Interstate 70 to I-79, then I-68 after Morgantown, and from there a motorist navigates the split mountain and descends into what many refer to as “The Swamp” that is Washington, D.C.
It is 272 miles from 14th Street in East Wheeling to the front doors of Howard University Hospital, much farther a distance than Jonna Marple’s former five-block commute to the historic OVMC campus on Chapline Street.
“Maybe five minutes it took me to get to work,” she said. “And I would still be working there if it didn’t close, and I miss my co-workers, my friends. But we all had to do what we had to do, and this is what I decided to do next.
“I miss the people from OVMC every day, but I know there is nothing I can do about it, so I go to Washington, D.C., and I work there,” Marple said. “It sometimes seems to be like OVMC, but it really never will be. No place I travel to will be. OVMC was special.”
Life these days?
Home with her husband and their three kids. Then to D.C., where she lives with three others in an apartment and work three straight 12-hour shifts. And then another homecoming.
“But now my schedule should change, so I can do six straight days instead of going back and forth as much as I have during the first three months,” Marple said. “And after the next three months, who knows? We’ll talk about it as a family, and we’ll see.
“Working as a travel nurse opens up all kinds of possibilities because there is a national shortage of nurses. It may not seem like it in the Wheeling area, but there are so many places I could go to,” she explained. “There are positions in every state in the country, so it’s a matter of getting the paperwork completed and figuring out the travel. Going to D.C. is pretty painless compared to what it would take to get to some of the other hospitals, but who knows what could be next?”
For now, though, it’s Howard University Hospital, a position that includes the miles, the separation, and, oh yeah, twice the take-home pay.
“Everyone has been very pleasant and eager to help me get caught up with the new environment because every hospital is different,” Marple said. “It’s a really big hospital, too. I still haven’t seen every part of the facility, and there are areas of the place where I still don’t know how to get around.
“I am working on a 14-bed unit that cares for the patients in the medical intensive care unit,” she explained. “The only difference between Howard and OVMC is that the intensive care patients that have surgery here are cared for in a different unit from where I am working. At OVMC, the surgical ICU patients were in with the rest of those patients.”
While the illnesses and the methods of care are the same as when she was reporting for her shifts at OVMC, the biggest difference involves her co-workers and communication.
“The people I work with there are a diverse group of people, and no one cares. Everyone is a different nationality, and there are a lot of different accents,” Marple explained. “There are some of my co-workers that I have trouble understanding, but I am getting better at that. I do feel bad having to ask them to repeat themselves a couple of times.
“This is a great learning experience, though, and Howard University is a respected hospital, so I am proud of myself for being selected for the position,” she said. “Plus, yes, I do earn twice as much, as far as bring-home pay, as I did at OVMC. I mean, the commute is a bitch and it is a travel position, but I did just renew my contact with them for another three months.”
As if that’s not enough, Jonna and Erik, her husband of 16 years, operate a few other businesses as well. Erik has owned Perpetual Harmony, an electronic repair business, for several years, and the couple recently launched Sweet Dyes, a garment company that specializes in shirts of all sizes, styles, and designs.
“When we first started the company, we started with tie-dyes, but now we are doing so much more with the company,” Marple explained. “We’re now doing those shirts but also vinyl printing, screen printing, and soon we’ll be doing embroidering.
“We’re also capable of doing decals for whatever, and some of our stuff is in a few different stores in the area. We’re growing, and it’s going well,” she added. “All of what I am doing and what my husband and I are doing is about building for the future of our family. We don’t sit still very often, and that’s OK right now. We’re able to do it right now, so that’s what we are going to do.”
