Hey, Spokane RN's

Hi from an ex-'Spokanite' who hasn't lived there in.....whoo boy.....15 years. Ok, from what I gather from this site, it is just about impossible to get a job anywhere in that area due to the fact that there are three or four nursing schools right there and an over-supply of nurses in the area. I also gather that the working conditions and pay are pretty bad in most of the hospitals. Holy Family is smaller than Deaconess and Sacred Heart, but I don't know much about it. Do a search for posts by Lindarn as she is currently in the area and has a handle on the situation. Spokane has changed A LOT and I don't think I'd go back, even though I was rasied there and my husband was born and raised there. I do miss those lakes though......

Okay, I was born and raised in Spokane, and moved to TX about 6 years ago. I am now a L&D RN and am trying desperately to talk my husband into moving back to Spokane!!! He's not on board yet, but I am curious about a couple things...

First of all, I am a northside girl at heart, so I imagine that's where we'll live if/when we ever get there... but I don't remember hearing the greatest things about Holy Family when I was younger... what is Holy Family's reputation now?

Second, what is the pay like for an RN with 1-2 years L&D experience? What hospital would you chose to work for in the area? I have a day shift now... what are the chances of me being able to get a days position in L&D there? If I had to start on nights, how long do you think it would take for me to get to days? I now work in a hospital that does 250-300 deliveries a month, with a continuously increasing % of high risk cases. I have been checking the hospital websites for job postings... not much there...

Will I be able to find a job??

Spokane has three schools of nursing, and wives who have husbands who have been laid off and been unable to find jobs. Nurses are afraid of rocking the boat, and are therefore are treated like crap in Spokane. Sacred Heart nurses haven't gotten a true raise in years (after they calculated in the 20% increase in the cost of their medical benefits), they are paying a fortune for their medical benefits, other benefits have not been increased in years. Deaconnes (Empire Health) is broke and being bought out by an East Coast for-profit chain, and the nurses, who took YEARS to finally vote in union representation, are in danger of losing the union because they voted in SEIU, who did not include a continuation clause in their contract. That means that the new owners do not have to honor their contract, and it is back to square one with a company from the very anti union south. Deaconness was never a good place to work. I worked there six long months when I moved here from California. The staff only got raises then (and thougt that it was like that eveywhere), every three years. I was paid $13.00 an hour when I went to work there. The nurses would act like doctors handmaidens, and jump if they were spoken to, acted verty humbly and demure with the doctors. You heard that right. The equipment in the ICU was from the dark ages, and so was the charting. The staff was, and still is, not very pleasant to work with, and that is being kind. They chased away ever nurse who came to work there from a bigger hospital, and bigger city, and then cried they did not have enough staff.

In spite of Ruby Vee's very rosy picture of nursing in Spokane, nursing here is not good, and I would elsewhere for employment and relocation. You might be happier in Oregon. The pay there is good, and the nurses and hospitals are much more modern in their attitudes.

You can do what you want, but I will advise you, and other nurses to stay away from Spokane. You will not regret it if you do. By the way, the cost of housing here has also jumped, along with the cost of everything else. JMHO, and myNY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

Great to hear , yea not really. I'm starting my prereqs for nursing school next month at scc. I guess the good news is we have every intention of moving after I graduate (hopefully in 3 years). I guess when that time comes we'll decide where the best place to move is. We love Seattle, but I'm sure we could love other places as well.

