Tag: travel community

Finding Community and Building Relationships as a Healthcare Traveler: The MedVenture Story

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We often get questions from prospective healthcare travelers wondering if it’s a good idea to go into travel healthcare solo. While many solo healthcare professionals do pursue travel, it can sometimes be hard to make connections, build friendships, and find a sense of community. Even those who travel with a partner or a pet may feel isolated when taking travel contracts around the country, leaving their normal support systems and communities behind. We are excited to share a resource with you from our friends at MedVenture App about how their platform is helping to bring healthcare travelers together all across the country!

Twenty years ago, working as a traveling healthcare professional was a lot more challenging. Back then, there weren’t blogs, apps, or social media outlets to help educate you about the industry or connect you with other like-minded travelers. Traditionally, you may just learn about the industry through recruiters or a handful of other people you knew who may have traveled in the past. When you took a job far from home, you would just hope to meet other travelers while working at your facility, or try to make other connections locally with people who weren’t in travel healthcare. Fast forward to today’s digital age, the accessibility to abundant educational resources and finding everlasting relationships and community is easier now, more than ever, especially with resources like the MedVenture App. 

Origins of MedVenture App

MedVenture App was founded in 2019 by Emily Cheng and Ryan Cogdill, both traveling nurses with over eleven years of combined experience in the industry. Emily initially had the idea for an internet based community network in 2018 during her second travel nursing assignment in the Bay Area of California. At the time, she experienced an overwhelming sense of isolation and loneliness and wondered why there wasn’t a platform to bridge this gap.

After some research, she concluded that a mobile application would be the best approach to solve this problem. In the Fall of 2019, she attended TravCon, the biggest annual conference for healthcare travelers, and was so inspired by the traveler community that she decided to fully pursue this project. Ryan was her first customer discovery call to confirm the validity of the idea. With over seven years of travel experience himself, he asked where she was in the process, how he could be of help, and what her goals were with this platform. By the end of the conversation, they decided to become business partners, and MedVenture App was born shortly after. 

What Is MedVenture App? 

MedVenture App is a free social and community mobile app exclusively for all traveling healthcare professionals. The mission is to unite and empower all traveling healthcare professionals through community, education, and resources.

There are five main functions on the app:

  1. Meet People & MedVenture Date: Connect with other travelers using geolocation and interests. On a 100 mile radius from your set location, the MedVenture algorithm will show other travelers around you. You can view their name, age, profession, home state, specialty, photos, and more. You can also see if they’re a solo traveler, traveling with a partner, traveling with a pet, and even if they are interested in using the app for dating. You can then choose to message them to chat, become friends, ask questions, plan a get together, or send them a heart to show you are romantically interested.
  2. Meetups & Events: Find local meetups and events hosted by travelers, sponsored companies, or local businesses. Interested in going on a hike, but don’t want to go alone? Post the hike under the Meetups/Events tab so other travelers can join! Any traveler can and is encouraged to host meetups to create community no matter where they are on assignment. MedVenture also hosts events around the nation, such as their annual “Friendsgivings.” In 2022, hundreds of travelers gathered across 20+ major cities to share Thanksgiving meals at MedVenture Friendsgivings!.
  3. Discussion Board: Share and discover recommendations for fun things to do, where to eat/drink, and best housing in your new city! Have a general question? Post it on the discussion board and the community will be sure to answer it. 
  4. Facility Reviews: Think Yelp meets Airbnb, but for Medical Facilities. Read reviews from past travelers so you know what you’re walking into, and rate a facility where you’ve traveled to empower travelers with your experience. With this feature, every traveler has the option to stay anonymous so that your identity is never compromised for your honesty and transparency.
  5. Traveler Resources: These are MedVenture vetted, niche specific services and products that benefit the traveling community. This is where you can find resources such as health insurance, swag, tax prep, and mentorship/education programs like the Travel Therapy Mentor Course.

In two short years since launching in 2021, the MedVenture community is now almost 16,000 traveling healthcare professionals strong, across all 50 states and US territories. There have been over 700 Meetups hosted and over 1450 facility reviews on the app.

The Future of MedVenture App

In June of 2023, MedVenture is hosting its first nationwide in-person event, MedVenture Camp! MedVenture Camp will be centered around healing and mental-health wellbeing for all traveling healthcare professionals post-pandemic. The goal is to provide a safe space for travelers and recruiters alike to come together to relax, connect, empower, and educate one another, all while having fun in the great outdoors! You can learn more and register for camp here.

MedVenture founders Em and Ryan will also be attending the world’s largest traveling healthcare conference this September, TravCon, so be sure to stop by their booth and come say hi! Em and Ryan are striving to build the best app possible to support each and every traveling healthcare professional, so this year they will be researching and preparing for their next big integration. The goal at MedVenture App is to help travelers find a greater sense of purpose, community, and connection while living their best traveler lives. As MedVenture continues to grow and nourish this community, they will continue to strive to provide all travelers with a sense of belonging.

For general travel therapy/travel healthcare questions, please feel free to contact us here at Travel Therapy Mentor

Medventure Founders Em and Ryan

Written By: MedVenture App Co-Founders, Emily Cheng, BSN, RN, CCRN-CSC & Ryan Cogdill, BSN, RN 

Emily Cheng is a CVICU traveling nurse born and raised in New York, now based in Seattle, Washington. She has been a travel nurse since 2018 and has done travel nursing in Napa & San Francisco, California; Seattle & Tacoma Washington; Oahu, Hawai’i; Upstate New York; and San Antonio, Texas. When she’s not at the hospital or working on MedVenture, you can find her hiking, backpacking, meditating, journaling, living imperfectly eco-conscious, or enjoying the outdoors in some capacity!

Ryan Cogdill is a PCU traveling nurse from Fresno, California. He has been a traveling nurse since 2014 and has worked in Guam; Maui and Oahu, Hawaii; Austin, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; and San Luis Obispo, California. On his days off, you can find him outdoors camping, hiking, or biking.