Labor and delivery nurse Dwanda Trask, RN, is the kind of nurse that every family hopes to encounter during their birth experience. She’s smart, competent, and cheerful. 

She’s also really grateful for the opportunity to be an L&D nurse and use her skills to help others. 

“Nursing is a gift from God,” said Trask, who hails from New Orleans. “It’s an area of your life where you can provide a service to people who are really in need.”

During her nursing career of 30-plus years, Trask has taken care of new moms and their babies on labor and delivery nurse units from coast to coast—and many states in between. She loves the work, especially witnessing the new life that enters the world every day. 

FIND short-term labor and delivery nurse jobs across the country.

The Right Time To Travel

Trask always wanted to try travel nursing, but it wasn’t until her son was a teenager that it became a reality. 

She enrolled her son in a private boarding school to give him some new opportunities, and she signed on to her first travel nursing job to help pay the tuition. Then she journeyed to San Jose, California, to begin her travel adventures.

With the help of her mother, Trask soon set up a schedule where she took short-term travel nursing jobs, then went back home to New Orleans for a month or two at a time. When she was home, she took on per diem assignments at a local hospital. 

“Then I’d go back out,” she said. 

In the past, Trask worked with several different agencies. But she signed on with NurseChoice about four years ago and hasn’t looked back.

She enjoys all the benefits of travel nursing, the assignments themselves, and working with her recruiter, Paige Summer.

“For me, at this point, to put all my apples in one basket says a lot about NurseChoice,” she reflected.

Benefits of Travel Nursing: Flexibility, Financial Security & More

Trask is currently on assignment with a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Harbor City, California. She loves pouring herself into her shifts as a labor and delivery nurse, but she makes the most of her days off, too. 

Every day offers the opportunity for exploring or enjoying—or both. 

As a self-described “church-going Southern girl,” Trask likes to visit churches in the area, and she is always up for a shopping expedition. 

“When I am away, I love to venture out to new adventures,” she said. 

A major benefit of Trask’s travel nursing jobs is that they allow her to support her family. 

When she is away on an assignment, her mother stays with her daughter. She proudly notes that her daughter is achieving stellar grades, is on schedule to graduate in 2018, and hopes to become a pediatrician. 

Trask’s employers have been more than willing to work with her to put together a few days off in a row as much as possible so she can go home to visit with her family and attend events or help out at her daughter’s school. 

“I have been very blessed in some extraordinary places, where people have gone above and beyond for me to help me,” Trask said. 

And that’s meant so much to her. 

“I have been able to provide a service to my kids that you would never believe,” she said. “It’s a great motivation to me to get out and work as hard as I can, to do these things as a single mother to provide for my kids and my mom.”

State RN Licenses Offer Ticket To Travel

Trask has taken travel nursing jobs in several states and currently has three active nursing licenses: one in California (which has the most travel nursing jobs of any state), one in Louisiana, and one in Texas. 

Because Texas participates in the Nurse Licensure Compact, her multistate license earned in that state enables her to practice nursing in the 24 other compact states without going through the process of getting another entirely new RN license. 

Should she need it, she knows that the staff at NurseChoice is also available to help with state RN licensing questions and issues for compact or non-compact states.

A Bit Of Advice

Trask has shared her affinity for travel jobs with other nurses and would recommend it for those looking for a change or who want to control their own schedule. 

But she knows that a nurse will also get out of the experience what they put into it.

Her words of wisdom for potential travel nurses? 

“Keep an open mind,” she said. “Go in with a positive attitude. When you start like that, you end like that.”

READY to experience the benefits of travel nursing for yourself? 

CALL 866-557-6050 or APPLY with NurseChoice to start working with one of our friendly recruiters.