moving to so cal!

hi, hulagirl56, and welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

so, you want to be by the ocean, do you? huntington beach is a nice area by the pacific ocean in orange county. a lot of people still consider orange country to be part of the greater los angeles area. it is an upper class neighborhood, so rents in that area are high. a one-room apartment for regular folks goes for $1200 in these parts. however, wages are generally higher in this part of the country as well.

i honestly don't know what the job market is like for lvns (they're licensed vocational nurses here in california, not lpns). i do know that the california nurse/patient staff ratio law does not apply to lvns. you should not have difficulty finding work in a nursing home. i have heard that some of the lvns are working for $18 an hour and more. if you want to see what food prices are, go to the websites of ralph's, albertson's, stater brothers, or von's (the large grocery market chains out here) to see what they are advertising. gasoline is generally 20 to 30 cents more per gallon than what people back east pay.

commute is what you want to make of it. if you live 30 miles or more from where you work, yes, you will have a long commute. since the beach cities are off interstate 405, the drive is not so good. i-405 is pretty much bumper-to-bumper traffic 24 hours a day. now, i don't have a problem driving in that, but i'm used to it and it is still faster than driving on the main roads. in fact, i think it's safer because it's slower speeds when it's that congested. of course, there's always younguns who think they can get there faster by weaving in and out of lanes and defying good driving rules. there are a lot of people that buy homes and offer a room for rent for a couple hundred dollars a month. this is one way you can be close to work, not commute and not have a big rental bill. in the community where i live, there are two and three homes on one piece of property with them being rented out by the owners. you can get an idea of what rentals go for by going online to the apartments.com website (http://www.apartments.com/). this is the same company that publishes rental booklets that are placed outside supermarkets all over the country.

here is information on how to endorse your nursing license to california and a list of all the hospitals and other kinds of facilities that are licensed to have patients in california. california is not a licensure compact state:

• http://www.bvnpt.ca.gov/lic.htm
  
• http://www.oshpd.ca.gov/hid/products/listings.html

i am originally from ohio (dayton, can you guess?). my mother wanted out of the cold of ohio so badly she just put the house up for sale and after it sold, picked up and headed west. some of us kids came with her. it was the smartest move she ever made. california was good for our family. there is a lot of opportunity here. currently, the tuition at all the california state supported colleges is cheap, cheap, cheap. only $20 a credit hour in the community colleges (of which there is practically one on every corner) and you have to be a resident for one calendar year to get that benefit. california is only one of four states that has a state disability program that everyone in the state who is employed is a member of and contributes to by a small contribution from each paycheck. if you end up being off work for more than a week for any health reason (illness, surgery), you merely put an application in to the state and are covered with a very high percentage of your wage after 7 days off work and for up to 12 months. and, of course, schwarzenegger is trying to push state health insurance coverage for all citizens through the legislature. california has been and probably always will be a trend setter in healthcare.

hope you can find your way here! the hardest part is taking the first step. i know. i've moved and lived in a number of cities across the country. that first step is a doozy. but once you take it you keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep on going. as a nurse, you will always find work. print out a list of facilities from the link i listed above and pick out the facilities close to huntington beach or in the orange county area and make some phone calls before you decide to move to scope the job scene. the big acute hospital in huntington beach is hoag hospital. check out their job line.

Before you come out for your visit you should check the jobs websites like careerbuilder.com, indeed.com, monster.com, to get a feel for who is advertising for employees. There are lots of listings, but not all of them are viable or desirable employers. I answered one listing, only to waste my time in applying for the job. I've heard that the best opportunities lie in the many long term care facilities that are always looking for workers. One of them that a relative was interested in was offering brand new LVNs $20 an hour and experienced LVNs $25 or $26 an hour. Enough to live on if you're by yourself and choose a modest apartment. Good luck in your move.

Moving to the California Nurses forum.