Which hospital do you recommend -Seattle

GuEsT78 · Aug 25, 2015

Take commuting into account, along with where you'd like to live. Seattle has one of the worst commutes in the country. Water on both sides force most commuting to be north/south and few arterial lanes have been added since the 1970s. Amazon's rapid growth at its South Lake Union location about two miles north of downtown is making matters far worse. Hating Amazon has become a new sport in the city.

The city's traffic planners don't care about the traffic woes. Dominated by an ideology called 'traffic calming,' they want most people to use mass transit, however impractical that might be. Residential arterials, like the one I lived on, are getting cut back from four lanes to two to "calm" traffic, meaning make drivers angry.

The city has blundered into light rail, wasting so much money that buses are starved for funding. When I moved away in August of 2012, some 175 bus routes were about to be removed or have their service cut back. That's despite the fact that the cost of bus tickets almost doubled during my last five years there. More and more bus commutes require at least one transfer which is really a pain in the damp, drizzly winters when it begins to get dark about 4:30. Bus service is so-so after the evening rush hour and ends almost completely after midnight, which can matter if you work odd hours like I did for a time.

In short, wherever you work, make sure you have a sensible commute from where you live. Rent is rising rapidly in Seattle. That's one reason I left. When i worked at Seattle Children's in the 1980s, I had a nearby basement apartment. Commuting was a ten minute walk. That was nice. Seattle Children's is unusual for a hospital. It's in an upscale residential neighborhood. If you like kids, consider it. It's one of the top ten children's hospitals in the country.

Most of the city's hospitals, clinics and the like are on Capitol Hill, just east of downtown. It's crowded, with dreadful parking and (I suspect) high rent. On the other hand, that's where top-notch care if given. If you love high-stress ER work, consider Harborview. It handles the city's major trauma.

If you're interested in graduate work, look seriously into University Hospital. It's not only a part of the University of Washington campus, you can literally walk from the Health Science building where nursing is taught, into the hospital through a maze of corridors without going outside. No work/school commute.

There's also a ring of suburban hospitals around the metropolitan area, so you might want to consider those. The Eastside (meaning east of Lake Washington) is more high tech. That's where Microsoft is. North of Seattle is more affluent and south is more blue-collar but that's a generalization. The really expensive homes are close to the water or at the top of hills.

Take care where you live. Some neighborhoods, particularly those just south of Capitol Hill, have high crime rates.

For all the hassles of living there, it's still an interesting place to be. In comparison, the small college town where I live now is boring. Nothing matters but football.

Good luck with your job search.

--Mike

Rnfortuna · Aug 26, 2015

Thank you so much Mike!

Hkyokoa · Aug 26, 2015

Maybe you should stick to the east side of the water. Bellevue, Issaquah and Redmond all have decent hospitals, Overlake and Valley are pretty known.

Rnfortuna · Aug 26, 2015

What about Bellevue, Everett, Kirkland..ect? I have a small child so safety is top top priority.

RiskManager · Aug 26, 2015

On the Eastside (Bellevue and Kirkland), you have two choices: Overlake in Bellevue and Evergreen in Kirkland. Both are well regarded, but if anything, housing can be more expensive on that side of Lake Washington, especially the closer you are to the dot com companies in Redmond and Bellevue. Up in Everett, the only choice is Providence. Housing in Snohomish County is much cheaper compared to Seattle or the Eastside.