Questions about Spokane

lindarn · Oct 16, 2006

i have lived in los angeles since 1975 and am looking to relocate to the pacific northwest. my parents lived in seattle so i have seen that area. i am interested in spokane and have identified three home health agencies that are hiring. just wondering what it is like to live and work there. the scenery looks fantastic and i'm pretty much sold. conservative is ok - so are peace and quiet. what would the salary be for an rn/bsn doing home health? in los angeles we are paid $75 to $100 per open and $50 per visit. i have worked in hospitals for 20 years and am not interested in acute hospitals any longer as i am pretty much maxed out on that. you can also private message me if you like. any feedback will be appreciated. i also noticed that university of washington has a masters program in community health with a school nursing component and a community college there has a legal nurse consultant program. that with the bike path sounds pretty good - although the bike path in marina del rey ca is pretty hard to beat!

don't hold your breath about getting $75-$100 per open in home health, or anyplace in spokane. i turned down a job in out patient dialysis that offered me the princley sum of $23 an hour, and that was with no benefits (i declined benefits, because i am covered with my husbands). unfortunately, that is life in the big city of spokane, washington.

it is a low pay, no benefits, service industry, kind of town. my experience, and i moved here from california, is that the do not like californians, and east coasters. i was subjected to some of the worse kinds of unfair labor violations, you could imagine. the nurses here are very passive, will not buck management, cause a ruckus, and management takes full advantage of it.

wsna is the biggest union here, but seiu 1199just organized deaconess, after years of nurses refusing union organizing. they have worked out better that wsna. they have gotten nothing for the nurses there.

you have to realize that there are three schools of nursing right here in spokane (and one who also has an lpn program), and one right across the border in idaho. there is also bsn programs in southern idaho. in other words, there is no nursing shortage in eastern washington. nurses are treated, and paid as such, if you know what i mean.

now in the tri cities area of washington (south,central washington), it is an up and coming area, have a few large hospitals, and are looking for nurses. just this week in the sunday paper, kadlec is offering great benefits, and what sounds like better pay than what you will get here.

pm me if you want more information.

lindarn, rn, bsn, ccrn

777RNThatsMe · Oct 16, 2006

Spokane is a hick town compared to anywhere in calif. Don't expect a lot of culture. Everybody smokes...almost. Forget the new law that states they can't smoke within 25 feet or 50 feet of a public builidng...it holds no water. They still keep ashtrays outside the doors and people are ALWAYS smoking in front of the public doors which is REALLY annoying all over WA state...I have not yet been west..but am considering going west. No natural foods markets etc. Traffic is getting alot worse, and alot of gang activity/theft just like bigger cities. Within 2 hours you have lovely camping. BE CAREFUL on that bike trail many women get raped (and murdered) every year on "that" known walking/biking trail. No joke. There are lots of hiding places on that trail, do NOT go alone enough said. Also you may be interested in knowing that apparently data shows Spokane WA to have the HIGHEST M.S. rate in the nation and second highest in the WORLD ...go figure. Additionally the Spokane river not only has many dead bodies in it each year ...bodies murdered/found there but also people killed messing around in it...but it's one of the most POLUTED rivers in the nation. Likewise nearby Lake CoeurD'alene Idaho which has a well known lake has very high lead numbers in it. Sooo....make your decisions carefully. Thing are not always as they appear. If I were you I'd research it a bit more.

Wages STINK for nurses even with experience there, and jobs are not easy to find there..unless you want graveyard. I lived there for over 10 years and will not return. But, each to his/her own.

