ST. Thomas USVI Travel????

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Has anyone completed a travel assignment to St. Thomas, USVI? I have been submitted by Professional Nurse Travel Agency to the Roy Schneider Hospital in ST. Thomas, but I have read some negative feedback on the hospital/staff/people. These posts were dated back in 04-09, so not sure if the feedback is reliable. People say you must be open minded and flexible, which I am...but I don't want to be placed in a horrible hospital situation for 3 months! They have also said there were no supplies, and that management are uneducated and its a hostile environment. Then I would read posts that said it was great! I'm confused! I will be working in PACU if I do the assignment. Any feedback Please!?!

Specializes in medical surgical/ICU.

hello guys, hows working in st.thomas??? ill be working in Schneider hosp early next year. just wanna get some feedback and advice guys..tnxs in advance

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Specializes in medical surgical/ICU.

hello guys, hows working in st.thomas??? ill be working in Schneider hosp early next year. just wanna get some feedback and advice guys..tnxs in advance

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Advice? Don't post 6 identical posts in 5 threads. It is annoying and doesn't get you one single additional response. You have read all these threads presumably. Do you have a specific question related to what you have read? Your query is impossibly open ended.

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Hi there folks! Haven't travelled in 10 years. Landed at home, got married and had some babies! Getting ready to hit the road once again, or rather the air! Have some questions as things may have changed in the decade that I've been away.

A.) Can Nurses still bring children along if we get a 2 bedroom apartment?

B.) When I did this the company I worked for always paid my housing. It looks like from a lot of these posts, that your paying housing? What changed?

C.) If your willing to forgo health insurance and benefits is your hourly pay higher or your housing allowance increased?

D.) Do any of the agencies give you public transportation voucher to get to the Island Hospital? Everyone has said that renting is to expensive, so do we walk to work?

E.) What about a pharmacy? If we have a mainland Dr willing to mail us rx's can we get them filled, or do we need an Island Dr?

hmmmmmm there is probably more, but I can't think of them this moment:) Can you tell I've done this before.

F.) Oh yes, have any of you had family back home mail in essentials that seem to be so very expensive on the Island? I'm assuming that Amazon.com doesn't mail to the Island?

I would so greatly appreciate anyone's recent feedback! Companies worked for etc.

Please feel free to email me at [email protected] (it will go to SPAM so PLEASE put St Thomas in the subject line!!) or call or text me at 616 299 3789

Anxiously awaiting any and all replies!!

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A.) Sure. Even one bedroom. Unless you need sleep that is.

B.) Your option. But you'd be best off letting the agency supply housing in USVI as it can be difficult to find. Especially in the winter.

C.) It is usually not much, and you would have to prove you already have insurance. Better to ask the agency to pay for your insurance before taxes. Some will do that but of course it may reduce your pay.

D.) If you are going to St Thomas, no housing you would want within walking distance. Not sure about St Croix. Renting a car is not that expensive and your agency will help, or depending on where you are housed, the island bus is cheap.

E.) This is still the US. Pharmacies work the same way.

F.) This is still the US. Post office and home delivery. Amazon.

You didn't ask, but Verizon is roaming only there at something like 65 cents a minute. If that is what you have, you can put it on hold for three months and get Sprint or AT&T. Buy a cheap phone off of eBay and get a regular plan - Sprint will give the same contract rate for $10 more a month by the month (they don't advertise this). Probably AT&T will too. Prepaid plans may work too.

There is one reasonably priced grocery store on St Thomas, but generally expect higher food costs. Think break even at best to work there. It is likely that you will not get reimbursed for the entire airfare, especially with kids. When you shop for airfare, look at flights out of Miami and Ft Lauderdale on separate tickets - it often works out less expensive than routing the entire way.

Are you bringing help with the kids?

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Ned, do the islands have a separate licensing process? You know about how long it takes?

I have tried to access their BON online for several days with no luck!

