Laura the Holland America Cruise Nurse Ties the (Nautical Marital) Knot
Last time we saw Laura Vlaadingerbroek, MSN, RN, she was serving as chief medical officer aboard Holland America Lines' luxurious ms Zaandam. All the while she was living -- and loving --the good life, while traveling to exotic ports-of-call.
Then she found something else to capture her attention: a Dutch officer named Bob Vlaadingerbroek. It had to be true love, because Laura took that tongue-twisting name for her own!
Togetherness on the Ocean
"I met my husband after about a year working at sea," recalls Mrs. V. Trading their mutually footloose status for matrimony, the couple maintains a home in Laura's native Wisconsin, but calls the luxury ship their home-away-from-home.
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Bob and Laura Vlaardingerbroek, MSN, RN, find togetherness in Glacier Bay, Alaska. |
"We work 3 to 4 months at a time, then take a two month break in between. Technically, we are supposed to work 8 months out of the year, but HAL is very flexible with full-timers. We can pick our schedule and our itinerary. We put in a ‘wish list' for the next season, and the line does its best to make it happen," she explains. If wishes do come true, Laura and Bob will see themselves on a world cruise one day, but she admits, ‘That's a primo spot. Only two nurses get to do the around-the-world cruise each year."
Nevertheless, since tying the marital knot these seafarers have seen the capitals of Europe, the palms of the Caribbean, the sands of Waikiki and the majestic Alaskan glaciers together. And they plan on logging quite a few more knots - each a memory to build a life on.
"HAL is very concerned about keeping couples together," says Laura. "My planner and his planner, in different cities on different continents, really make an effort on our behalf. We fly out on the same plane together and we come home on the same plane together. For a company as big Holland America is, that really says something. We have turnover of 50-60 crew every voyage ... yet they still can figure out how to make it work for us."
What's life afloat really like?
"Medical staff are officers," says Laura proudly, "and at HAL that means all the above-board privileges. I eat in the Lido for my meals and I host tables in the dining room twice a voyage. We have all the bar and nightclub privileges; we can socialize with other crew or passengers.
"Then we also have all the below-board facilities ... officers' bar, movies. Nothing beats Bingo in your sweat pants," she laughs. "Actually, it's a very busy life."
Asked about the endless food for which cruise ships are known, Laura explains, "You get into a routine, just like at home. You get over that buffet syndrome real quick. There's a lot of choices, and you could go really overboard." [Hmmm... strange phrase for a person at sea to use...] "I eat one meat, one vegetable and I know tomorrow it'll all be there again. No cooking! It is kind of nice."
Laura says there is a surprising sense of community at sea. "We are like a family. Every nationality gets along so well. And there are a lot of married couples on board. It's a real neighborhood. It's worked out fabulously."
Always a Nurse
Now marking about 6 years on the Zaandam, Laura clarifies: The marriage is wonderful, the travel is a bonus, but the career objective on board is quality nursing. Offering a run-down of her usual to-do list, Laura notes, "We've handled MIs [myocardial infarctions], we give lytic therapy on board , we give TNK [tenecteplase]. The nurses run all the labs and we do all our own X-rays. We have teleradiology with the University of Texas medical branch so that we can have a radiologist over-read our wet reads from the dock.
"We see everything on board ship," Laura underscores. "We're all critical care prepared and our doctors are board certified ER. We run like an ED, from a walk-in clinic to anything emergent that comes in ... or a call in the middle of the night from someone with chest pain. We see it all: strokes, heart attacks, GI bleeds -- that's usually our worst, we see them quite often, along with bowel obstructions, seizures... you name it, we got it. Oh, and did I mention we have a walking blood bank on board? It's all of us, each other... we're it!"
Next time: During our final visit with Laura, she'll explain why a cruise to Hawaii proves a particularly strong nursing challenge. It's a true test of assessment, skill and "aloha."
Just for fun: "Love and marriage" in Dutch: Liefde en huwelijk