Relocating to Canandaigua/Rochester area

opal6779, BSN · Jun 27, 2007

No one live in the Rochester area? I've been looking at Strong Memorial Hospital.....any experiences there?

Sorry to bug ya'll again.

Jennifer

HospicePalliativeRN, RN · Jun 29, 2007

Hi Jennifer. Sorry - I didn't see your initial post. I've been in Rochester for the past 6 years. Strong and Rochester General are the two Magnet hospitals in the area. Highland Hospital is a smaller community hospital that is owned by Strong Health System. Park Ridge (Unity) hospital is a smaller hospital located in the northwest part of Rochester. In Canandaigua, F.F. Thompson hospital is a nice small Magnet hospital.

I don't think that any of these hospitals require one year of M-S experience for OB positions. Of the four hospitals in Rochester, I've heard the best things about OB coming from Highland and Park Ridge. I've heard mixed reviews about the larger hospitals (RGH, SMH). I cannot speak for Thompson, but I would imagine the OB unit there is relatively small.

Having said that, I would guess that hourly pay rates for these hospitals would fall between $20-22/hr for your amount of experience in nursing. As far as benefits of the hospitals (that I know of):

RGH: $6000/year tuition reimbursement for nursing-related curriculum (they paid $12000 of my RN-BSN degree) with a one-year commitment afterward. They pay close attention to national/regional salaries - when I was there from 2003-2006, we had several 50 cent pay raises to keep up with these rates. Six-tier clinical ladder with 5% pay increase for each step (this was alot of work, but the pay increases were nice). They also pay an additional 50 cent/hr for being certified (and actively working) in your specialty area. I'm not sure if they still do this, but they paid my certification exam fee (after I passed the test) - this was nice, as it was over $300 to take.

SMH: After working there for one year (full-time), you can take up to two classes per semester at the U of R for free. I don't know the time commitment you would need to stay after completing a course. They also have a clinical ladder, but I don't know much about it. I don't know if they will pay for certification tests or if they give an hourly stipend for being certified.

Highland: I'm not sure, but I thought that this hospital was given the same educational benefits of SMH last year. You would have to call them to verify. Not sure about a clinical ladder or certification perks there.

Park Ridge: The last I heard, they paid $3000/yr for tuition reimbursement with a two year commitment afterward. Not sure about clinical ladder, certification perks.

F.F. Thompson: Don't know - give them a call...

I guess alot of this depends on where you will be living - commuting from Canandaigua to Rochester every day would get old after a while (and visa versa). However, you could live somewhere between the two (i.e. east side of Rochester) and work at any of the places with maybe a 30 minute commute.

Hope this information helps - Good luck!

Mark

opal6779, BSN · Jun 29, 2007

Thanks for the reply!

Do you know roughly the commute time from Canandaigua to Rochester?

Maybe I will contact Thompson and see what they have to say. Alot of the jobs posted say they want you to have a years experience and I haven't got that yet.......even if I have to take med-surg again, although my heart isn't in it, I can move to OB later??

I am really interested in Strong, but worried I will get sick of the commute as we need to live somewhere between Rochester and Penn Yann.

Thank you again for taking the time to reply!!

Jennifer

teenynurse · Jun 30, 2007

if you are moving to Rochester strong is your best bet, then if you want to continue your education they pay for full at University At ROchester, then 50% of your kids education,that is your best hopsital in Rochester

teenynurse · Jun 30, 2007

canandaigua is about 35 min from rochester

HospicePalliativeRN, RN · Jul 3, 2007

Do you know roughly the commute time from Canandaigua to Rochester?
Alot of the jobs posted say they want you to have a years experience and I haven't got that yet.......even if I have to take med-surg again, although my heart isn't in it, I can move to OB later??
I am really interested in Strong, but worried I will get sick of the commute as we need to live somewhere between Rochester and Penn Yann.

I would say the commute time from downtown Canandaigua to SMH is about 40 minutes. Regarding the "1 year of experience required" written in job postings, I think it is still worth taking the time to call HR and explain your situation. From my experience (and listening to others), this "requirement" is rarely a hard-fast rule that is set in stone.

As for the commute, I drove from Greece to F.F. Thompson one evening a week for 18 months while working on my RN-BSN through Keuka College. I didn't necessarily think the commute was too bad, but that was only one night a week. I'm not sure I would want to do that 5 days a week, but three 12-hour shifts wouldn't be too bad - just have to be very careful driving when you're tired...

BTW, did you look into any of the other hospitals in the Finger Lakes area (i.e. Soldiers & Sailors, Geneva General, Clifton Springs)? I've heard alot of good things about Clifton Springs hospital. May be worth checking out.

Mark

opal6779, BSN · Jul 3, 2007

Just wanted to thank everyone again. I am going to start making some calls and get my resume out there. I will look into the smaller local hospitals too, but I am used to a 40 minute commute as I did this to go to school 4 days a week, not ideal, but do-able. I just hope I can get a job somewhere without too much difficultly!!!

Thank you!

teenynurse · Jul 3, 2007

GOOD LUCK! if you have any more questions let me know

HospicePalliativeRN, RN · Jul 4, 2007

Just wanted to thank everyone again. I am going to start making some calls and get my resume out there. I will look into the smaller local hospitals too, but I am used to a 40 minute commute as I did this to go to school 4 days a week, not ideal, but do-able. I just hope I can get a job somewhere without too much difficultly!!!
Thank you!

Good luck to you!!!

opal6779, BSN · Jul 18, 2007

Hi,

I have another question.....the hospitals in Rochester, do they normally do D/E/N rotating shifts? So everyone rotates through all of those shifts? That's what I have heard. If so how does that work?

Thanks, Jennifer

HospicePalliativeRN, RN · Jul 19, 2007

Hi,
I have another question.....the hospitals in Rochester, do they normally do D/E/N rotating shifts? So everyone rotates through all of those shifts? That's what I have heard. If so how does that work?

From my awareness, shift requirements vary from unit to unit. It is possible that OB would require N/D/E rotations if they are 8 hr shifts, but you may be able to find straight shift work on a unit. Some of the OB wards may only do 12-hr shifts, but those may have to rotate too. When I worked at Rochester General Hosp., I was hired under a D/E/N position, and there were times that I worked all three shifts within the same week. I thought that sucked, but I knew that it could happen before taking the position. Fortunately, my unit had a few die-hard night shift staff who did fill most of the night spots, so I didn't work as many nights as some other folks do. But also beware, new nurses on the unit may be the first ones put in the schedule to fill the night shift holes...

I guess the bottom line is that you would need to find out about the shift requirements for each place you are interested in working. Sorry this feedback isn't really helpful in answering your questions, but it probably is the reality of the situation.

Mark