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Anyway, I've made some progress in my own attempt to get up to Alaska.
I've been offered a job at Providence Anchorage (I currently work for Providence Medford in Oregon, so I will be staying with the same organization, which is handy for me). I've also applied for a job at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, but they don't have a cancer ward and cancer is my specialty so I may take the job in Anchorage. If I do, I'll be moving up there over the next few months. I will be working 3 twelve hour night shifts a week, and I figured every other week I could trek up to Deadman Lake to work on building a cabin.
So, Mitgreb, you may see me up there this Winter roaming around and looking lost!
It would be better to locate in Fairbanks if you want to use your 4 days off to build a cabin. Anchorage is a $168 one way air flight from Fairbanks, then you either have to fly out to Manly, or it is several more hours drive out. You might just be able to get there and back in your four days off, but certainly not do any work. Then there is the housing need where you are working.
I wonder if you worked through the hospital, if there would be home patients in Fairbanks you could work with. Cancer is not limited to Anchorage!
I hear the concerns about fly-by-nighters who are ill-prepared buying up local property.
I've lived in rural Maine before. I realize it's not comparable in winter coldness, but it prepares you a little for being self sufficient, ready for transportation problems like your car breaking down 50 miles from anywhere in a blizzard and a rabid moose out to trample you.
But... the State of Alaska Dept of Land seem to be selling off quite a few remote parcels of land, I can only guess that they want to encourage people to move in from out of state. You're bound to get some fly-by-nighters among the land buyers, but you'll also get a healthy mix of people who end up staying and hopefully contribute something valuable to the community.
The fly-by-nighters will hopefully just move on after they realize their error.
Anyway, I've made some progress in my own attempt to get up to Alaska.
I've been offered a job at Providence Anchorage (I currently work for Providence Medford in Oregon, so I will be staying with the same organization, which is handy for me). I've also applied for a job at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, but they don't have a cancer ward and cancer is my specialty so I may take the job in Anchorage. If I do, I'll be moving up there over the next few months. I will be working 3 twelve hour night shifts a week, and I figured every other week I could trek up to Deadman Lake to work on building a cabin.
So, Mitgreb, you may see me up there this Winter roaming around and looking lost!
Well good luck! I'd definately try for the area of Fairbanks if that's your plan. Keep in mind transportation if you go out frequently will get to be very expensive, so budget carefully. Being in Achorage will just make it that much more expensive (in addition to the very expensive rents and such in Anchorage).
Your son is beautiful. Please keep in mind how hard it can be to get medical attention when you're in a remote area. I know from experience: my son is a type 1 Diabetic...severe. He has developed a resistance to many insulins over the years. We have been jetted out of state and to Anchorage in emergency situations more times than I wish to remember. In Seattle there are always scores of Alaska families hanging around at the children's hospital. We tend to hover together.
I cannot adequately relay, I'm afraid, what it is like to start off a day normally, have an emergency, and then eight hours later (if you're lucky) you're in a big city, dealing with all that entails. It's scary.
Perhaps you have a better handle on the situation? I know the area you're moving to, have been out that way several times, and the roads can get bad, even in good weather it's not a short drive, and flying conditions can turn impossible quickly.
Eight hours, often more, is a LONG time for a severely ill child. I won't even begin here to go into the problems with $200 routine office visits, traveling doctors, etc., the expense of traveling back home (insurance doesn't cover that) But I will say this: it can be very hard.
You're a nurse--that's wonderful for him--so I hope that I'm not speaking out of turn.
Just please consider all routes to emergency medical care, and all that this entails.
I wish you the best...
I hear the concerns about fly-by-nighters who are ill-prepared buying up local property.
I've lived in rural Maine before. I realize it's not comparable in winter coldness, but it prepares you a little for being self sufficient, ready for transportation problems like your car breaking down 50 miles from anywhere in a blizzard and a rabid moose out to trample you.
