Any from Illinois?

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We plan moving to Decatur, Ill this June/July, hoping to get some direction on where the good jobs are. I'm a LPN with significant work history.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho.

Decatur has some very good medical facilities. As does Springfield.

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two main hospital's in Decatur; I've worked at both. St. Mary's is small, nonprofit. Offers all units. it's the only psych unit for large area. Med surg is about 30 beds, ICU I think is 7. small ER. DMH is around 375 beds. med surg is around 75 beds, has ICU, CCU, cardiac step down, each of these has 10. Very large,very busy, brand new ER. St Mary's is much more "small town", many nurses have been there for decades. DMH is more "big city", more modern, more busy. A bit of a rivalry between the two, lots of pt prefer one, lots prefer the other. It really depends on what you want to do. They both pay close to the same, obviously that depends on experience and area. let me know if you want more dish.

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I was raised in Decatur. Do not move there if you have any choice at all. If you have children, the public schools are terrible. If you don't, then there's nothing to do because all the bars/clubs are full of trash looking to get drunk and start a fight. It is a hellhole. Move to springfield, peoria, or bloomington, I beg you!

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did 1 clinical rotation at st.mary's for my psych rotation. Hated it(of course, i just dont like psych).

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Specializes in Home Health Care,LTC.

I live about 30 miles West of Springfield. Springfield has some very good hospitals and a lot of employment choices.

Angie

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

How far is Springfield from Edwardsville, IL?

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What do the hospitals start new grads off at in Springfield? Are they offering any sign-on bonus that you know of?

Also, what is the average salary of Chicago nurses?

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
How far is Springfield from Edwardsville, IL?

Quite a ways. I would guess about a 2 hour drive.

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I'm from south of decatur...did 1 clinical rotation at st.mary's for my psych rotation. Hated it(of course, i just dont like psych). however, decatur seems to be full of high unemployment, smells horrible entering the city, and definately wouldn't want to live there. And when i was in LPN school, st.mary's was recruiting, and they were giving you a 10 patient to 1 nurse ratio.....um....think i'll pass.....

The smell is from Staley's. It is a large soybean and corn refinery on the east side of town. In addition to polluting the air, Staley's also dumps some waste water into the lake (ask about the Staley hot water ditch) and pollutes the water as well. As I said, Hellhole!

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I strongly recommend Peoria. It's a really nice city (125,000) about 15 miles from me and it has 3 terrific hospitals. I'll give you their websites:

Methodist Hospital: mmci.org

St. Francis Hospital: osfstfrancis.org

Proctor Hospital: proctor.org

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How far is Springfield from Edwardsville, IL?

I am new to this site and just found this forum. I live about 20-30 mins. from Edwardsville. Springfield is about 1hr. from me, so I would say Springfield is about 1hr and a half maybe 2hrs. from Edwardsville. You know that it too does depend on how fast you drive. These are are about speed limit times.

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