VALDOSTA – Sean McConnell graduated from Wiregrass Georgia Technical College in 2018 with his associate of science in nursing degree, and he started his first job at Tift Regional Medical Center in Tifton that October. 

On the surface, McConnell is a registered nurse with less than three years of experience, “but if you dig a little deeper, you will find in this short time in the profession has risen him to heights in which most nurses never dare dream,” college officials said in a statement.

The first year and a half of working at Tift Regional in the emergency room helped give him a great start in his new profession. Eighteen months after starting at Tift, COVID-19 took a “deadly hold” on the United States and the world.  

McConnell always had a dream of traveling as a nurse, and the usual requirement of 24 months to do so was shortened to a one year minimum with the virus devastating the U.S. He took his first travel assignment 18 months after starting his career. In April of 2020, he started working as a nurse in East Orange, N.J., which is about 15 minutes from New York City.

To say that McConnell started his travel career in a tough situation would be an understatement.  

“I felt like I was in the frying pan of a new career and jumped into a raging fire,” he said. “The hospital in which I worked had to quarantine 80% of their ER staff due to the virus. We were given four to five hours of orientation on the floor, and then we were given our own patients. 

“So many patients were dying and there seemed no end in sight. Even for a ‘baby nurse’ I knew all was being done that was available, and everyone was working as hard as they could to help. In those first six weeks on assignment I grew up at least two years as a nurse.”

After working in East Orange, he returned to Georgia for a few weeks and then accepted a contract in a 900-bed, level 2 trauma center located in Hackensack, N.J. Hackensack University Medical Center’s emergency room holds 135 patients, and the nurse patient ratio was usually six to one and even reached eight to one. 

This tough assignment allowed McConnell to become a better at prioritization and handling higher acuity patients, college representatives said.

The next assignment he took was in the ER of a 200-bed hospital in Cape Girardeau, Mo.  

“I felt like this assignment allowed me to take a breath and it seemed like a more ‘normal’ contract,” McConnell said.

Without going home, McConnell went straight to Deming, N.M., in January for his fourth COVID contract.

“The hospital in Deming has trained me in the ICU and as a telemetry nurse,” McConnell said. “I have never heard of a traveler being trained in other departments. I am very honored to say that this facility holds me in such high regard that they were willing to spend the extra money to give me even more opportunities.”

Mimbres Memorial Hospital in Deming has even mentioned keeping him the whole year on his ‘COVID contract’ pay, which is more than $5,000 per week. 

“I did not get into nursing for the money,” he said, “and I’ve have had times in my life when I’ve had some ‘jingle’ in my pocket, and I’ve had times when I haven’t. It is far better to have some ‘jingle.’ I will make between $240,000-$300,000 this year. I think that is some great jingle in my pocket.” 

McConnell credits his financial success during the pandemic to being willing to go where most others will not. There is a serious risk but also most certainly a reward financially and personally.  

“I have been in many tough situations medically, and I have been involved in saving many peoples’ lives,” he said. “I have experienced family members tearfully hug me and other team members after their loved one was saved from certain death. That is the real reason a person should be a nurse. I know that is why I became a nurse, to truly help people.”

He credits Dr. Darlene Ridley, Wiregrass director of associate in science in nursing program, and the whole staff of the ASN program from Wiregrass Georgia Technical College with giving him the tools needed to excel in nursing to heights most will never see. 

“I have a bachelor’s degree in business with a major in marketing,” he said. “I was a student with a Georgia University. The curriculum in the ASN program at Wiregrass is as well put together as any program I experienced at the university. The Wiregrass nursing program is very tough, and absolutely capable of helping to launch a nurse into the stratosphere of their career.”

Within the next few years, he will travel to Hawaii for at least six months on a nursing contract. McConnell grins as he jokingly said, “I’ll have to dig down deep to complete six months in Hawaii, because that might be tough.” 

He also plans to do contracts throughout the U.S. and in Guam, a U.S. island territory near the South Pacific, and an Alaskan contract. Once he has saved enough money to pay cash for his house somewhere “within 100 miles of Yellowstone National Park,” he will donate three to six months of his time and work on MERCY ship. 

The cruise ship-sized boat goes to different places in the world and gives free operations and medical care. 

“After working from 2008-18 at The House of Grace in Adel and helping men in need, I learned that it is very important to help others,” he said. “You will actually find yourself being helped more than the ones you are trying to help.”

As if his nursing career isn’t enough adventure, McConnell is a 10-time IronMan triathlon finisher. The 140.6-mile race consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and finishing with a marathon run (26.2 miles). He has also run three 50-mile ultramarathons and three 100-mile ultramarathons, as well as about 20 regular 26.2- mile marathons. 

His fastest finish time in a 100-mile ultramarathon is 24 hours and 25 minutes. 

“I really wanted to finish that 100-mile run in under 24 hours, but I missed by 25 minutes,” he said.

His fastest standard marathon time is three hours and five minutes, which is about 7:10/mile. He also qualified and ran the famous Boston Marathon in 2011 and 2013.

When asked how he can do such physically demanding events, he said, “I just have a don’t quit attitude. I turned 50 in February, but I feel like I’m 25. I have seen quite a bit of this country, and I plan on seeing much more. I have been snow-skiing in New Mexico and Colorado this year alone. Travel nursing is a wonderful job for a single man with no children. Heck, it’s great for almost any nurse.”

In the fall of 2020, the NursingProcess.org site named Wiregrass’ associate of science in nursing program as the number one program in the state of Georgia, college representatives said. 

The RN program and health science programs will start spring semester 2022 in the new Ed and Rhonda Marks Health Sciences Building on the Valdosta campus. To learn more about this program and other health science programs at Wiregrass, visit Wiregrass.edu. The college will be accepting new students for Fall Express; classes start Sept. 27.