RN pay in Huntsville and Birmingham

[wilsod]

Hello everyone! My husband and I are looking to relocate to the Huntsville, AL area in the Summer of 18'. I wanted to inquire about offers for RN's and benefits at the hospitals. I have been a nurse for two years so by time we move it would be three years. I work in L&D so i would like to stay in that area I am open to hearing about other hospitals/pay/benefits/magnet status in the surrounding areas are. Also what is the COL? What are the good and bad areas to live in? I have two children. My son will be starting kindergarten and my daughter preschool when we move. Give me all the details of everything. I am also looking for hospitals that treat their nurses well. Thanks for all your help!!!

[NurseYoshi]

Hey there!

I may not be the best person to ask, but I do know some of the numbers that Huntsville Hospital pays employees. So a new grad RN starts at $18 (but I heard last night that they recently changed it to $20 from a nurse where I'm precepting). Night shift diff is $4 and weekend diff is $7.50. Madison Hospital is a separate standing hospital from Huntsville Hospital but they are a part of Huntsville Hospital just located in Madison, AL. Those employees do the new employee orientation at Huntsville Hospital and I believe they get the same pay and benefits. I'm not 100% sure about the benefits, but I do know they recently changed us to BCBS for full time employees and they have retirement plans and all that jazz. You can call HR during the week to ask more, but try to call either early-ish or after lunch-ish. They tend to post new job listings around noon and don't seem to happy if you call around then. Both Huntsville and Madison Hospital have L&D and Mother Baby. I think Madison Hospital crosstrains nurses. I do work at Huntsville Hospital as a tech prn which is why I know pay and don't know much about benefits (I just hear what people say about it when something happens).

As far as good areas to live, most of Madison is really good! Huntsville Hospital is fairly easy to get to from almost anywhere in North Alabama since it's right near I-565 and Memorial Parkway (two large highways in Huntsville). Some areas near Redstone orificenal are also pretty good, but you have to use your own sense for that. Most areas to the west/northwest of Redstone orificenal are nice. I don't tend to go into South Huntsville, but I've heard there are some nicer neighborhoods over there.

Crestwood is another somewhat large hospital here in Huntsville, but I don't know too much about them. I know they do have a L&D/Mother Baby unit. They send all NICU babies to Huntsville and if you'd be interested in that, there's that.

Good luck with your job search and hopefully welcome to Huntsville in the next year! If you've got any questions, just ask and I'll try to answer them to the best of my abilities. If I can't, someone else may notice and answer.