Has anyone taken a nurse on a long trip?

[twintotwin]

Hypothetically speaking...

Taking in to consideration I have twins with the same airway issues and we live in NJ.
Let's say I have a house to stay in for the month or two that we may consider going to Cincinati.
DH can't take anymore time off to come with me and the boys,
My mother can come, but she doesn't know any of the care.

Has anyone ever taken one of their nurses on a long trip with them to another hospital far away? How did you work it out? Financially? Do they get paid 24/7 by the insuance company? I don't expect her to technically "work" the entire time of course. But also have no idea what any of this may entail?

Any input?

[Ann]

Jack's nurse went with us two years ago when we went to St. Louis and she is coming with us when we go out for Jack's surgery. She can get paid no more than 50 hours a week, even though she'll be with us 24/7. You have to check with your state's nursing board as each state may be different - but, I was told that she could work up to 2 weeks out of state with her Arizona license. (I'm not sure if it is at one time or total for the year).

I am paying to fly Jack's nurse out to be with us the week before Jack's surgery (she is flying out with Eric) and she'll fly home the week he is in the hospital and then she will fly back out for a week while he recovers in St. Louis.

She doesn't expect to be paid extra for being with us the entire time. I also don't expect her to care for him 24/7. I would like to be able to pay her extra, but this time around, I'm not sure we can afford it with the costs of her two flights. It works well for both of us because she is Jack's full-time nurse, so when we are out of town, she is without work and would have to use vacation time unless the agency could put her on a different case temporarily (which is possible they could).

We love Jack's nurse, she is part of our family and I feel very lucky that she is happy to fly out to St. Louis (2x) to help out with Jack.

It is expensive? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes!

[alissafaith's mom]

Kerry
Not sure about the nursing thing but if you went to cincinnati it is worth what ever you have to do to get there the hospitial is great and Dr Cotton is the best good luck to you hope all works out for the best!
mandi

[Dylansmom]

Kerry-

When Dylan and I went to St.Louis for the confrenece I had a nurse go with me. For us the nurse was only able to get paid 16 hrs day, and had to have a 4hr. break between shifts. Also since we live in Indiana I think she had to get a temporary nursing lincense to work in St. Louis.

Now- we are going through the same thing agian. We are going to Cincin. soon and I am trying to get a nurse to come along. But since Dylan will be in the hospital 1 day for scopes, his nursing agency said that insurance will not cover any nurse to go??? I am still working on this so if I find anything out I'll let you know.

Have you talkted to the nurse/nurses that you would want to take? Our nurse wants to come, I think even if she doesn't get paid.

Brittany
________
Prilosec settlement info

[les527]

If you were going to be in Cincinnati for that amount of time, do you think your insurance company would be willing to work out a short-term/temporary arrangement with a home health agency in Cincinnati. Obviously, it wouldn't be nurses who know your twins and you would have to train the nurses, but if it's going to be an extended stay, it might be something to consider.

Leslie, mom to Sam

[bradensmom]

We have taken Braden's nurse on two different vacations with us. She went with us to Branson, MO. and then to Pensacola, Fl. We paid for her enitre trip, but she wouldn't let us pay her a salary. She was wonderful and became part of our family over the years that we had her. Unfortunately medicaid has decided that Braden doesn't qualify for a nurse anymore (don't know what idiot made that decision). We miss her dearly.
Amy

[Zoe's Mom]

In our state, insurance or Katie Beckett will not pay for a nurses time if the child is admitted to the hospital. When Zoe gets scopes, and a nurse comes along, she cannot bill for the time Zoe is an inpatient who is "supposed" to be cared for by that institutions nurses.

[hcs_mom]

Kerry,

You may also want to check with the Ohio nursing regulations as well. She may be able to get a temporary Ohio license. Also, we are minutes away from Indiana and Kentucky. It might also be worth it to look into staying in one of those places too. You can go right across the state line and be at the hospital in 10-15 minutes (well, if I'm driving anyway!

Anyway, after this MLB is outta the way, I will see what I can find out for you. I know many Hannah's current nurses have traveled out of state, the issue becomes the duration.

Let me know if I can help in any way!
Jennie

[Carriestockmal]

Hi Kerry.
I have taken nurses on vacation a few times. I did this with two diferent nursing agencies and their rules were different.

All times I was able to get a house and the nurse had one of the bedrooms (rather than get hotel rooms for everyone.) I did pay for some of the meals while they were there, although - I probably didn't have to as they were working, I just did cause... I don't know why. THe did not work the entire time at all and frankly - think they liked the change of scenary and routine cause they did a few times.
Maybe You could start by asking the agency what their rules are for this sort of thing.

[bdarling]

We are going to take 2 nurses on vacation with us in August. We will be gone from Friday night through the following Sat night (9 nights, I think). The nurses are the two who each work 10 hour shifts Sunday night-Wed night, and Monday-Thursday day, and they get along. We have a timeshare and rented a second for the nurses to share. We think Will will stay overnight in that condo with the night nurse, and come back to our place with the day nurse in the AM. We hope this will work out! Unfortunately, it will still mean much less sleep for us on most of the vacation, but not all of it. I will post after I go to let you know how it works out.

- betty