But... the State of Alaska Dept of Land seem to be selling off quite a few remote parcels of land, I can only guess that they want to encourage people to move in from out of state. You're bound to get some fly-by-nighters among the land buyers, but you'll also get a healthy mix of people who end up staying and hopefully contribute something valuable to the community.
The fly-by-nighters will hopefully just move on after they realize their error.
Anyway, I've made some progress in my own attempt to get up to Alaska.
I've been offered a job at Providence Anchorage (I currently work for Providence Medford in Oregon, so I will be staying with the same organization, which is handy for me). I've also applied for a job at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, but they don't have a cancer ward and cancer is my specialty so I may take the job in Anchorage. If I do, I'll be moving up there over the next few months. I will be working 3 twelve hour night shifts a week, and I figured every other week I could trek up to Deadman Lake to work on building a cabin.
So, Mitgreb, you may see me up there this Winter roaming around and looking lost!
Ok I will be looking for you. You can see what I'm flying. I will not be taking the floats off this year. If I go out this winter, I will just snowmachine. It will be tough to do it out of Anchorage. There is one lake dweller out there that lives in Anchorage he is out at the lake now keeps his plane here and drives up. He is about to retire and spend more time out there. It ain't going to be easy to do with out a plane.
Location: Wherever they send me... (Family are based in Oregon)
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I hear the concerns about Anchorage versus Fairbanks. It's a really difficult decision. Right now, I live in a town that has a population of just over 30,000 (Grants Pass, Oregon). It's a big town but retains a small town feel. The irony of moving to Anchorage would be that I am moving from rural Oregon to Urban Alaska so I can ultimately live in rural Alaska. Kind of bass ackwards I admit...
The reason I've been kind of fixed on Anchorage is that I can stay with the same employer I'm with now. I currently work for Providence (Oregon), and I've been offered a job at Providence (Anchorage) - exactly the same job as I do now in fact, working nights on a cancer ward, three 12 hour shifts a week. I could keep my Health Insurance plan (which is a good one) and not have to worry about all the paperwork of changing employers.
I have to admit, I prefer Fairbanks over Anchorage for both practical and personal reasons. It's a small town (compared to Anchorage) and it's closer to the land. Plus housing seems to be much more affordable up there. Dry cabins rent at between $450 - $600 a month on craigslist, whereas down in Anchorage it looks like there are very few cabins, just apartments.
Fairbanks doesn't have an oncology department. They have a clinic (9-5) and they have Home Health and they have the Denali Center for long term care. The closest I have found for a 'fit' for me in Fairbanks is a position on the Med Surg floor, 12 hour shifts. Banner Health (who run FMH) have been a lot slower responding and a little less pro-active in their recruitment process than Providence Alaska have been.
There seem to be some nice areas outside of Anchorage - Girdwood, Eagle River, or even Palmer and Wasilla.
As for the 4 days off a week, I see I wouldn't have much time other than to get there and then turn around if I was coming from Anchorage, although I do get about 4 weeks paid leave a year which I could spread out to make those 4 days into 7 or 8 days if you see what I mean?
But there is no getting around it - Anchorage is a lot further away than Fairbanks to where I ultimately want to be, plus I don't relish the thought of living in a city with a population of over quarter a million people, it kind of defeats the purpose.
Hm, I'll have to hassle the recruiters at Banner Health in Fairbanks a little more and see what they say. May be it's easier to switch Health Plans than I am anticipating.
Thanks for your input everyone!
Location: Wherever they send me... (Family are based in Oregon)
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It pretty much boils down to Health Benefits plans dictating where I will go (which sucks!)...
Here's the deal: If I stick with Providence, they pay for everything with a maximum out of pocket annual expense for my entire family of $3000.
This year, my son's medical bills cost about $150,000. If I stay with Providence ($50 every two weeks is what I pay for my current plan), then I'll never have to pay more than $3000 a year for the entire families benefits (I have two kids, a crazy wife and another baby on the way). Also, Providence offers a great deal on pregnancy - you pay no more than $100 for the whole pregnancy as long as the baby is born at a Providence facility.
