pre-school/nursing jobs

Which island are you thinking of relocating to?
Nurses are in great demand here, so hubby will easily find a position. Before you take the plunge, I would highly recommend a pre-move visit. One that is NOT a vacation. An honest look at the place that you may call home. Go to grocery stores, banks, WAPA, and such. Search for housing and look at cars. That kind of stuff. A very large percentage of people that move here from the States end up moving back within a year. Paradise it is, but you still have to live your life, and it really isn't like the States here. There is a special vibe to the island and getting used to it, for some, is next to impossible.
Then again, there are others who transplant very well and never want to leave. An extended PMV is a really good idea.

~Marty

Hi,
I dont know where people get the idea that nurses are in great demand in the VI. I worked there as a nurse and they are not too excited to hire
"outsiders". They use travelers at the hospital and are perfectly happy with that arrangement. They dont offer relocation help and pay horribly low. Calls to their nurse recruiter go unanswered and lettters ignored.
good luck and feel free to privately email me if you like.
sidnie

Sidnie,

My wife is a nurse and we have considered moving to the Virgin Islands. Do you mean they usually hire travel nurses, rather than permanently hire? If you don't mind me asking, what is the starting pay range.

Thanks in advance,
Erik

erik
good morning.
no our hospital would rather hire local nurses. the need for travel nurses has been
necessary due to the shortage of local on island professionals. currently the university of the virgin island has a nursing program and has graduated at least one class with another currently enrolled. this past december, the roy lester schneider hospital passed their first jacho inspection. i have worked at rls for over a year now, in the laboratory. and i am very proud of the commitment this facility has for up to date modern healthcare. check us out on the web, do a search for roy lester schneider hospital. i haven't any info on salaries etc for nursing. the web site will provide the needed info for contacting the facility. good luck.ciao,kathy

Hi - I believe Kathy is right. I am a nurse practitioner and will be relocating to STT with family as permanent RLS staff. They have been very wonderful to work with and the pay and benefits are comparable to states. Marsulite Cohen (nurse recruiter) is who I have been working with at the hospital. Hope this helps. 340-775-8311 x 5068 I think this is the proper number. Where are you guys moving from?

I agree with Kathy. Check out the websight at www.rlshospital.org. I also agree with Sidnie that they don't pay relocation. On the other hand, the union got a good raise, I believe it was last year. They will let you do a travel contract for up to (I think) 6 months, but then you must fish or cut bait- no more endless travel positions. If I had to guess, I'd say Sidnie worked as a traveller. There is some animosity between the NOPAed nurses (government position) and the travelers. If you take a NOPAed job, that goes away, as you are one of the crowd. Welcome Lis!!!

If I may jump in here where I don't belong...

My wife's a nurse at a hospital located in Roswell, NM (home of the little green aliens). I'm coming to STT in February to check out jobs for me, her, and a doctor (radiologist) who is fed up with the hospital and wants to sail his boat to warmer waters. How, you may ask would he be able to achieve such a feat when surrounded by sand and tumbleweeds? Tune in next weed(k).

Anyway, my wife, the nurse, tells me there are lots of nurses from the VI working here because of, shall we say, less than stellar compensation where they're from. I'm sure it also has something to do with the traveling pay, and the fact they are just dying to be abducted and beamed away to some exotic planet. So if anyone has any comforting information about nursing/radiology and associated payscales, I'm all eyes. Would also like to visit face to face when I get there (2/13/05 - 2/17/05). I promise I'll leave the bad aliens at home.
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Okay, guys you're making me out to be a mean hateful person. When I responded to the quesitons about the hospital I was trying to be open and honest. I think that is what i would want if I was contemplating a move somewhere. I did indeed work there as an apparently evil traveler. The docs , staff and I got along fabulously and i left with an awsome reference letter. When I inquired about a permanent position I was quoted $10 an hour less than what i currently make at home and without any relocation assistance. That is pretty standard anywhere else you might go so I'm not being unrealistic. I dont hate RLS at all, I think they do a great job considering the handicaps they face with a small insitution, no cardiology, the whole island thing, etc. I certainly didn't mean to give off an awful opinion of the hospital. I was only telling the truth from someone who had experienced it. Guess I"ll keep my opinions to myself.
sorry, sidnie

Sidnie: You are *not* being bashed. The travelers are not evil. But you do have to agree that the experience is different than the staff nurse experience. I do not understand why personnel doesn't explain up front how the pay will differ if you sign on after your contract, but I have seen nurses and other health care professionals run into the same road block you discovered. Yes, you should give your opinion. What I was trying to say was your opinion was influenced by being a traveler.

You did say a couple of things, though. For example, relocation assistance is pretty standard elsewhere. I bet the response of the hospital was probably, "Well, you aren't elsewhere." Am I right? They do not do things here the way they do them in the States- it is a trite saying, but I think it is pretty much true. Also, we do now have a cardiologist. But the hospital here is not like other hospitals, I totally agree.

I promise, I wasn't bashing. Really!

My wife is a L&D nurse and has been a nurse for over twenty years. We may be going to our first Travel Nurse job in St Thomas in May. We would appreciate any info you may have to share about your experience there.

My email is "jonny282@msn.com"

This is an excerpt from the March 17th Daily News it speaks to whay the local nurses resent the travelers:
"The territory's nurses also are facing difficulties, including landing jobs with the V.I. government, Charlene Jones, chief negotiator for the V.I. State Nurses Association, said Wednesday.

Jones said 61 nurses have been working on a day-to-day contract with the hospitals since October 2003. Since they are not being hired by the V.I. government, she said, they cannot receive Government Employees Retirement System benefits.

The V.I. government continues to eliminate nursing positions as they are vacated, and local hospitals are forced to contract medical staff to meet the community's needs, she said.

"Nurses are threatening to leave because of a lack of job security and lack of benefits," she said. "Just because the position is eliminated does not mean the need is no longer there."