ALUMNI News - Fanshawe College

TIPS FROM THE INSIDE
10
his love of fl ying to good use, since
they did aerial spraying year round.
It was 1989 and I found lots of
RT positions listed all across North
America in the trade magazines.
We looked seriously at Florida and
Ocala caught our eye. The city had
about 150,000 people then and has
since grown to 250,000. I applied
to Monroe Regional Medical Centre
as an RT. They wanted people with
experience which I had.
Turns out I saw more trauma in
the fi rst three months in Florida
than I had in 10 years working
at trauma centres and teaching
hospitals in Ontario. We’re right on
the I-75 interstate highway which
is a busy spot for accidents. Plus,
compared to Canada, I was seeing
more trauma due to weapons, like
gunshot wounds and stabbings.
So while that wasn’t a pleasant
aspect of the job, you take it as a
challenge because you’re there to
help make people better. The fi rst
few minutes that someone is being
treated for such serious injuries, it’s
really important that you do what
you can do and not panic.
In 1996, I was offered a really
good opportunity at Ocala Regional
Medical Center. It also meant far
less weekend work, so I took it. Our
third son Andrew had been born
while I was at Monroe in 1994.
The new job was as an Emergency
Room Specialist in an expanded
role where RTs and RNs took a
team approach to looking after the
patient.
For about the next four years, I
had my summers off. For RNs and
RTs, it can be very fl exible because
the population of Florida swells
in the winter and falls again in
the summer. During the non-peak
summer months, we travelled,
camped and visited relatives in
As far as advice goes, I
recommend that students
search the Internet to fi nd
out what jobs are out
there. Our HR department
goes a long way to help
health care workers
relocate. We have nurses
and RTs from countries
around the world.
Canada for extended periods. That
was really great.
I transitioned out of the Emergency
Room Specialist role about three and
half years ago. I now work between
West Marion Community Hospital
and Ocala Regional. When our
Director left, I went from Supervisor
to Interim Director of Respiratory
Therapy and ultimately Respiratory
Director of both facilities.
Then in January 2006, I became
Cardiopulmonary Director. In this
role, I manage workload issues,
check on how the therapists are
doing with patients, plus there
are a lot of quality assurance and
government mandated programs
to oversee.
After all these years, I’m still a
Canadian citizen. I have an Alien
Registration Card that allows me
to be a permanent US resident
and it needs to be renewed every
10 years.
As far as advice goes, I
recommend that students search
the Internet to fi nd out what jobs
are out there. They’ll fi nd lots
of opportunity down here. Our
human resource department goes
a long way to help health care
workers relocate. We have nurses
and RTs from countries around
the world.
In particular, North Central
Florida offers a wide variety of
work environments and living
options in both rural settings
and large cities. In Ocala, we’re
only an hour from Orlando.
While the city is growing, it’s still
family-oriented and neighbours
are friendly. When you’re new, it
doesn’t take long to be accepted
as one of the community.
Overall, it’s a pretty easy place
to like. When you see fl owers
blooming in February, it renews
your spirit. As for Ontario, I do
miss my family and I still dream
about the best summer sausage
I’ve ever had that’s made in a
market in Tavistock, Ontario.
But as opportunities go, our
move was a good one and life is
what you make it. We’ve done
very well and our boys are happy
and well educated. The world is
open to them and I hope they will
fi nd fulfi lling careers and happy
lives as we have.
Fanshawe College Alumni News Spring 2006