A veteran nurse has turned away from years of treating patients to become a long-haul truck driver due to constant staff shortages.
Leah Gorham, a 42-year-old ex-nurse from Canada, left her healthcare job because she became frustrated with frequent staff shortages and few opportunities for advancement, according to a report.
Gorham’s boyfriend is a truck driver and suggested the career move, the report noted.
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“I was just going to regret my career being where it was and not being able to advance was really maddening to me,” Gorham said. “So, I just, I needed to do something else.”
The trucking industry is in high demand and has a large number of vacancies given contemporary supply chain problems.
Gorham entered a 12-week truck-driving program in October, and it cost $8,000 to get her license, according to the report.
Leah Gorham, 42, said she loved being a nurse but frustrations over persistent staff shortages — which she said started before the Covid-19 pandemic — and a lack of advancement led her to look for new opportunities. https://t.co/3YKnBg30WQ
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“Eventually, we’re going to be trading off like, I’m going to sleep when he’s driving, but right now, while I’m still training … it’s almost like we’re one independent super-driver,” Gorham, who now drives with her boyfriend, said.
Gorham said she rarely used to travel but now has opportunities to travel outside of Canada and into the United States, the report noted.
Since starting her new career, she has been to Virginia, South Carolina, and Indiana.
Still, her move away from nursing was unexpected, according to Gorham.
“It was something that I just took off with, and I absolutely loved it and for a long time,” she said. “I couldn’t even imagine doing anything else.”
She worked at St. John Regional Hospital in New Brunswick for close to 16 years, but she said the constant staff shortages and inability to climb the career ladder drove her away.
“This nursing problem has been there my entire career,” Gorham said regarding shortages. “The pandemic is just showing the real stress of the situation.”
She misses her old career and keeps her nursing license on inactive status, she said.
“I do have time to see [if] maybe I want to go back casually or something like that just to maintain my license because I put my time in, I did really love it,” she said.
That does not mean she is not enjoying trucking, according to Gorham.
“What we’re interested in is sort of having the freedom and not pushing that real hard and still living,” she said. “It’s sort of just a balance. We don’t need to be rich over this.”
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“It is not anything like my standard car,” she said. “There’s a lot of hazards involved in it. I find a lot of people are unaware how difficult it really is.”
