Published Jul 11, 2007
HULIYO
48 Posts
Can anybody tell me which is the best place to work in Charleston, S.C. as a CNA, which is the best nursing college there and does it have long waiting lists and also whether there are cheap rental apartments around these places. Will appreciate any info.
softstorms
291 Posts
Hi, try Life Care of Charleston...It is less that 15 years old and has many different areas to work in, from Long Term Care, to Alhiemers, and Skilled nursing. They seem to have an interest in educating their staff and have a good standing in the area. I worked for them as an LPN for 6 years, then left for personal reasons. But it is a good place to start at. The wages are on a even range if not better than most. They have a lot of incentive program also. Good Luck and welcome to Charleston
HI Softstorms. I appreciate your help and I will try them (Life Care). I have worked with Life Cares before in Washington State though they were horrible (under-staffed) but I will give this one a try. Any places (rental apartments) cheap around there? Once again, thank you for your help
TamrRN07
22 Posts
Hi there!
I was a tech at Roper Hospital downtown. It was a great facility. On a good day I would have 6 patients. A bad day would be 10, but all in all the staff is great. I worked on a surgical step down floor. The hospital is in the middle of going for magnet status and has great facilities. All new.
The best nursing college is Trident Technical College. It's nclex pass rate is the best at 98 %. Waiting list about 2 years.
Room and board... look in west ashley. That's kind of in b/t the two.
Hi TamrRN07. I appreciate your reply. It was very helfpful. I will checkout those places. Did you do your RN at Trident? How much did the pay aides at Roper Hospital? I have no idea how much CNA get paid here in the South. I moved from Washington State and I have only been to two places - one in Orangeburg and other in Branchville and they pay 5.75 dollars an hour and 8.00 dollars an hour respectively. The 5.75 dollars an hour had duties such as cleaning floors, cooking meals on top of doing the regular CNA jobs. The other place (8.00 dollars an hour) has very long shifts 7a.m-7p.m. (day) shift and 7p.m. to 7a.m. (night) shift. The is unbelievable. If you work day shift, then it means you have three meals to serve and the night shift will be putting people to bed. I never heard of such things before. Where i came from, we had three shifts of 8 hours each.
I did get my RN at Trident. I loved the program there and the instructors are phenomenal. CNAs get paid bt 8.75-9 bucks an hour in charleston. Duties are ADLs only! Cooking meals?! I hardly do that for my husband.. haha. Shifts are flexible. I worked prn two 8s per week because of nursing school. If you do prn, you don't get benefits at the reduced cost. There were cnas that did three 12s as there were crazy ppl that did 16s like 3 days a week. Anyway. I loved charleston. A lot of things to do. If you have anymore questions, just let me know:)
Hi Tamr RN07. I am greatful once again for your availability to answer my questions. Is Roper St. Francis Healthcare (316 Calhoun Street) the same as Roper Hospital. I see too there is Bon Secours St, Francis. Are they all in the same place or are they under St. Francis Hospitals like they ones in Washington state. I was looking at the website and saw job opennings in Roper Hospital and Bon Secours so i did not know whether they are in different locations. I also noticed instead of CNA positions they say "Patient Care Assistant". Is this one and the same thing? This is confusing because the qualifications required for this positions say: Any of the following and lists, LPN fundamentals, RN fundamentals, current hospital PCA experience of Nursing Assistant. Why would they require RN fundamentals or LPN fundamentals or is it for students taking nursing courses. Did you go into LPN first or straight to RN pre-requisites? I hear it is difficult to work full time and go to school. Can one manage (full time working) while doing pre-requisites and then may be work PRN once you are in the programme. What is your view about this. I appreciate having somebody to "talk" to who has gone through this like you because i intend to go to school (first with pre-requisites and later into a program) and don't know how to go about because i will be needing money to pay bills and school too so i do need to work.
1) Roper is downtown charleston and St francis is in west ashley. They are sister hospitals with the same policys ect.
2) CNA/PCA is the same. That position requires experience or your first semester of nursing school (fundamentals) which covers ADLs.
3) I personally went for RN. That was my goal so I didn't procrastinate. Trident has their program set up in a way that if you want to take the LPN exam while completing the RN program, you may do so when you finish the required classes. I didn't do that. I saved my money and took the time off for summer/christmas breaks when they were around instead of working:) I was blessed to have a husband to help share the financial responsibilites. We both went to school full time and worked part time. Just enough to pay bills basically. We were poor and hardly ever saw eachother, but it was just for a season. We knew school wasn't going to last forever...
I only worked 16 hours a week through most of the program. When I was in RN part of the program I cut back to 8 hr/week. I knew people who worked 3 12 hr shifts a week and had a family and they passed, but were very stressed all the time. I remember people who didn't work at all and failed. It's up you how much you want it.
You might find more suggestions in the Students forum.
peace
RNpamela
2 Posts
I am looking for the same answer. can someone please help us with an answer.
I am looking for the same answer. Can someone please help us.