Moving from Hawaii to Idaho

[wanderanne]

Aloha, I will be moving from Hawaii to Coeur d'Alene/Spokane area next year. Wondering two things:

A. What hospitals are in the area? (I'm an OB nurse)

B. What's the average wage for RNs there? (I have 15 years experience)

I know moving from "paradise" to Idaho seems strange but, I'm looking forward to this new adventure :)

[lindarn]

I am in Spokane, Washington, which is right next door to Idaho.

For starters, Idaho is a VERY RED STATE!! They are VERY ANTI UNION!!

The pay is lower in Idaho, but hospitals have to keep salaries close to salaries in Washington, since we are not at a, "right to work for less", state. We are close enough, if they kept salaries as low as they would like, the new grads would just get in the car and drive less than an hour to get to a hospital in Spokane, which would pay ALOT MORE WITH MUCH BETTER BENEFITS, THAT THE HOSPITALS IN IDAHO.

The hospital in North Idaho are, Kootenai Medical Center, in Coeur d' Alene, North Idaho Specialty Hospital, and another specialty hospital, that I don't remember the name. Both of the former hosptals are privately owned by physicians, and are VERY BIG, ON CUSTOMER SERVICE, which means, you had better be ready to wait on patients, family and visitors hand and foot. Make sure that they have a comfortable bed, with a comfortable pillow, and warm blanket. Be ready to be a waitress for all of the above, "clients", and make sure that they are happy!! The nurses there, BRAG about how they have to work two jobs to support their families, and are HAPPY to work for these sub par wages, because the doctor-owners, keep staff-patient ratio low enough to be able to, "control", the natives, (nurses). They seem never to connect the dots, about how nurse patient ratios, should be reasonable to patient safety, and not as a tool to, keep nurses under their control, and pay sub standard wages.

Or, you can come over to Spokane, and work over here. The choice is yours.

KMC, is a Magnet Hospital, for what it is worth. Nurses seem to be happy there, but you can see for yourself. They have alot of busy work charting, on top of their regular work.

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

[wanderanne]

Thanks for the info. Do you know what the average hourly wages are there in No. Idaho and Spokane for someone with a "few years" of experience under their belts? I have a feeling it's a lot less than CA and HI where I'm from (then of course, the cost of living is more expensive in CA and HI).

[lindarn]

Maybe around $30 an hour for Spokane. Sacred Heart is unionized with WSNA (don't get your heart all aflutter about working in a unionizes hospital WSNA is about as useful as tits on a bull. But I guess any union is better than none.

Holy Family is owned by Providence (the same one that owns Sacred Heart), and Deaconess is now owned by Community Health, a for profit hospital from the South, which also owns Valley Hospital. Deaconess nurses unionized a couple of years ago, with 1199, SEIU, with the rest of the hospital, after they were bought out by Community Health. For some stupid reason, the nurses got annoyed at 1199, and the hospital talked them into voting them out!! Valley nurses have stayed with the union.

I would gage my salary around those figures. The nurses in Spokane are very weak and namby pamby, or as we say in NY, they are a bunch of, "martyr marys". If you know what I mean. They wanted union represention, but don't want to be, "too agressive". They get walked all over. What can is say?

Good luck. I don't know why you are moving to Eastern Washington, but from personal experience, it is a bad move. Eastern Washington is NOT nurse friendly- too many school of nursing here, and a poor economy, that has been like that for years. No one wants to rock the boat. The mentality here is that, the earth is still flat. If you know what I mean. It is like traveling back in time, or that time stands still in Spokane.

I would pick the TRicities area of Eastern Washington, over Spokane or Coeur d' Alene. The hospitals pay better and have better benefits than Spokane. PM me if you want.

As always, JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

[Teetah]

My husband and I are both in nursing school in Hawaii right now getting our BSNs. We are also thinking about moving to Idaho after graduation, but we were more so looking at the Pocatello area. I wonder what the outlook for new grads is in that area. In Hawaii, there is a slim chance that you'll be working as an RN after graduation without first working as a CNA or secretary/clerk. It's so nerve-wracking to know that you're capable, but that you may not get the chance without magically finding experience.

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

OMG ... Why on earth would you do that??