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Yup, their website is the most minimal site I've ever seen. Not just nursing boards, but anywhere! You have to call them to get you to mail an application. Not sure how long it takes these days, but you can pick up the license on island. It used to be semi-walkthrough. Computer illiterate! When I was there, I had to help them with logging into Nursys on an unbelievably slow computer to verify my licenses.

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NED, Oh my WORD!! Thank you so much for taking the time to so graciously answer each and every question!!! I do have AT&T, I guess I figured that since my sons phone worked in Puerto Rico it would work there as well! Thanks for thinking of that.... Its difficult to ascertain truth from disgruntled travelers when it comes to finding out facts online. I've traveled before, worked strikes and have also worked in the float pool, so I'm quite adaptable. However, I have sites and blogs telling me rental cars are unaffordable and milk is $9.99 a gallon at times. We don't need to eat like kings and queens, but I'm not big on boxed and canned meals:) Is there an agency that seems to be more helpful or reliable than others right now? BTW Yes, have a helper for the kids and we homeschool currently. Was looking at schooling options on the Island. Most intel says that public schools are very poor and private schools are outrageously over priced. As in $1,000.00 a month tuition. I haven't been able to figure out if this is simply the same complaints as on the mainland. Most everyone says public school stinks. Are you working there now, or have done so recently? I'd say 70-80% of the input on this thread is quite negative, I'd be interested to know the ages of the nurses that traveled and how many other places they had been? I'm not discouraged! Is the nurse pt ratio still 6-9 patients as many spoke of much earlier in the thread? Again, thank you SO much for your help and input! Dusty

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I am operating room so I won't be able to comment too much about floors, and it was a few years ago that I was there. I will say that when I visited the floors, I didn't perceive that there was much in the way of stress - island time girl! I believe that over half the nurses on St Thomas are travelers and those are usually fun work environments. Most of the travelers I met were younger and party types. Big bar scene there.

Your agency should be able to suggest rental car companies that they have a relationship with. If not, you will meet a gazillion travelers who will tell you about the deal they got. Bizarrely, they drive on the left, but with American style cars with left hand drive. My housing was a bit of a disaster arriving around Xmas, but I ended up in a good place and rented the owner's car for a reasonable price - she was state side.

I don't buy milk, but I discovered that frozen chicken breasts were very reasonable so I used that as a staple. Home schooling is probably a good idea but if your kids are primary school aged, I'd be tempted to try it out. You may need uniforms.

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NED Oh my WORD!! Thank you so much for taking the time to so graciously answer each and every question!!! I do have AT&T, I guess I figured that since my sons phone worked in Puerto Rico it would work there as well! Thanks for thinking of that.... Its difficult to ascertain truth from disgruntled travelers when it comes to finding out facts online. I've traveled before, worked strikes and have also worked in the float pool, so I'm quite adaptable. However, I have sites and blogs telling me rental cars are unaffordable and milk is $9.99 a gallon at times. We don't need to eat like kings and queens, but I'm not big on boxed and canned meals:) Is there an agency that seems to be more helpful or reliable than others right now? BTW Yes, have a helper for the kids and we homeschool currently. Was looking at schooling options on the Island. Most intel says that public schools are very poor and private schools are outrageously over priced. As in $1,000.00 a month tuition. I haven't been able to figure out if this is simply the same complaints as on the mainland. Most everyone says public school stinks. Are you working there now, or have done so recently? I'd say 70-80% of the input on this thread is quite negative, I'd be interested to know the ages of the nurses that traveled and how many other places they had been? I'm not discouraged! Is the nurse pt ratio still 6-9 patients as many spoke of much earlier in the thread? Again, thank you SO much for your help and input! Dusty[/quote']

I think 1,000 monthly for private school is pretty cheap

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You can browse some prices in the Cost U Less grocery online:

Main Page

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I think 1,000 monthly for private school is pretty cheap

Multiplied by two or three kids and it is not possible to pay for it on travel nurse pay in the USVI. Probably not a realistic option.

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