East Washington/Idaho nurses

2ndCareerRN · Jul 30, 2003

Good things about WA state, and in particular the Eastern part.

1. No state income tax.

2. Car tags are cheap...35 dollars.

3. Weather is nice, only a few weeks of heat in the summer, and not much snow in the winter. 4 seasons.

4. LOTS of outdoor recreation, year round. 3 ski resorts close enough to get away to for the weekend.

5. Some very good restaurants, many good concerts, some good city sponsered events.

6. Close enough to Seattle to go over for a weekend and have some really good food, do the tourist thing, or attend concerts that don't go through Spokane. Lots of nice places for weekend getaways between Spokane and Seattle.

7. Close to the Snake river in Idaho and the Columbia River in Washington if you enjoy water sports camping. Also many lakes and other camping areas.

8. Housing is very reasonable, the further away, the better the deals. Go to relator.com and browse Spokane, Stevens, Ferry, and Pend Orille counties.

I have no idea about school sysems. I imagine they are no better or no worse than most.

Bad things about the same.

1. One of the least culturally diversive places I have ever been.

2. Small town red neck attidudes from many of the people there. They wonder why the place refuses to grow.

3. High unemployment, wages are nothing to write home about.

All in all, I will probably plant roots in E. WA.

I worked at the hospital that cut wages and then voted for the union.

10 days before the wages were cut, the COLA, longevity and merit raises for the year were cancelled. The cost of employee health insurance also was scheduled to be increased. I knew several nurses that were having to change from a 90/10 or 80/20 plan to a HMO type 70/30 so that their cost would only increase a small amount.

As soon as the cuts were announced I voted with my feet. I took my accrued vacation, used some sick leave, and hit the road. Literally hit the road, I am now a full time traveler, something I was going to do anyhow. The cuts just made it happen now.

Talking to the nurses I used to work with is sad. Staffing is worse, morale is lower and management thinks everthing is rosey because the hospital system is now losing less money than before. After I left the ER there, at least 4 others followed. One moved to Pullman, and the other 3 took up traveling.

Things are not to rosey in Eastern Washington, the area has been and will continue to be depressed for a long time. The main industries are mining and logging. Neither of which is doing good right now. Kaiser aluminum shut down their smelters and other facilities, adding to the unemployment woes in the area. The high tech industries in the area are also feeling the pinch of an economy that is not doing to well, and as a result are laying off people or closing.

A nurse should have no trouble landing a position to work, and you will probably make around twenty dollars/hr...+/- a little bit. The trouble may be work for your husband, or work that would pay enough to make it seem worthwhile.

If I were moving again, I would take a serious look at coastal WA. Away from Seattle, but close enough to get there for anything you may need.

bob

vettech · Jul 30, 2003

I've recently "discovered" a relative (a cousin I was close to when we were young) in Moscow, ID. I may see what his take is on the region since what I seem to be hearing is that the economy in the area stinks, nurses are considered less than professionals by the populace and they resent us "big city" folks moving in.

By and large, the only two good things I'm hearing for y'all is that the area is beautiful (esp the weather) and the cost of living is low.

I've still got time to think about it. I may just scoot up to the TX Hill Country (Austin area - San Marcos/New Braunfels in particular) for a while while I plan where to go to get what I'm looking for.

kimmicoobug · Jul 31, 2003

I am here in Eastern Washington. Yeah, the job market kind of sucks here unless you are a farmer. In the town where I live in, (hint: think sweet onions) there just aren't any opportunities for my husband. I started a job here, but found that it isn't what it seemed. IE, there IS no job past orientation. So, now I am looking at other hospitals, and possibly a move. Don't know about a move to Seattle, leaning more towards Portland if I do make that jump.

TreceRN · Aug 1, 2003

Our hospital in southwest Washington is not "officially" in a hiring freeze; we just don't have any openings (believe it or not!). We are affiliated with PeaceHealth, and our sister hospital in Bellingham has TONS of openings. Go figure:confused: And don't worry about Mt. St Helens - it blew in 1980 and isn't due again for another 100 years

zambezi, BSN, RN · Aug 1, 2003

If you want all four seasons, you should look into southern oregon. While it does rain, it is not nearly as much as portland, eugene, spokane... It is absulutely beautiful here. We do not get much snow, but mt ashland is a 15 minute drive, ski mountain in winter, great hiking mountain biking in the summer. I am a fairly new rn, so I can't compare pay rates from personal experience, but it seems that our pay is middle of the pack per allnurses...lots of hiking, mountain roads, lakes, forests, etc...smaller towns that are growing fairly quickly...not a lot of job opportunities other than medical field...expanding hospitals...no differential between icu/floor rns...four dollars and hour more night differential...anyway, i like it a lot here...good luck in your search...

