CentralCAGrrrl

Check with your discharge planner/social service director to see which agencies are the strongest and best respected in your area. You don't have to say why you're wondering... you might be asking because your family or friend needs an agency, you're looking to moonlight somewhere, etc - no need for anyone to know that you wanna jump ship. As a DC planner I get asked that all the time and rarely give it a second thought.

Clovis Community is a nice smaller hospital for more manageable cases. Fresno Community downtown is another thing... the only level I trauma center in the area, it's staffed with UCSF residents (along with faculty and employees of course) and has a well-earned reputation as one of the finer er/trauma/intensive care programs around. As far as the neighborhood, not much of a worry, the hospital has gobbled up most of the land in that area and it's mostly campus now. Commute is fine, the nicer areas to live start at 10-15 minutes away. And yes, the heart hospital is very nice too... good staff, gorgeous facility. Other options are Kaiser and St Agnes... stick with the Community system (I'm biased, but honestly do think you'd be best going with them). Cost of living here is low enough to make up for any wages. Only thing to be aware of is if you have bad allergies, you may want to keep looking elsewhere - the air can be really bad sometimes. Hope that helps a little.

I can't answer all your questions, but can give you a start of an idea. The hospital has a very good community reputation. It's a real rallying cause in the community. The campus is very new, built within the last 10 years, and it's easily accessible from the freeway (coming from fresno). Cost of living is great. Currently new homes in nice areas are starting below $200,000. There are alot of good areas to live. Madera Ranchos is up closer to the hospital. Fresno has a number of good areas (Fig Garden, or mostly anywhere north of Shaw Ave). Pretty much most places in Clovis. A couple things to keep in mind... if you have allergies, the air here will aggravate them, and it can get really hot in the summer (100+ days) but the heat is dry so it's not so bad. I know that doesn't answer everything but I hope it helps.

This gal desperately needs a psych eval - from a good psychologist, not a psychiatrist. Most psychiatrists will toss meds at a 'problem', but a good psychologist will be able to sit down and figure out what is going on (and can recommend if meds are needed), along with giving some good care plan and intervention guidelines.... of course she also needs caring and understanding just like everyone else, but she needs that psych eval as soon as possible.