Biddeford Maine Contract
SMHC Biddeford
I signed a contract for Southern Maine Health Center, at the Biddeford Campus without an interview and later found out I would also be able working at the Sanford Campus. I was more than open to working at more than one campus to gain different experiences.
Biddeford is a bit bigger at about 30 beds with numerous hallways, I’d describe it as a community hospital but is officially undesignated. And Sanford is a critical access hospital with 14 beds and a handful of hallway beds. Both hospitals had a steady volume of patients for the size departments but the acuity of patients was much less than I was used to. There was a good amount of travelers and new staff nurses at these campuses. That might explain why as a night shift traveler I had the one nursing student in the ER for his nursing preceptorship.
Campsites
For this assignment I lived in my camper with the two boys so I needed electric hookups at he very least from July to October for air conditioning. After I signed my contract I called about 15 campgrounds in the area to find a site for 3 months straight. Two had availability for more than a few days at a time. Hemlock Grove in Arundel where I would have no sewer sometime and have to move a bit. Then there was Cascadia Park Camping in Saco where I would have full hookups for thee months straight with one site the whole time. I checked out Cascadia’s website which didn’t have much info but they sent me a video which looked private and wooded, and best part, 3 miles from the beach. I looked forward to biking and running with Chase to the beach which was my favorite park about this campground-the location.
When I arrived, they put me in a pull through site. The sites were not reserved ahead of time . “We’ll have a spot for you”, is what I was told but I just figured it was a large campground. I had never had a long term stay in a camper. My site was overgrown, dead trees above my camper, tire ruts, and brush everywhere. In just one mild rainstorm numerous branches fell down denting the hood of my brand new truck. I live in the woods, am not new to camping but this was a first and I was told by the owners that’s what happens in the woods, branches fall. But this campground was overgrown, unkempt, with dead trees with dead branches everywhere. To me that was an avoidable incident with my truck that I could do nothing about, there was nowhere safe to park it. I asked to move to another site after this incident which still had less trees but still overgrown and uneven. About two weeks to this new site I lost power and after looking into why the 30amp outlet my camper was plugged into (which was attached to a rotted tree not a post) fried my power cord and thankfully didn’t set my camper on fire. After that, at 2 am I was looking for new sites.
Thankfully that day Bennett was coming to visit and we packed everything up and headed to Hemlock grove. They by some miracle they still had a site I could stay in, just without sewer for a month then could move to a site with full hook ups for the final month. They had very clean bathrooms and showers I was able to use! Hemlock Grove was the most accommodating, clean, helpful, quiet campground I could ask for. They saved this contract I would have lost it at the first campground for another two months. At hemlock grove I explored new beaches, hiked with he boys, found all the lobster rolls I could and paddle boarded at a few spots!
Overall
I had a decent first contract away on the camper. Close enough to home I could go home for a weekend but had my space to explore while working! During my last month they offered to extend my contract into the new year…I did not accept.