What is a Travel Duck?

If you follow Cariant Health Partners on social media, or if you stopped by our APTA booth in January, you probably noticed these little colorful rubber ducks making an appearance every so often with the #travelduck. Now that our ducks have taken flight and landed in our travelers’ mailboxes, we are finally ready to share what they’re all about!
What is a travel duck exactly? The simple answer is a travel duck is a small rubber duck that you can take on adventures and take pictures of for social media. Your duck is unique to you. We provided a name on the adoption certificate with each duck, but you are always welcome to change that to suit “their personality”. Obviously, the duck is part of our marketing efforts and a fun little gift from us to our travelers.
However, that little Cariant duck is part of something bigger. If there is one thing we learned during the pandemic, it’s that the feeling of loneliness is extremely common among traveling healthcare professionals. This feeling is often only the tip of the iceberg and leads to deeper issues like anxiety, depression and isolation. How does a rubber duck help with any of that? Think of this duck as a constant companion. It is small enough you can take it with you anywhere and everywhere you go. Your duck is a reminder that you are never alone. Our travelers always have Cariant as part of their team, and now they have a duck that is part of a much larger flock spread out across the entire United States. Each duck is with another traveling healthcare professional that goes through the same things on a daily basis. It may seem silly, but your duck connects you with each person who also has a Cariant duck by their side, (our team included)! At the end of the day, we want you to know you are NEVER alone and this little duck is a reminder of that.*
We already see the cool adventures you go on when you are traveling, and we want to see your duck on those adventures, too! For the rest of the year, we are asking you to submit fun photos of your duck. We want to see your Cariant duck in the desert, on an iceberg, or next to your scrubs after a long day at work. Please email your photos to marketing@cariant.com with your name included. You can also send them to your recruiter or post them on social media and tag @CariantHealth with the #travelduck. We will choose one winner per month for the best photo and the winner will receive some awesome Cariant swag with their duck picture featured on our social media. We hope you get creative with it and we cannot wait to see all of your fun photos.
*We understand that a travel duck companion may not be enough to help you get through the tough times. For that reason, we offer our Employee Assistance Program that is always available to you when you need it. Support is offered through in-person guidance, phone or online resources. If you or a family member is in need, please reach out.