Help. Pt. St. Lucie, W. Palm Beach, Miami. Where Do I go???? Assistance??? Thank You!

[pixystks63]

Hello all. I currently live in NYC and am going to move down to FL after graduating. I was wondering if some of you could voice your opinions about what areas are better in terms of the hospitals and where i would expect a higher salary. I am thinking about Port St Lucie, W. Palm Beach, Boca/ Boynton/ Pompano Beach, Ft. Lauderdale Miami area.

My uncle lives in Pt St Lucie and his neighbor is a registered nurse. Her hospital helps pay her mortgage. i have heard about this before. Its a way of recruiting nurses down to florida. If anyone knows anythign about this could you fill me in with some of the details?

One other thing. I know up in NY some hospitals such as North Shore/LIJ pay their nurses tuition for graduate school. Do the hospitals do the same down there?

I really appreciate anyone giving me any type of advice. Next time I am down in Florida (January probably) i would like to have some idea of what i am doing.

I already have someone to live with me and i will be looking at property then.

OK once again thank you!!!!:balloons:

[blueberry21]

in miami check out www.baptisthealth.net

they do pay for you to further career

that's all i know.

good luck;)

[Galore]

I don't know anything about the hospital systems yet, but I would also factor in what kind of area you'd prefer to live in. Miami is much more urban and developed than Port St. Lucie. The reason the hospital may be doing a mortgage incentive is because people are getting very upset about the cost of living here. In addition to the high cost just to buy a house, insurance premiums keep rising and taxes are pretty high.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

I hope that you speak Spanish...especially if you want to go to Miami.

[pyrolady]

Ditto on the Spanish. Also, remember that the higher the incentive the more strings attached - and you DON'T want strings attached because it's usually a "challenged" hospital shall we say? Also, (my opinion only) stay away from the HCA hospitals (at least the ones on the West Coast). They just sold to a private entity so there might be changes, but it's not a very nice place to work. I've hard the Upper East Coast area would be nice - that would be around Orlando area. Make sure to check out payrates - it is MUCH lower here in FL. Also housing is MUCH higher. Best bang for your buck housing wise that we've found so far (we're now looking to buy) is in the area around highway 50, 52 and 54. The "sprawl" is moving north to meet the houses and all will be nice and new in about five more years. New hospitals are being built in these areas as well. Housing in St. Pete area has been built out and only older homes for sale at very high rates. Good time to be buying though - a lot of homes on the market and they are all definately coming down little by little. Perhaps you might want to rent when you first move to get the lay of the land - we did and it was very helpful. No sense getting stuck in a geographical area before you know it and then decide you want to move to another hospital in a different area. Good luck - and welcome to the land of Hurricane's, alligators, and red tide. Ya gotta love that sunshine though (it's part of your pay, or so they told me when I moved down from the North...). It's beautiful if you can make it through you're first summer. :welcome: :balloons: :balloons: :balloons: