kindred scottsdale

Hoozdo, ADN · Oct 22, 2006

Yeah, I've lived in Az all my life and we have never paid $400!

But you don't live in Phoenix.

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Oct 22, 2006

But you don't live in Phoenix.

Come on, it's not that much hotter than Tucson! 2-3 degrees doesn't equal an extra few hundred dollars in bills.

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · Oct 23, 2006

I'm renting in a 5 bedroom house, 2500+ sq ft. and the highest our electric bill this summer was about $400. So that's about what you'll be looking at paying for electric if you'll be in a house of that size. And that was only during the real hot months of the summer. Be smart about how you use energy .... SRP has off-peak/on-peak plans that save you TONS of money. Also, using the swamp cooler is a big money saver.

So don't be too scared about the heat. Like Kabin said there are about 4 months out of the year that are hot .... and only a couple of those months are REALLY HOT, lol.

Right now it's BEAUTIFUL outside, and it'll stay like this until about May/June.

The traffic here is nowhere near the nightmare that it is in and around the LA area. I never have to sit in traffic, and I live in Tempe and commute to Phx. I work nightshift, but even when I worked days the traffic was never bad because I worked 7 am to 7 pm ..... the worst traffic is closer to 8-9 am and 4-6 pm.

I don't know anything about Kindred, but Scottsdale is a nice area.

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · Oct 23, 2006

I checked our online checking account for the last 6 months of electrical bills just to make sure. We have APS and that's probably another factor. I think they're cheaper. Also, we don't use APS' bill averaging feature so summer months are higher than other months but it's never hit $300. If we bill averaged, the average monthly electric bill might be closer to $150 per month since we use gas for heat. Here's the last 6 amounts and dates:
10/6 $156
9/6 $228
8/6 $263
7/24 $237
6/24 $166
5/14 $83

That's usually about how our bills look. Like I said the highest we had this summer was $400, but we were keeping the house a bit cooler since I sleep during the day. We have SRP, which they raised their rates at the beginning of the summer (before now we never had a $400 electric bill). But we use their energy-saver off-peak/on-peak plan ... so it's not too bad.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2006

Very hot there, and high electric bills, can be $400 per month and even more just for an apt. Air conditioning is run most of the year except for the winter months.
Traffic can be worse, except that there are routes that you can take without the freeways, but will take much longer.

I'm in a condo (like an apartment) and my electric bill averages $60 per month. I prefer lots of A/C with temps like 68-70 degrees, since I'm always hot. The electric bills aren't that bad, Suzanne.

Now traffic - yowsa! I was in Los Angeles recently, and I thought their so-called gridlock was NOTHING compared to Tucson & Phx gridlock. My LA relatives were sitting in traffic and griping, and I was like "this is nothing compared to my daily traffic hell in AZ."

Hoozdo, ADN · Oct 25, 2006

Your electric bill in Phoenix will vary by these factors:

1. Do you have SRP or APS? APS is more expensive

2. How many square feet is your house. Houses larger than 3,000 square feet commonly have TWO air conditioners, so twice the electricity.

3. Are you on an asphalt island......most are.

4. Do you have a pool?

5. What kind of insulation do you have?

6. Do you have rotating ducts on your roof to cool the attic area and blow out the hot air?

7. Do you use electricity during prime time day peak hours?

Now, another topic........pollution.

YES, Phoenix can be as bad as LA. There are frequent weather inversions in the winter causing horrible air pollution. There are many days when people with respiratory illnesses are advised not to go outside.

Traffic, it sucks. Try driving on I-17 through town ANY TIME of the day, you will see what I mean. Rush hour starts as early as 6 AM on I-17 and going east on the 101 loop. Rush hour is not over till 7 PM.

Phoenix is a big city.......I read somewhere that it is the 4th biggest city in the USA now. It is a sprawling metropolis of asphalt that does not cool down at night the way a smaller city would - such as Tucson. It is commonly over 100 degrees after midnight in the summer time.

One thing Phoenix isn't, it's not the place I grew up in 40 years ago. It's hotter, it's much more dangerous crime-wise (2 serial killers loose at the same time!), takes about 2 hours to drive from the extreme east side to the extreme west side. Between the pollution and the traffic, I would be outta here if I didn't have my father still living here and needing my help medically. It is not the Phoenix anymore that I knew and loved.

My 5 bucks on the subject!

Hoozdo

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · Oct 25, 2006

I agree, it's definitely not the Phx it used to be. But before moving here you just weigh the pros and cons, just like any other place. It obviously can't be too bad, it's (UNFORTUNATELY) one of the fastest growing places.

And while winter time is NICE and we have great weather, we have to pay for it by having to put up with the snowbirds :) So all things come with a price, but it's not too bad. Before long you'll learn to spot a snowbird from far away and learn to avoid them while driving on the freeway!

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Oct 26, 2006

Yeah, it doesn't cool down at night in the summer here either. When I worked nights as an EMT, I frequently saw it still at 100 at midnight as well. I remember this, because we were allowed to wear Tshirts in the summer-even at night instead of the full uniform.

Tucson metro has a pop of near 800,00, so we still, indeed, have a lot of asphalt. I think our advantage in the summer is that we may have better monsoons (we did this year anyway).

PhoenixGirl · Oct 28, 2006

It's funny when people say bad things about Kindred. I work there and I actually *like* it! But I think I am the odd one out.

Rebecca

GoldenFire5 · Oct 28, 2006

Has anyone heard anything about the Kindred in San Diego?

kimmykng · Oct 28, 2006

what's it like working there (kindred) what kind of patients do you have? how about the staffing? is the management supportive? i worked in a hospital that had a very high turnover rate.. the management didn't care if they retain people.. at one point they said the hospital can be staffed just by travel nurses..

It's funny when people say bad things about Kindred. I work there and I actually *like* it! But I think I am the odd one out.
Rebecca

RN34TX · Oct 28, 2006

It's funny when people say bad things about Kindred. I work there and I actually *like* it! But I think I am the odd one out.
Rebecca

The facilities vary by location and of course you'll hear louder voices about the bad ones.

I worked for one on the East coast and it was actually one of my favorite jobs in my nursing career looking back. I had great co-workers, supportive supervisors, and even an understanding administration (as much as this is possible).

I liked it so much that I decided to stay with them when I moved to Texas and transferred to one of their Texas facilities.

Two completely polar opposite facilities, yet under one company name.

The Texas location was run by a reign of terror administration and I should have left long before I finally did.