Also re central wa....not as hurting for nurses as before. I can't speak for trie cities but when I graduated in May they had no more new grad jobs. It's my experience in job hunting that the pac nw in GENERAL is NOT hurting for nurses. However, maybe with a ton of experience. I was quite disappointed to find out today that according to some wages on the west side (seattle) are not even any higher than central (which is only somewhat higher than spokane)....and it's alot more expensive to live west. The ONLY benefit you have in living central or eastern WA is that its a bit less expensive to live than west. However - you have tons of cold..9 months of it to be exact..... lots and lots of snow in spokane many years . some snow in central. Mind you central wa is like the desert...a valley plunked into the desert. Not fun. Small town in every way, too..depending on where you refer to in central wa. Another thing you may wish to investigate is the quality of medical care should YOU need help. I will not say more than that!

emrrn915 · Oct 17, 2006

I agree with the last poster make sure you do your research. Personally, I love Spokane and can not imagine living anywhere else. I was born and raised here and I did leave a couple of times for a few years but I have always come back.

I have never had a problem securing employment here and have worked a variety of places. Since becoming an RN 14 years ago my wages have increased yearly. I did home health/ home IV therapy for Option Care about 9 years ago and the pay then was 45.00/ open and 35.00 each visit. More recently a GF of mine worked for VNA and if I remember correctly she was paid closer to what you quoted. Not quite that much, but closer, and you have to take into account that the cost of living is most likely lower here than where you are coming from. In the last 7 years my yearly income has never been lower than 60k and I am happy with that.

I am currently a worker's compensation nurse case manager for a small independent firm and I also do some LNC work on the side. There are opportunities in Spokane, you just have to go out and get them.

IMO, the crime here is not bad at all. I ride the Centenial trail frequently and have lived to tell the tale :-).

tencat · Oct 17, 2006

I grew up there, and though I don't live there now, I really don't think it's a bad place to live, depending on what's important to you. It is small town and conservative. However, people are fairly friendly. There are a couple of people that have posted that sound really unhappy with the life there. It's true that a lot of people in Spokane don't like 'Californians', but I think it's because of the attitude that sometimes comes with the people who relocate from there......

emrrn915 · Oct 17, 2006

I do agree with the above poster. Spokane is a smaller city and it does lean to the conservative side. I really think that is because the majority of the population consists of families and middle class. I have noticed that over the last few years there have been lots of improvements to the downtown area and things are slowly becoming more progressive.

Someone posted that there isn't any culture here. I disagree with that. On any given weekend you can find theater, music and arts. Not on a large scale mind you, but it is there. What I like is the outdoor element. Drive any which way and you can find a lake to boat/ camp on or a Mountain to ski on.

If you are looking for home health postions try: Option care, Gentiva and VNA. I just drove by Option Care yesterday and they have notice on their reader board that they are looking for nurses.

777RNThatsMe · Oct 18, 2006

To the OP...if you have real estate and are cashing out of Calif you can certainly afford to buy all over the US and there are a LOT of places a LOT nicer/more desirable than Spokane. TRUST ME! :)

Boogety · Nov 7, 2006

Inland Northwest is growing rapidly with all the headaches and no culture. Best to do alot of research.

GardenDove · Dec 11, 2006

Spokane is a nice area. The wages are less than Central or Western Washington. It's influenced heavily by Idaho, which is a right to work state and has sucky wages.

ICN2007 · Dec 13, 2006

Wages are a bit on the low side, but so is the cost of living in the Spokane area. It really is a great place to work and live.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Dec 13, 2006

i lived in spokane for five years, and loved it there. it's cold in the winter, but not as cold as wisconsin, where i grew up. and it's hot and dry in the summer -- you can pretty much make plans for any day of the summer and count on not being rained out.

spokane is a conservative place, lots of families and single people aren't real visible. nevertheless, i have two close friends who met and married their husbands there. despite what lindarn says, i've had only positive experiences working in spokane. i worked at deaconess, felt respected by my coworkers, management and the physicians. at the time i lived there, salary was comparable to the seattle area although housing was much less. (when i moved from spokane to seattle, my pay stayed pretty much the same -- i made slightly more in seattle because i worked 100% rather than 90% in spokane.)

i have mostly fond memories of my time in spokane!