooke
Thank you both so much for joining our Crafting Wellness podcast. It's been such a pleasure having Nicole and Will on explaining all of the amazing things that you guys are doing for travelers and in benefit of them. So thank you so much for your time. We really do appreciate the knowledge.

Will Hunt
Thanks so much for having us, Brooke. We really appreciate it.

Nicole Meyeraan
Thanks, Brooke.