Retired nurse having to return to work

systoly · May 18, 2011

What have you done to promote massage services?

Have you contacted private pay/not for profit facilities?

Have you tried to convince companies to give a free massage instead of Walmart card to the employee of the month?

Have you set up at malls and festivals?

Have you left business cards and flyers?

In other words, can you be more aggressive in drumming up business?

If you're not giving a massage right now, you need to be working on getting your next customer. Don't discard the professionals. Perhaps using the services of a promotional company is cost prohibitive, but finding out is free.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · May 18, 2011

I wish I did.......Nursing isn't what it used to be....it's much more....rough. dog eat dog kind of thing. At least in Acute care. To me it seemed like the profession just kind of went crazy!!!

I am now on disability due to an infalmmatory myopathy......but I would look into telephone triage. I know Core Medical Group had some postions...

EmergencyNrse · May 18, 2011

1st of all... Welcome Back!

Phone triage sounds like a good suggestion. Case management is pretty low-key.

Do you need to be in a hospital setting? I would stay away from the floor. Med/Surg, Tele, Neuro all are still pretty hectic. Not the ER...

Critical Care is okay on the unit. MICU/SICU/CCU. Labor-intensive you still only get 2 patients and all you have to do is pay attention to detail while taking care of them. Taming of the families are the only stress there (I think).

Interventional radiology, PICU/Recovery, Dialysis is pretty chill...

The world is yours for the taking just keep looking. Good luck.

paddlelady, BSN, RN · May 18, 2011

to answer all. I have been doing massage for 13 year along with nursing. I marketed quite a bit. I did fairs. Gave freebies at the local senior center. Many of my clients came from the senior center and word of mouth. I have lost 6 seniors that got regular massages. They have passed away. Some of my other massage clients have moved away from the area. I am market again. I think people are saving their money at this point. Some of my regular clients told me that they are cutting back and massage is one. I offer discounts and seniors. I have written letters and stop by the chiropractors . I was an insurance provider but I did drop that as I could not afford the 400 $ for malpractice insurance.

I do have some resumes in to local spas but they want you to live nearby and I have to take a ferry to get to these spas and they want to hire local.

I have done telephonic nursing, disease management and case management and UR so those are the things are am looking into. What is really hard is we have our younger son still in college and we have to help him. Thanks for all the ideas everyone.

Guest717236 · May 18, 2011

Wishing you a job that is a good match for you...soon and one you will

enjoy.

Interesting you mentioned massage, I was at a plaza the other day

and the massage therapist had a sign that she also did

massage for canines and horses....

Even with the economy, lots of people still cater to their pets

so you might want to look at that angle.

Sound like a nice add on way to make money and use your skills...

bagladyrn, RN · May 18, 2011

Have you considered seeing if any of the local hospitals hire sitters for patients? Probably wouldn't pay as much as a nursing job and would mostly be nights, but one on one should be lower stress.

netglow, ASN, RN · May 18, 2011

Paddle, you should go see some of the better hospice companies around you. Massage is often a service offered for palliative/hospice care!!

MissIt · May 18, 2011

Another thing to consider for the massage is to talk with local chiropractors. Mine has two massage therapists on staff because the massage helps people hold their adjustments longer because their muscle tightness isn't pulling everything out of line. Maybe there is someone just looking for the right person?

Maybe hospice is something to consider in nursing, as well as massage. Perhaps crisis care where you only really have one patient at a time.

paddlelady, BSN, RN · May 18, 2011

As far as hospice goes we have 1 hospice in my immediate area. They consider you a volunteer and do not charge the patients for the massage. I worked for them and one lady asked me to massage her shoulders she loved it.

One of my massage colleagues did volunteer for them and she never got many calls. She did however, get 1 client from the staff who I use to work with.

I know all the chiropractors in town and they know I exist and I do get referrals. Most of the patients do have insurance that will cover massage.

Uniformed Medical has now been bought out by Regents . So the therapist on UMP cannot get on with Regents. This system doesnt seem user friendly.

A good number of patients on the island that I live are covered by Regents and for years Regents is not letting any of the therapists were I live be a provider. They group us in with the Seattle therapists and we are a 35 min ferry ride from Seattle. They say they have too many massage providers in Seattle. I tryed to give them a geography lesson but they will not add any of us to the network. So we are out of network providers which they dont cover as well. I have applied at some of the chiropractors offices . They email and say they will call me for an interview and it never happens. I do follow up and call and then hear that they have either hired someone or they want to wait. Why advertise. I am hitting a wall these last few years. I think the universe has something else in store for me.

I just have to find out what that may be.

Thanks again everyone.

BrookeeLou_RN · May 18, 2011

With you being down on income, can your son qualify for some financial aid? Or perhaps a part-time job to help you get thru this period. Market is tough to get any job and the more specific you are the less jobs there are, it seems.

Can you market your massage therapy to local hospital and or DR's for the staff more than patients? Could you sell a package like thing pay for 5 massages and get next one free....Market to schools, colleges and secondary and elementary schools, Teachers all need breaks the end of the year. Or try wo work with a high priced hair salon where you could be part of their makeover package...just some ideas off the top of my head.

Best of luck in your search.:)

paddlelady, BSN, RN · May 18, 2011

mM son is working on his Masters in Public health in Denmark. No loans for an out of counry school. As a parent we didnt expect to help our kids with post grad tuition etc.

However, in this economy he could not find a job. He has a degree in Biology with speciliaty in Molecular and Cellular Biology. No one would hire him as he didnt have any experience.

I was talking to my physician about the mater. She was telling me she was seeing alot of younger college grads depressed as they couldnt find work. Well her advice was to do go on for Masters to become more competitive in the work place. His dream was to go back to Scandanvia to study. It was hard to say no and I was doing very well with massage at that time. He only has 1 year left and when he is through he is on his own. There are alot of very educated college grads working as barastias and not using their degrees.

It is pretty tough on todays job market.

I do offer packages etc. I also do foot reflexology. They charge 90 a session in Seattle mine is only 65 an hours. If you schedule 4 sessions the 4 th is FREE! Cant beat that.

I also have a referral system . Etc. I just think that the economy is down and people are saving their money.

Thanks for the suggestions.