Radiation Therapist Traveler Honored
A self-described “high energy dude,” radiation therapist traveler Anees A., RRT, works hard, he hits the gym every day, and he gives 100 percent to everything that he does.
Anees has been a radiation therapist for 22 years and an allied traveler with AMN Healthcare for more than 10 years.
“I love my job,” he says. “I like to help people, and I like the reward of you seeing someone come back for a one-month or six-month or one-year follow-up, and they’re doing great. And you know you were a part of their success. It’s really rewarding.”
His enthusiasm for his profession and his hard work have paid off in another way: Anees was named AMN Healthcare’s Allied Traveler of the Month for December. He was nominated by his recruiter, who has nothing but praise for her long-term traveler.
“I have never heard a negative comment about Anees,” says his recruiter, Melissa D. “He is always courteous and respectful.”
Allied Traveler and Recruiter Partnership Pays Off
Anees has worked with Melissa since 2012, and he’s grateful for that consistency. In fact, he gives her credit for always helping him find the right allied travel assignments at the right time.
“She looks out for me,” he says. “She knows what I want.”
Melissa has a few words of praise for Anees, too. He’s on his seventh assignment with AMN, and he’s often asked to extend an assignment because the employers appreciate his dedication to patient care.
“Since he has been at Cape Fear, his current assignment, he has been in the top three in terms of patient mentions—and he’s usually number one,” says Melissa.
She notes that Anees also has never let his own personal hardships slow him down. He lost his brother in a drowning accident over the summer, and then his sister died suddenly two months later. He spoke at his brother’s funeral and helped his elderly mother travel, but he deliberately didn’t cancel his travel assignment. He admits to being a bit of a workaholic, and he knew himself well enough to know he needed the work to help him keep going.
“I don’t sit still well,” he says. “I like to be busy.”
Making Patient Care the Top Priority
In fact, Anees relishes spending time engaging directly with patients. Although most of his career has been spent working with an adult patient population, he did spend a few years at a facility where they also treated children.
“I love treating kids because they connect with me,” he says. “I just love that they do that.”
He remembers caring for one little girl who was seriously ill with craniospinal disease, her face and body bloated with steroids. Months later, he didn’t recognize the smiling, healthy little girl who ran down the hall to greet him.
“She ran up to me and gave me a big hug, and I cried,” he says. “I literally ugly cried. She wasn’t supposed to live. But this was one of those rare times where something really turned around.”
And regardless of the age of the patients he cares for, Anees just likes to know he’s making a difference.
“The smiles, the hugs, the thanks, the appreciation. That’s my favorite part,” he says.
Advice for Other Allied Travelers
The money is good working as an allied health traveler, and Anees is saving up so that one day he can retire and buy a boat. He envisions himself training at a catamaran sailing school in Florida, then taking off to sail around the world.
“I’ll be ready to roll!” he says.
In the meantime, he continues to dedicate himself to his work and his patients. He also has a few words of advice for any radiation therapists or other allied health professionals who might be considering a travel assignment.
“You have to be open-minded,” Anees says. “You have to be able to learn quickly.”
He continues, “And you have to have thick skin. If you are going in there, thinking that you know everything or that you know how to do things better, you need to know you are going in there to help them do what they do. They didn’t ask you to come be a consultant. They asked you to come and treat patients.”
“You can learn a lot, and you can do a lot of good, but you just have to figure out the right time to speak up and the right time to listen.”
AMN Healthcare has thousands of rewarding allied health travel jobs across the country, and a dedicated team to help you succeed on your assignments.