Grace Oz · Aug 1, 2003

FORGET ALL THE ABOVE!!!....

Come on "Down Under"!!...

The last true blue paradise on EARTH!! :-) TRUE!!

Beautiful cities, beaches, mountains, desert, rural towns, snow country, tropical north, rainforests, oh, I could go on & on & on.....

AUSTRALIA!... Beautiful one day.....

PERFECT the next!! :-)

AnD, it's affordable!!

GOOD LUCK anyway.

Cheers,

Grace

vettech · Aug 1, 2003

Originally posted by Grace Oz
FORGET ALL THE ABOVE!!!....
Come on "Down Under"!!...
The last true blue paradise on EARTH!! :-) TRUE!!
Beautiful cities, beaches, mountains, desert, rural towns, snow country, tropical north, rainforests, oh, I could go on & on & on.....
AUSTRALIA!... Beautiful one day.....
PERFECT the next!! :-)
AnD, it's affordable!!
GOOD LUCK anyway.
Cheers,
Grace

And home to my favorite species of lizard, Pogona vitticeps, the Australian Inland Bearded Dragon... in fact, one member of the species, named Darwin, is watching me from her enclosure not 5' away. :)

lindarn · Aug 4, 2003

I just wanted to inform everyone that the NLRB ruled in favor of the Deaconess nurses who just recently voted down the chance to unionize with 1199 SEIU. The hospital has been in financial difficulty for some time now, and in order to be able to get financing for projects, they cut everyones pay 9%, except the departments that were unionized. The pay cuts were supposed to only be for 3 months and right before the union vote, the hospital told the nurses that if they voted for the union that the hospital would make the pay cut permanent. 1199 filed an unfair labor practice grievance against the hospital and won.

You would think that the nurses would be overjoyed that they can hold another union vote immediately instead of having to wait a year to try again. But OHH NO! Many of the nurses have decided that maybe it isn't a good idea to have a union and now 1199 is going to have to do some more campaigning to make sure that they have enough support to have another vote!

It seems that even after all that has gone on, with the medical benefits increased significantly on top of the pay cut, alot of the nurses still "don't like the idea of having a union!!!" Do you believe it!! I almost choked on my morning coffee as I read the Sunday paper this morning!!! It was a good thing that I took the kids to church because I think that I would have had a stroke after reading that!! As I said in my original thread, "Stupid is as Stupid does. Amen!! The words, "some people just don't get it", now have a new meaning. The nurses just think it is a bad idea because now that they have sacrificed their pay for the last 6 months and the hospital is "doing better financially", they don't think that the union is a good idea. The day before this article appeared in the paper, there was another article about how the hospital was turning around financially. Doesn't that just bring out the warm fuzzies? To know that you sacrificed your personal financial security to bail out a health care system that had mismanaged their finances so badly since they took over these hospitals several years ago that they had to cut their employees's pay to get financing for major projects? That they considered these project to be more important than their most valuable asset, the employees that kept them in business? Maybe that was just too much to ask and/or figure out!

And these nurses bought it all, hook, line and sinker! If they believe that they are ever going to get their same rate of pay back, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would be happy to sell you for $79.99 plus New York State sales tax. Just to show you what a swell guy I am, I will throw in shipping and handling free of charge! Maybe you can re- sell the Brooklyn Bridge at the ocean view property in Arizona right next to that swamp land!!

If only we had the New York State Nurses Association here or the California Stare Nurses Association !! But alas, we are stuck with WSNA! We had a chance here in Spokane to show them what a real union can do! And they are turning it down! Now I know why I left nursing. I refuse to be associated with the "martyr marys" of the Spokane nursing profession (as we called them in NY) who can't see the forest for the trees. What else can I say!

Lindarn

RNJoe · Apr 20, 2009

I currently live in CA. After reading the posts I have to add that is is very disappointing with the curent RNs wages, WA yearly licensing requirements and fees and inability of local officials to defend the nurses.

First, we carry a great liability for human life while providing pt care. Second,the pay is outrageously low. Third, the pay reflects the qulity of pt care. There is high staff turn arounds, high use of registries and other factors.

I personally been thinking about moving to Spokane area but after doing some research I cannot afford to do it.

Cuurently my pay is in high 40s/per hour that is withiout any differentials. The health insurance is included for whole family.Compare to Spokane wages ~23-24/per hour. Health insurance is extra. I guess what keeps wages that low in Spokane area is big supply of new RN grads and fear local nurses to apply oressure on the hospital administrators. Moreover, pay cuts for nurses it is simply unacceptable. Are we carrying less for our pts. This profession is always on demand due to human nature. However, local hospital administrators used situation with economy to cut already low wages. I bet if someone analyzed the hospital income vs expense the are no changes in their budget. It is simply BS and use of cheap labor on the most important jobs that have a greatest liability.