Dont move to florida

CowboyBoots · Aug 19, 2007

Been pretty much everywhere in the state. I liked Miami the most in Florida though.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Aug 19, 2007

Been pretty much everywhere in the state. I liked Miami the most in Florida though.

As a native Floridian, I avoid working there unless I need to visit Family. It is definitely not the same state that I grew up in.

But I took an assignment in the WPB area the last Winter, and goodness help me, that has to be one of the worst places in the USA to work as a nurse. I had never met a ruder nastier group of patients with serious entitlement issues in my life. And few of them were native Floridians.

The bad behavior gets blamed on the fact that they are northern. But the irony is, as a Floridian that works up north, the northern hospitals don't put up with their nurses being treated badly, while the Florida hospitals want to placate the patients.

I had the "opportunity" to experience this first hand. I had a patient in South Florida, whose family drove the staff nuts with their complaints and carping at the staff for every little thing. A few days into the case, when I was reviewing the chart and spoke to the patient, I realized that I had taken care of him and dealt with the family in a hospital in NYC. And while I got treated with nothing but politeness in the NYC facility, the family was suspicious, needy, and very demanding in Florida.

There are regional biases that people carry with them. They are not fair, but we still have to deal with them. Unfortunately, in Florida sometimes nurses take the brunt of it.

NurseguyFL · Aug 19, 2007

first year as a nurse i made 100k. i worked insane hours...

I don't doubt that its possible to make that kind of money in FL, provided you are working an average of 72 or more hours per week, and willing to put up with just about anything at all. All the power to you! I could never do it---especially not with the way nursing has become in many parts of Florida.

I agree with the OP, and also with Tweety and Carol. Florida is very, very different now than it used to be. And, I'm not talking about the 'good ole days' because I'm not old enough to know about those. What I can say is that its now just as expensive to live in some parts of Florida as it is to live in some of the big cities in the Northeast and on the West Coast, and most of the hospitals don't pay nurses all that well. In many areas of FL, even the middle class are struggling to get by, and as Tweety already mentioned, a lot of them have either left the state or are planning to leave.

Glad to hear you found a situation that works well for you.

NurseguyFL · Aug 19, 2007

We call them half-backers. The moved to Florida from the north and now that things are bad they move where it's cheaper in North Carolina, Georgia and Ten

"Half-backers". I love it! LOL.

I also own a home in Florida and wish I could unload it and get out of here permanently. Unfortunately, now is not a good time to try to sell a house in Florida because there just aren't any buyers out there. I have a lot of equity, and so far I'm doing ok, but I haven't seen any decreases in the insurance costs, despite declining property values, and the proposed property tax cuts are a joke. I've done the math and found that this tax cut scheme being pitched by the governer will actually INCREASE my taxes in the long run!

I pray all the time that we don't get hit by another major hurricane any time soon. That would truly finish off a lot of Floridians, many of whom are now hanging on to the edge with a fingernail.

kmrmom42 · Aug 26, 2007

I moved to Florida 4 years ago from CT. I raised my kids thereT and when they were grown I decided to go do what I wanted to do for a little while! So, I gave it some thought and considered moving to Cape Cod near my parents but for an OB nurse there is basically only one hospital to work in there. So, I thought about how every time I visited my brother in Florida I would never want to go home. There is SO much to do here no matter WHAT you like to do. I despise snow, sleet and ice and there is NONE of that here. There are flowers and green trees year round. There are amazing beaches, some that you can even drive onto, how great for an older person! Yes, the pay isn't what it is in CT but I bought a brand new 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on a nice corner lot for only 125,000. It is now worth 185,000. Couldn't have done that in CT. And I have had lots of opportunity for professional growth, kind of like being a big fish in a small pond. So, for me, central FL has been a great place to work and live.

However, now that my kids have decided not to follow Mom to the Sunshine state and are settling in CT, marrying and starting to have babies I am starting to think I might have to figure that I have had my fun and go back to snow, ice and long rainy days.

But I guess that will be made up for with the fun of being a grandmother!

bigsyis · Aug 27, 2007

I am starting to think I might have to figure that I have had my fun and go back to snow, ice and long rainy days.
But I guess that will be made up for with the fun of being a grandmother!

You are going to LOVE being a grandmother! It will be worth anything to be able to be near them.

JustinTJ, ADN, BSN · Aug 27, 2007

I personally love it here. I grew up in Atlanta, lived in Wyoming and Colorado (Yellowstone Park Summers/Vail Winters), then came back to Atlanta. Got fed up with it in 2003 and moved to Ft. Lauderdale.

Hated it, but found Jupiter. It's about 20 mins North of West Palm Beach, and 20 mins South of Stuart. In all my travels, there is no place I'd rather be. I hate the cold nowdays, don't mind the heat in the summers. In Atlanta, it's just as hot with no ocean breeze.

The best part... Answering cell phone calls from the beach in January and 76 degrees. When I tell family and friends where I'm at, they usually hang up.

I bought a place last fall. 3 bed, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage townhouse - $290k. New, never been lived in. Expensive, but I'm 2 miles from the beach. It'll be home for quite some time.

