Websites that offer housing for travel nurses? Bay Area?

NedRN · Apr 27, 2020

I've aways done well with Craigslist. Post your own housing wanted ad there for some good deals you will never see advertised. Agencies and travelers can both use the turn key services of Travelers Haven, Temp Med Housing, and Furnished Finders.

guest769224 · Apr 27, 2020

AACN is partnered with Hilton Hotels until the end of May for Covid contract workers. That’s what I’m using. I tried a Craigslist post prior to this and got very few bites on my ad. Seemed nobody wanted an ICU nurse caring for infected patients in their place.

NedRN · Apr 27, 2020

That's great! What's the cost?

chare · Apr 27, 2020

1 hour ago, NedRN said:
That's great! What's the cost?

https://www.aacn.org/membership/free-hilton-hotel-rooms-for-aacn-members

NedRN · Apr 27, 2020

WOW!, that is fantastic!

(interesting site feature, I did not capitalize the WOW!! or add an exclamation mark there) (nor did I in the edit either)

guest769224 · Apr 29, 2020

Yeah every time someone types that W word on this website in involuntarily capitalizes the whole word for some reason.

Yeah it’s a great deal. The catch is the maximum stay is 7 days. So you re-home each week.

Although my contract is now disintegrating as I signed a 4 week contract and ended up contracting the virus even with proper PPE.

First assignment went out with a bang.

NedRN · Apr 29, 2020

Sorry to hear that. Hope you get through it OK. One of my big issues with taking a contract right now is just that kind of scenario. The good news is you are likely eligible for workers comp. And if you get though this fine, your immune status may allow you to get even better pay as a traveler in the next year.

One small agency that has remained popular for its pay and service is MSSI in Wisconsin and I was rather delighted to see a marketing email with a specific policy of two weeks pay and housing if you became infected on assignment. Good enough? Debatable, but certainly better than simple termination potentially leaving you on the hook for costs such as housing commitments and travel, loss of pay, in addition to the pain and costs (including perhaps death or long lasting sequelae of stoke PE et cetera) of severe illness.

guest769224 · Apr 30, 2020

14 hours ago, NedRN said:
Sorry to hear that. Hope you get through it OK. One of my big issues with taking a contract right now is just that kind of scenario. The good news is you are likely eligible for workers comp. And if you get though this fine, your immune status may allow you to get even better pay as a traveler in the next year.
One small agency that has remained popular for its pay and service is MSSI in Wisconsin and I was rather delighted to see a marketing email with a specific policy of two weeks pay and housing if you became infected on assignment. Good enough? Debatable, but certainly better than simple termination potentially leaving you on the hook for costs such as housing commitments and travel, loss of pay, in addition to the pain and costs (including perhaps death or long lasting sequelae of stoke PE et cetera) of severe illness.

Thank you. On day 4 of symptoms at the moment. I'm young but it's been a rough go nonetheless. Filing workers comp. tomorrow. What do you mean by my immune status would allow better pay as a traveler in the next year?

My agency is giving me my weekly guarantee and offered to provide housing still (if I wasn't taking the AACN deal), which I am grateful for. They've been helpful for the most part. I recall you mentioning MSSI in the past. They only serve the state of Wisconsin?

guest769224 · Apr 30, 2020

By the way, I have gotten to experience firsthand the importance of the relationship you have with your recruiter. I've read that from you many times here and realize the difference it makes. My recruiter right now is a relatively hands off in my opinion and seems somewhat impatient during phone calls, while the other staff from company have been helpful. Will switch recruiters if I take a future assignment with company.

NedRN · Apr 30, 2020

If you gain immunity status from SARS CoV-2 as demonstrated by as yet unreliable serology testing, you can work anywhere without becoming infected, or transmitting the disease (also yet to be proven). There are discussions in many countries about immunity "passports" including of course the possibility of generating inequalities from such status. But there are obvious benefits in healthcare and such immune persons may be able to demand pay premiums. There is also reduced risk for employers on healthcare risks for such persons.

MSSI is a regular agency. I only specified Wisconsin as there is another agency with the same name. Besides apparently having a great corporate culture, they are worth exploring for their unusual practice of never using vendor managers. Thus, they will most certainly have assignments most agencies do not have. But they are small so perhaps harder to have as a primary agency although like all agencies, they have their loyal travelers who only work with them. Back when traveler forums were a thing, they were a rare agency with nothing negative ever posted about them. I also met them as they attended the first couple Traveler Conferences in Vegas. So they are worth a mention, but I don't recommend any agencies and without a doubt, they have had a few disasters and unhappy travelers. Impossible to avoid. But smaller agencies have fewer.

There are a few other agencies that never seemed to get negative reviews. One is Trinity - but businesses that openly state faith based practices make me nervous. Another one was Millenium, which NC based and may have been mostly regional. And of course hundreds of very small agencies that never got mentioned ever. Big agencies get lots of negative reviews, mostly because they have so many travelers.

Some really are bad to the core. Aureus is one of the few I always suggest to avoid. Decades of consistently bad behavior. I was just reminded of O'Grady Peyton (OGP) by a post here today. They are an American Mobile acquisition focused perhaps solely on international recruitment but apparently maintain to this day bad practices.

When you think about agency business models, the primary goal is to exploit labor (as it is with many other industries). It is entirely possible to do this entirely cynically and profit - as has Aureus. However it is also possible to recognize the value of traveler retention and long term profits and succeed. This is harder to do as corporate wide culture, but relatively easily as a recruiter (which is why there are superstar recruiters that develop).

Either way, travel is a business, and travelers really have to look after themselves to ensure fair practices and play. Think of all agencies as bad first to put things in perspective. Certainly every agency is capable of acting badly when stressed. Your best bet is a good recruiter, but even there you will never know until they are also stressed by what is happening to an individual traveler and the demands of their agency management.