Moving to El Paso! Info please??

I want to move to El Paso in October. Can anybody share any info on the nursing climate in the hospitals, hospices, know of a good agency?

I am a hospice nurse currently and it's my niche! But in knowing nothering about El Paso - may have to do other kinds of nursing right off. I also work agency so any info about good agencies in El Paso would be wonderful!

Starting salaries too? Just whatever anyone could share! Thanks ever so!!!

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I want to move to El Paso in October. Can anybody share any info on the nursing climate in the hospitals, hospices, know of a good agency?

I am a hospice nurse currently and it's my niche! But in knowing nothering about El Paso - may have to do other kinds of nursing right off. I also work agency so any info about good agencies in El Paso would be wonderful!

Starting salaries too? Just whatever anyone could share! Thanks ever so!!!

Well, you're coming at a good time weather wise. 1st, there's lots of mountains. I believe beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder. I was raised in El Paso and believe it is beautiful. I don't know where you're coming from, but the climate is warm in summer (sometimes over 100 in summer) and mild in winter. We don't see too much snow. However, some say it is ugly desert. Not true. We have a tree!!!

No earthquakes, no tornados, for sure no hurricanes. We do have wind storms though, but not that often.

Population is about 750,000 and we're on the boarder of Juarez, Mexico, who has over 1,000,000. Primarily hispanic culture. We have delicious REAL mexican food. Very cultural and historical city.

Now, back to nursing. I was a Hospice nurse for 3 years here for VNA. I loved it. We do have another non-profit Hospice, Hospice of El Paso and 2 for-profit hospices. I heard the other day that 3 new for-profit hospices have moved to El Paso, but I'm not sure who they are, if it's even true. We have one teaching hospital and several private hospitals.

Ft. Bliss is here. The military hospital is William Beaumont Medical Center. They are begging for nurses, as are the other hospitals except our teaching hospital, Thomason. I have no idea what's going on there. Thomason is a Level 1 Trauma Center and William Beaumont, I believe, is Level II. We are expecting between 500 and 5000 people to be transported here from Louisiana, Mississippi, and whoever suffered from Hurricane Katrina sometime before Monday. Preparations are being made at out Civic Center and other large facilities around the city.

1st, the people needing medical attention will go to William Beaumont, then to Thomason, then they will be dispersed to the private hospitals.

Hospice nurses here make approximately $25.00 to $26.00/hr, I think. But with the high gas prices now, I can't imagine doing that right now. Gas prices are over $3.00/gallon. In the hospitals, base pay, (I'm going from memory) is around $22-$23, but with the years of experience, shift, it goes up to about $27 or so. I'm talking MedSurg, as that is what I did forever.

But, Texas does not have a state tax, so that's good.

Sierra/Providence hospitals, for example, in labor & delivery (no experience) are offering a very large sign-on bonus and fairly easy schedules. Start at about $26 with no experience in labor/delivery. I think just about everyone has sign-on bonuses.

This is just a little information. Let me know what questions you have. I'll try to find out for you if I don't know the answer.

Talk to you soon,

cutisrn