As an RN who moved here in 2009, I am not impressed with the nursing jobs in this area. The pay is lower than it should be, and the interview process leaves a lot to be desired. I can honestly say, that after 27 years in nursing, I experienced my worst ever, most unprofessional "interviewer" ever when I first arrived here- it was for a top RN job in management, and the person doing the interview was in their mid 20's, no license in healthcare, no certification in healthcare, no nursing skill questions asked- who informed me repeatedly during the interview that they were the ones who hired, fired and trained all staff. Really? With no licensure, nor certification in any type of healthcare? While I am currently working full time, I still remain less than impressed with the nursing field oportunities in this area. It seems rare in Spokane that nurses are respected for good skills in nursing, let alone excellent client care. I actually came into contact with an RN with 27 years experience about a month ago, who recently moved here, who had been offered a nurse manager job, salaried position, that called for 40 hrs per week, with on call at will, with no relief, at the rate of 22.00 per hour(salaried at 40 hrs per week). The reason given for the low amount offered was that Medicaid/Medicare have cut reimbursements. At a class about 2 months ago, I heard a similar story of an RN being offered 24.00 per hour for a night shift supervisor position, every single weekend. No offense to any Spokane medical person, but I just don't get the impression that nurses are respected nor valued as professionals in this area. This is the first time ever in my nursing career that I would honestly have to say I would not recommend nursing as a career for a person hoping to become a nurse in Spokane. I just can not recommend it with a good conscience.

Unfortunately for Spokane, and the rest of Eastern Washington, I truly belive that Spokane has been an unwilling victm of Idaho's, "right to work (for less)", mentality. We are right next door to one of the nations most red states. The are anti- union to the core, even when faced with obvious poor pay, poorer benefits, and NO worker protection. I worked in a hospital in N Idaho, where the nurse would brag about how they all had to work second jobs to be able to support their families!Talk about, Stupid is as Stupid does!

Spokane, has for years, been a low income, blue collar, less educated step sister to Seattle, Olympia, Portland, etc. We are the Black Sheep of the family.

The lack of jobs for husbands, have made Spokane nurses gun shy about asserting their workplace rights. When Kaiser shut its doors about ten years ago, one of the more stable jobs when out the window. The billion dollar owner shutting down the plant to spite the unions, who were trying to get better pay and benefits. It was an act of spite, spitting at his workers who kept in him business. He is also the person, who I belive , owns a good chunk of the California Redwood forest, who is trying to log the entire last batch of trees! That is his mentality!

Unfortunately, hospitals and hospital jobs are Spokane' bigest industry. The hospitals take full advantage of it big time!

The nurses at Sacred Heart and Holy Family are unionzed with WSNA. Unfortunately, as we say in Brooklyn, they are as useful as tits on a bull. Every three years when the contract comes up for renewal, WSNA finally gets around to passing around questionaires (usually less than three months before the contract expires), about what the nurses want to get, what they want to get rid of, and what they want to change.

They will come up with a really good idea from the nurses, but in is usually something that Sacred Heart does not want to do, and you can count on the administration will come up with some ridulous red herring that will never fly, that the hospital wants to do. WSNA will then rally the nurse around this ridulous idea that the hospital wants to do, have rallies at the hospital entrance with signs, etc, and distract the nurses from what they really want. WSNA and the nursing staff, buy it hook, line and sinker.

As you can figure out, nothing every gets changed, made better, etc, because every three years the same scene goes on, and WSNA falls for it, as does the nurses, with the union in the lead.

Holy Family does not come out any better, as they still had mandatory OT until recently.

The other big chain, Empire Health, which is now Community Health from the South and a for profit hospital chain, talked the Deaconess Nurse into voting out their union, 1199.They barely had any improvement in their working conditions, pay, benefits, with 1199. Now that the nurses have allowed the union to go, CH knows that it can bully the nursing staff, and they do. It is horrible, but I am sorry to say, that too many nurses there have not worked any place else, and do not realize how badly they are being treated. It is really sad. There are still too many diploma grads from the old diploma nursing program who are still brainwashed into believing how unprofessional it is to join a union. Sad, but true.

There are few, if any good places to work in Spokane, Eastern Washington, or North Idaho. Kennnewick has Kadlec, which is supposed to be nice. It is in Tri Cities. I would try there over Spokane.

As usual, JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN,CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

Kadlec, in Richland, WA, is a great place to work in Eastern WA. I'd check them out if you're interested in relocating to Eastern WA. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.