Laredo Medical Center

Kyrshamarks, BSN, RN · Jun 20, 2015

Laredo? I used to work in Laredo many years ago, but I would not work there now due to crime . It is the MAJOR drug crossing point for the USA. The drug cartels have a lot of power on both sides of the border. Weather wise it is HOT in the summer and can be very dry. Winters can be cold at times and wet.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jun 20, 2015

OP: are you bilingual in English and Spanish? 90 percent of your patient population will be Spanish-speaking and if you do not speak the language, you'll constantly be having to hunt down a translator to properly communicate.

Nurse/patient ratios in the Rio Grande Valley tend to be higher than the national average. In addition, 74 percent of all malpractice lawsuits in Texas originate from the counties of the Rio Grande Valley. This is just some food for thought.

Anna S, RN · Jun 20, 2015

As the Commuter stated, it would be very difficult to live in Laredo if you are not bilingual. Also, nearly 1/3 of Laredo's citizens live below the poverty line.

"According to the 2010 Census, the vast majority of Laredo's population is ethnically of Hispanic (of any race) origin, with 95.6%. Only 4.4% of the population was of non-Hispanic/Latino (3.4% non-Hispanic White, 0.2% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 0.6% non-Hispanic Asian, 0.1% from some other race (non-Hispanic) and 0.1% of two or more races (non-Hispanic)).

The median income for a household in the city was $32,019, and the median income for a family was $32,577. The per capita income for the city was $12,269. 29.2% of families were below the poverty line."

Laredo Top Employers^[26][edit]

[TABLE=class: sortable wikitable jquery-tablesorter]

[TR]

[TD]Employer[/TD]

[TD]Category[/TD]

[TD]Employees[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]United Independent School District[/TD]

[TD]Education[/TD]

[TD]6,179[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Laredo Independent School District[/TD]

[TD]Education[/TD]

[TD]4,500[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]City of Laredo[/TD]

[TD]Government[/TD]

[TD]2,371[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Laredo Sector Border Patrol[/TD]

[TD]Immigration[/TD]

[TD]2,000[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]H-E-B[/TD]

[TD]Grocery[/TD]

[TD]1,626[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Webb County[/TD]

[TD]Government[/TD]

[TD]1,500[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Laredo Medical Center[/TD]

[TD]Health care[/TD]

[TD]1,300[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Texas A&M International University[/TD]

[TD]Education[/TD]

[TD]1,215[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]McDonald's[/TD]

[TD]Food[/TD]

[TD]1,200[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Walmart[/TD]

[TD]Retail[/TD]

[TD]937[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Convergys[/TD]

[TD]Call Center[/TD]

[TD]860[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Doctors Hospital[/TD]

[TD]Health Care[/TD]

[TD]811[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]International Bank of Commerce[/TD]

[TD]Financial Services[/TD]

[TD]661[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Stripes Convenience Stores[/TD]

[TD]Retail/Convenience[/TD]

[TD]337[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Laredo Energy Arena[/TD]

[TD]Entertainment[/TD]

[TD]293[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Falcon International Bank[/TD]

[TD]Financial Services[/TD]

[TD]292[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Laredo,_Texas

Laredo crime stats:

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/tx/laredo/crime/

Thought, BSN, RN · Jun 20, 2015

Hi Kyrshamarks! Thank you very much for your insight about Laredo. I was wondering if there would be high crime and drug trafficking with it being at the border. Thank you also for info regarding the weather!

Thought, BSN, RN · Jun 20, 2015

Hello TheCommuter! I'm not bilingual. I took a few years of Spanish several years ago and am rather rusty, but would like to re-learn Spanish and become bilingual. I would be in the OR, but would still probably need a translator. That's a very good point, thank you!

With the nurse/patient ratios being high, I'm wondering if the area has a hard time getting people to work there. Wow, that's a huge amount of lawsuits from just one area of Texas. Yikes! Thank you very much for the information!

Thought, BSN, RN · Jun 20, 2015

Hello, Anna! Thank you very much for your insight and providing statistics! I took a look at the crime stats, and it's much higher than the US average. From your statistic regarding the median income both for the household and family is a little more than $20,000 less than the national average, and the national average poverty level in 2009-2013 averaged 15.4%. I've heard before that low poverty level is associated with a higher crime rate. Would you agree?

US Census Bureau stats: USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau

Household income: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jun 21, 2015

Wow, that's a huge amount of lawsuits from just one area of Texas. Yikes!

The impoverished residents of the local area tend to view hospitals and healthcare professionals as entities with deep pockets. Hence, the prevalence of lawsuits is extremely high in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

Anna S, RN · Jun 22, 2015

Yes, I agree.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Jun 22, 2015

So - more bottom-feeding lawyers, huh?

BTW, poverty should not be automatically associated with high crime rates. It's not a good idea to try to apply simplistic explanations to complex social phenomena. For example - "high teen pregnancy rate" does not always equate to unmarried mothers because it may not account for a cultural prevalence for very young marriages.

Currently, most of the RGV (Rio Grande Valley) is affected by the ongoing cartel-related violence. Lots of innocent people are suffering as a result.

Thought, BSN, RN · Jul 1, 2015

Thank you all very much again for providing me insight about the area. In addition to a few things that was said during my talks with the facility (not salary or the like), your insight helped me with making my decision to continue with my search. Thank you for your help, and have a beautiful rest of your week!