"All the snowbirds that come down here for the winters and then leave for the summer are always talking about seasons. I love the seasons. There's no seasons here. In Boston we have seasons..."

I'm a big fan of the seasons too, that's why I try to avoid the ones that suck.

- Joke stolen from Daniel Tosh

ex1140 · Oct 3, 2007

Just want to get the message out. My wife & I are both nurses. We moved to florida because my family lives here and it has been a big mistake. I am posting this on the new nurses thread to warn those of you who are considering moving down here. Before deciding where you want to work consider what the hospital is paying and what the cost of living is. In florida it sucks. Feel free to PM me and I will certanly elaborate.

Do you live in Miami? If so, I can concur...it's very expensive here and the salaries don't match the cost of living at all. There are so many people jumping ship in this neck of the woods that it's crazy. I agree if you can find a better place, and that shouldn't be too hard, don't move to south Florida. :down:

jbtampa · Oct 4, 2007

I've lived/worked in Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm, and am now in Tampa. Yeah, West Palm Beach is a terror of demanding, cheap, New Yorkers. Ft. Lauderdale is a party town. Tampa is more a traditional city filled with natives and Midwesterners. Dramatic difference. I could not afford to move, though, my taxes are also locked to 3% increase through Save our Homes. To me, Tampa seems a fairly inexpensive city, as compared to my previous homes in Chicago and St. Thomas. It's a fantastic time to buy right now and a nightmare to sell.

MB37 · Oct 4, 2007

So you currently live in Tampa and can't afford to move due to SOH? That's a great law, except that first-time home buyers (like I will hopefully be soon) end up bearing much more than their fair share of property taxes, since they can't raise them on people who bought before the boom. And we'll see what happens with this amendment that may or may not make it onto the ballot in January. I actually agree with your assessment of Tampa though - it's a very vanilla, normal city. It's kind of boring and you have to drive everywhere, but that's like most places I guess. I'm a New Orleans transplant, so I find the prices much higher and my income lower. Fortunately, my husband's job description changed and his commissions now offset the cut I took to move. I'm not a nurse yet though, but Louisiana actually pays better than here according to salary.com. I don't care for Tampa, but I loved New Orleans and there is no city that will ever compare.

Sheri257 · Oct 5, 2007

to make money in this business, you've got to be flexible, available, and willing to work nights.
what does a manager in charge of staffing want? they want no drama, no call offs, good quality work, etc. just put yourself in their place... what would you want? if you become that person, you'll find yourself used constantly. i'd take 2 jobs.. one in a hospital, and another as a prn for a large 250+ bed nursing home. you'll find it's no trick at all to get 70 hours a week if you want to work.

Well ... this sounds pretty outrageous to me. But then, I work in California where we have nursing unions and I think it does make a huge difference.

I'm making $43 an hour ... and I don't have to work nights or a lot OT to make $100K a year. I pick up a little OT but, that's it ... I'm not going to kill myself working nights and 70 hours a week to make good money.

And before people start screaming about Cali's cost of living ... I actually live in a cheap area of the state where my mortgage payment is only $1200 a month including insurance and taxes.

I can't believe that Florida hospitals are paying so little. Especially with all of the retirees who are moving there driving up the cost of living. Who do the hospitals expect to take care of those retirees if they're going to pay slave wages?

The whole thing is ridiculous.

:down:

Sheri257 · Oct 5, 2007

yeah, i've got a smoke detector. my house is concrete block... i don't see it burning down. i can do construction myself, including building a house from the ground up. since i'm on the highest spot in the county, even a major hurricane storm surge wouldn't come close to flooding my house. i think i'm 17 feet above that even. so now we're down to wind damage.
i have a much better chance of getting killed driving than losing my house. for those odds, i'll self insure. what happens to insurance money? it goes for administration and profit payouts in a good year. then insurers whine when they have losses. i've chosen to be exempt from that system, and i'm not the only one.
now, if you live right on the beach, etc... you'll get clobbered if you have no insurance and anything happens because those properties will be under water. the problem with insurance is people who have houses high and dry are forced to subsidize those who build in foolish locations prone to damage.

Just FYI ... a lot of people self insured or, were under insured during the big California fires of 2003. 5,000 homes were wiped out and a lot of people lost everything. Mostly because they didn't upgrade their home insurance to keep up with property values.

Personally, I'm a big believer in home insurance so my house is actually over insured ... mostly because the value of my house increased so much. Maybe Florida is different but, it only cost me an additional $200 a year to get extra coverage.

My homeowners policy also includes an extra $50K for hotels, moving expenses, lost clothing, personal items and such. It's great if you can rebuild the house yourself but, where are you going to live in the meantime? After the fires hit ... landlords took advantage of the sudden demand for housing and they raised the rents big time so ... that insurance money could come in really handy. Especially for things like clothing, etc. that can easily be lost in a sudden disaster.

Maybe I'll never need the insurance but, you never know what's going to happen. My house is my biggest asset so I feel I need to protect it. I even have earthquake insurance.