Hi Nurses!

Hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and not to mention working during Christmas. Anyway,Im quite new in this forum, I am from Texas and would like to know if anybody here have tried working or who is currently working as an RN in Great Barrington MA? Any inputs would be a great help. And are the Nursing Rehabilitation or Nursing Homes there a nice place to work? .... Advance Happy New Year!!!

I've worked in one nursing home there through agency. Are you looking at a certain company there?

Actually i just would like to know the working environment there in Great Barrington, if you could fill me on that.

I just found your post. I am an Emergency Dept RN at Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington. I worked there for years, left and did hospice full-time and am now studying for my FNP, but going back per diem in the ER at Fairview Hospital. I can't say enough good about this wonderful,but small hospital! Everyone is very friendly, very supportive and it is a wonderful working environment! If you'd like to know more, just let me know!

Barb

I lived in the Berkshires for a while. Great Barrington is the hub of southern Berkshire county, very arty, and home of Simon's Rock College.

The Berkshires are a big summer destination for New Yorkers. The further south you go, the more expensive housing is. Housing in Great Barrington is expensive, and year-round rentals are rare. You may end up commuting from Pittsfield.

I was the charge nurse on in the ER the night of the Simon's Rock shootings. My husband was the ER doc and we had just been Christmas shopping. I always go into work early and when my colleagues told me a SWAT team was out and that a man was shooting, I did not believe them and thought they were joking. As soon as I heard the radio, I swung into action and called EVERY available surgeon I knew.They all came in. Once the patients hit the door, we had 4 of them with AK-47 wounds. They all lived and the shift went so well and everyone was so calm. The State Troopers who were there remarked:"wow, we have never seen a trauma go so calmly and so well." I have to tell you, I LOVE the people in this hospital. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, comes together to make it work. It is truly teamwork. Plus, everyone here cares, sincerely cares. Fairview Hospital is a gem and any nurse who works here knows it. It is really a family....

Barb

How does Fairview compare to BMC? I know it's much smaller, just wondering if the work environment is much different.

Mickey: I haven't worked at BMC in a very long time (did the ER, psych and med-surg at BMC). I find Fairveiw to be extremely supportive, compassionate and also a place where(especially in the ER) you really need to know your stuff as there is no IV team, no trauma team...the staff is it. Nursing is definitely valued and nourished at Fairview.My brother's life was saved at Fairview(prior to me working there) when he presented after a car accident and had to be intubated then transferred to BMC for neurosurgery. Had Fairview not been there and acted as quickly as they did, he would not have survived.

Some people seem to think "small" hospitals aren't "real" hospitals.It is people like this who don't know what they don't know! I once had a tourist run into the ER asking if we had a doctor! They were from NYC and couldn't imagine that a small hospital could be so good! This person ended up donating to Fairview.

Barb

Well, that sounds like a great place to work. I know that I wish more places could be extremely supportive of their nurses. It's great that you found such a wonderful place. :) I'm still learning right now...