A Nursing Career That Stayed Close to Home

Marisol was two years into hospital nursing and driving ninety minutes each way. "Three hours a day in a car. You do the arithmetic on that eventually."

The posting at the Denver processing station came up eleven minutes from her house. She applied without much expectation, on the grounds that federal hiring was something other people managed to do.

The work took adjusting to. A station medical section screens rather than treats: the question is whether somebody is medically qualified to serve, not what is wrong with them and how to fix it. "The first month I kept reaching for the next step and there isn't one. You make a determination and the person moves on."

What replaced it was volume, and a particular kind of contact. "Most of them are eighteen. Half have never had a physical that mattered. They are standing in a hallway in a paper gown at seven in the morning being asked about surgeries they had when they were four, and they are frightened."

She says the part of the job she did not expect is the reassurance. "On paper I do records and vitals. What I actually do all day is tell people it is going to be fine, and mean it."

The hours are the other thing. Applicants are seen during the day and the building closes when they have gone. There is no night shift and no rotation.

"I trained on the job for the administrative side. I did not have a federal background and I did not have this specific background. That surprises people."