Bremerton, WA??

melissa8321 · Sep 18, 2013

I am currently on assignment in Renton , WA which is about 10 miles south of downtown Seattle. I have been here since July and I love it here. It is so beautiful!!!! From what I know Bremerton is a very nice area located on the eastside of the Olympic Peninsula which is gorgeous. The weather has been great all summer not too hot, not too cold and mostly sunny....but it's starting to hit the rain season and from what most of the locals tell me it is cloudy and pretty much rains everyday from mid October to June. However I don't let the rain stop me I just through on a rain jacket, some rain pants, and some boots and hit the town anyway :) There is lots to do here especially if you are into the outdoors. I will be here until November 2nd and then I'm hopefully heading to AZ for the winter to find some sunshine :) Good luck on your assignment and if you have any specific questions about the area I'd be glad to help :)

pacifica · Sep 18, 2013

Hi Nancy,

I'm just getting started with travel nursing and one place my recruiter mentioned is the hospital in Bremerton! I'd love to hear about what you think. Are you working with FlexCare by any chance, or another recruiter? I'm a little worried about the compensation package she offered because I will have to pay my own housing out of it.

melissa8321 · Sep 20, 2013

I am not with that agency. I am with Nurses Rx, a branch of AMN Healthcare. I' m not sure where you are from but typically housing is included if you are a certain distance way from you're permanent residence. I am in Renton, WA and my residence is back in Michigan and I definitely would not have taken a contract without housing being part of the deal.

pacifica · Sep 20, 2013

There is a housing stipend that is rolled into my weekly takehome pay but the company does not provide housing, per se. I live in Portland (3 hrs south). The weekly take home (taxed and non-taxed) is pretty generous.

Have you started yet? How do you like the hospital so far? I lived in Seattle for 5 years, anywhere around the Puget Sound is beautiful!

Kris

jks_05 · Sep 20, 2013

I've been in Tacoma, WA since July and I have loved it so far! Supposedly May - November or so is the best time to be in this area and I agree. I've seen 70-80 degree weather and sunny for 99% of the days! Like Melissa said, you're going to be here during the rainy season but I'm almost sad I'm going to miss it because of the snowboarding/snowshoeing opportunities! It seems like there are endless things to do in this area, and I love Seattle. From what I can tell, it's maybe an hour ferry ride from Bremerton to Seattle.

Congrats on the assignment. You'll love it!

Underoo · Oct 9, 2013

I've worked at Harrison! I was employed there, not on assignment. I enjoyed it. I felt pay was average for the area. I loved the staff I worked with. I felt confident in administration and had a wonderful supervisor, very supportive. As a Navy spouse, I can imagine I sometimes felt like a travel nurse since I move around often. I felt right at home at Harrison and it was easy to learn who I could depend on if I needed help or had questions. I will say that the patient population in Bremerton was not what I was accustomed to. A lot of ETOH and heroine withdrawal. Also saw a lot of suicide attempts. Not many psych resources here. I would not live in Bremerton, although I was at Sunn Fjord for a while and loved those apartments. They just weren't close to anything except the hospital. Silverdale is nicer, but apartments are tiny and expensive. Poulsbo is nice. Cost of living here is very high compared to what I'm used to. I found that you pay a lot for not much space. And make sure you've got central heat! I almost froze here when I first came. :) Good luck! I hope you enjoy Harrison. Everyone there is so nice.