This story is a part of Prolink’s Allied Health Week celebration. To learn more about everything we’re doing to celebrate allied professions this week, visit prolinkworks.com/alliedhealthhub.
When she received a Facebook invite from her old friend, Tammi, back in 2015, Deborah had no idea it would end up taking her all over the country. Tammi, a fellow CT Tech, hit it off with Deborah when they worked together in Huntsville, Alabama around the turn of the century. But when Tammi left to start traveling, they fell out of touch. 11 years later, the two picked up right where they left off. Soon enough, Tammi encouraged Deborah to start her own adventure.
“I was telling her a bit about how travel was,” Tammi said. “I was really telling her she had to get out. I was worried she maybe wouldn’t like it as much as I did … And now she’s my roomie, my best friend, and we talk for eight or nine hours a day.”
“Been doing it ever since,” said Deborah.
Deborah’s first foray into travel assignments took her halfway across the country. When Tammi left Alabama back in 2004, Deborah stayed. Suddenly, after more than a decade apart, she found herself working alongside Tammi in Austin, Texas. The two ended up staying for almost three years.
“It was a little different,” said Deborah of her first travel experience, “but it wasn’t bad.”
“It’s a safety thing,” Tammi said. “Especially when you’re venturing out for a while, and you don’t know the place you’re going to or how it is … So, when you get there, you’re kind of nervous. But when you have someone with you, it’s not bad. It puts your mind at ease.”
In the years that followed, the pair worked together as CT Techs in facilities across the eastern half of the US. From their first assignment together in Texas, they have been to Virginia, Florida, Michigan, and Tennessee. As Tammi put it, they’ve “stuck together like glue.” 2024 marks their first year working separately since they started traveling back in 2015. But once the new year rolls around, they’ll be on the hunt for their next “vacation.”
“[Deborah] likes it up north, but we haven’t been to the west side of the States yet,” Tammi said. “Arizona is our next one!”
It hasn’t always been easy to find multiple CT Tech openings at the same hospital. But that hasn’t stopped them. On one trip to Florida, Tammi took a contract in Miami while Deborah worked in Tallahassee. They still made the drive down south together.
The pair’s Prolink recruiter, Vanessa, has helped make their partnership possible. She knows Tammi and Deb are a “package deal,” and ensures they can stick together wherever their work takes them.
“You want someone that is genuine, that’s there to fight for you,” Tammi said. “She checks up on you, and those are the things you want from a recruiter. ‘How’s the facility?’ ‘How’s your day going?’ ‘Is anything wrong?’ Not going to lie, she’s been there every time.”
Tammi recounted her first experience working with Vanessa—she wanted an assignment in the Nashville area, to be closer to her husband. When the job fell through, Vanessa didn’t give up.
“She said, ‘I’ll get you something.’ She worked hard and got me where I wanted to go. So I told Deborah, ‘You need to reach out to this recruiter. She’s really good.’”
Vanessa works to make sure the ladies can fit their home and family lives in between contracts. Especially for Tammi, who balances married life with a love of travel. She usually spends a few weeks at most between assignments and will sometimes travel home on days off to “maintain a house for a day or two.” But without hesitation, both said that traveling with each other has also felt like home.
“I probably have quirks that drive Deborah crazy, and vice versa,” Tammi said. “But we just hit it off very well. She’s funny and laid back, and I’m loud and obnoxious, and she keeps me in line … it’s great to have someone that you’re familiar with.”
Although they make it look easy, Deb and Tammi understand that traveling full-time isn’t for everybody. But if you can find a lifelong friend who’s willing to come along for the ride, the new experiences both on and off the clock are worth it.
“You just got to be willing to accept everything that comes with it,” Deborah said. “Being away from your family and friends. But you meet new people, and you learn something everywhere you go.”
“There are many companies out there,” Tammi said. “There are many recruiters … to stay with one, they have to be pretty good. I wouldn’t leave [Vanessa]. The recruiter should be out there keeping us in mind, and the one we currently have really does do that.”
“For everybody that comes out to travel, just make sure that you have somebody that’s going to have your back.”
