Coming Home
Among all the children’s hospitals I have worked at, no other place has made me feel as comfortable and important as CHLA.
I worked for three years at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles before I decided to become a travel nurse. It wasn’t anything about CHLA that pushed me away. I just really wanted to experience different hospital cultures and different ways of doing the things I was doing here. I hadn’t really traveled much and I figured that doing it for work would be a great opportunity. I might as well be honest about the money, too: Travel nursing pays way better than regular nursing jobs do.
I talked to some travel nurses working at CHLA, they convinced me it was worth the risk, and off I went! I basically had seven assignments in two years. I went to places like the U.S. Virgin Islands, San Francisco, a handful of hospitals in Oregon and more. I learned a ton. I met great people. But after about two years, I got tired of being on the road all the time. And I wanted to come home to the man who is now my husband.
I had loved my time at CHLA and inquired about coming back to work. Honestly, I didn’t have to look anywhere else. I had been working in the Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit when I left but there weren’t any openings in that unit. Instead I came back to work in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit, which is where my then fiancé was working as well. I was delighted!
Among all the children’s hospitals I have worked at, no other place has made me feel as comfortable and important as CHLA. There’s something special about CHLA that you can’t find anywhere else. I love the team aspect of the care—nurses, doctors, specialists, all working together, all equals. Being a nurse here is more than a job. It’s more than a career. It’s a life choice. I doubt I’ll ever leave again.
— Erin Trinidad, RNII, Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit
