Healthcare Traveler - November 2008 - (Page 64)

Tales from the Road M E M O R A B L E E X P E R I EN CE S AT WO R K O R P L AY Connecting with the past Marian Jennings, RNC, began her mobile nursing career in 1996. Recently, she had the opportunity to explore her own family heritage on assignment. Julie Anne Eason MARIAN J ENNINGS, RNC, at the House Photo: Getty Images/Kyu Oh , Trinity Site, White Sands A labor and delivery nurse, Marian loves the idea of travel nursing. She appreciates the ability to visit new and exciting places. Plus, she enjoys the flexibility and the opportunity to stay extended periods of time in one location without spending much money. “I love connecting with family the most, though.” Last summer, Boca Raton, Florida-based InteliStaf Travel offered her a contract at Los Alamos Medical Center in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and she jumped at the chance to rediscover her family’s roots. Schmidt-McD onald Ranch Missile Range , New Mexic o. every room in the main house faced the Oscura Mountains.” When Marian’s grandmother, Esther Holmes Schmidt, went into labor with her father, Thomas, the house caught fire. “My grandfather, who owned the only automobile in town, transported her to nearby San Marcial to give birth. The house was rebuilt in 1913 and still stands 2 miles from Ground Zero. A ranch house in the desert “I knew my grandfather, Franz Schmidt, brought his family west and built a homestead in the desert,” states Marian. “What I didn’t know was that the adobe stone and pebble dash ranch house was still standing—in the middle of the Trinity nuclear test site on the White Sands Missile Range, where the first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945.” She says Franz came to America from Germany as a tailor looking for merchandise to sell back home, but he never went back. “In 1906, he traveled to New Mexico, built a home, and raised a family, as well as over 1,000 head of cattle, horses, and 12,000 head of sheep. The barn where his farmhands slept was built of brick and stone, with fireplaces in each room to keep his workers warm. And “It may be a national monument, but to me, it’s a monument to my family.” “Windows were blown out during the nuclear blast, and there was water damage. But the original paint and the trim that my grandmother added on the ceilings remain.” Marian says President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the structure, now known as the “Schmidt-McDonald Ranch House,” refurbished and turned into a national monument. Left empty for decades, it was restored to its original condition in 1984 by the National Park Service (NPS). “It may be a national monument, but to me, it’s a monument to my family. My father and his two sisters, Frances and Margaret, were born and raised there.” In fact, Marian’s Aunt Frances visited her childhood home in 2003 and recorded a video describing each room of the house as she remembers it. Tours of the Trinity Site are only conducted twice a year. Because Marian’s contract was due to end before the next date, she contacted the Department of Defense. “Public Affairs gave us a private tour. The U.S. Army used the main house for the Manhattan Project to assemble the plutonium core. Troops and personnel were housed in the barn. An NPS officer showed us photos of the men who worked there during the 1940s.” From generation to generation “I’m so grateful to the government for preserving this piece of history,” continues Marian. Since her trip, she has taken an increased interest in her family’s history, contacting long-lost cousins and working on her Family Tree. Travel nursing has given Marian a connection to her past, but she also looks to the future. “My husband, Bill, travels with me on all my assignments with our two motorcycles. I can’t wait to get on the road again, where new adventures wait around every corner.” HT Julie Anne Eason is a freelance writer based in China, Maine. Copyright ©2008 Advanstar Communications Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including by photocopy, recording, or information storage and retrieval without permission in writing from the publisher. 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Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Traveler - November 2008

Healthcare Traveler - November 2008 Editor’s Desk Contents In a Flash Paws for Thought Field Notes You Said It Perks and Preferences A Latitude Adjustment Drug Update Clinical Tips Advice of Counsel Cityscape Advertiser’s Index Name It When In. . . It’s in the Bag Contest Rules Big Deals Tax Facts Going the Distance Allied Corner Classifieds Tales from the Road

Healthcare Traveler - November 2008

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