Seriously, they're a great employer to work for. The benefits are amazing and I also like the fact that they are run by the Catholic church, so they take an ethical stance on abortion (which I think is a good thing, but lets not get in to that here.... ).
If I worked for Banner, they pay for 90% of all hospitalizations, which is still good, but... take this past year, I would have had to pay for 10% of my sons medical expenses, that would have been about $15,000. Plus, if you get sick in a state where Banner has no Participating Providers, like Oregon, then you end up paying a lot more.
It's pretty complicated. Coming from England I've never had to worry about Health Insurance. We have socialized medicine, like Canada, it's basically free. Everyone pays 'National Insurance' which is a tiny percentage of whatever you earn. This goes to the Government who in turn run the National Health Service (NHS). If you don't work, if you're old or unemployed, you get free Healthcare regardless of if you've paid any National Insurance or not, just because you're a British citizen. In England, you can have a baby and it won't cost you a cent (or a penny...) in medical fees. Whereas here in America it costs a pretty fortune.
I'm not saying the English system is better. The NHS is bursting at the seams because we have so many people coming in from outside Britain (like India, Africa and Eastern Europe) who abuse the system. Our Emergency Departments have a policy not to turn anyone away. So even if you're not a British citizen you can get free treatment, and that's where the whole system gets over-used / abused.
I've spoken to various social workers here in America and the consensus of opinion is that America will also eventually go to socialized medicine. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
If it was just my own health I had to worry about I wouldn't care so much, but my wife and kids seem to like being in hospital....
So, although Anchorage is a lot further away than I want to be from Deadman Lake, and it's a big city, it still is the best option for me. Even if it does take me 4 days travelling to get to and from the lake from Anchorage, like I said, I can use my Paid Leave and go 4 or 5 times a year for a week at a time.
I have a cunning plan you see. I need to get to Alaska first. That's half the battle. Once I'm there other options will open up to me. I might even take my Private Pilots license, who knows... I just know from experience that getting to the rough proximity will help.
It's a headache though, that's for sure. When you've got family everything hinges on health plans.
I'll figure it out. Somehow.
So, does anyone know any nice rural places to live within a commuting distance to Anchorage?
Last edited by English_Nurse; 06-22-2008 at 11:56 PM..
Reason: spelling
Location: Wherever they send me... (Family are based in Oregon)
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It's one of the real cultural distinctions between England and America - Health Care. Both are good quality, but the difference is England (like Canada) has socialized medicine - I've never had to factor in Health coverage when I switched jobs in England. Coverage is always the same - it's free. You can have as many kids as you want and not pay for any of the medical costs. But unfortunately my relocation to Alaska is completely limited to employers that offer good Health Plans.
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital is run by Banner Health. They offer a plan which covers 90% of your medical costs. But this year alone my son's medical fees were $150,000! That means I would have been served a bill for $15,000 if I were working for Banner. But I work for Providence and they cover almost 100% of medical costs after you've paid a maximum out of pocket of $3000 for your entire family. That's pretty good from what I've seen here in America. This year, my wife is having another baby (a boy!) and my son is having ongoing tests and treatments. But the maximum I will have to pay is $3000. Fortunately I can move from Oregon to Anchorage and keep the same benefits by staying with the same employer.
True, it will be much more expensive for me to get from Anchorage to Deadman Lake, and more time consuming, but weighing that up against medical bills it's a much safer bet.
Now, you're all thinking: Why didn't he buy land nearer Anchorage...?
Okay, you got me on that one... But I've spent so little on the land ($3,500 for 5 acres) that really I can't lose out. Buying the land was a commitment I needed to make to ensure I got to Alaska.
I will be getting a $10,000 sign on bonus to move to Alaska. I am seriously considering using that to get my Private Pilots License. I believe their is a flight school in Anchorage that offers the whole package for $8,000. After that, I can nickel and dime it until I can save enough to buy a 4 seater Cessna or something similar. That way, getting around in Alaska won't be such an issue.
It seems to be the way to go. It's going to be a long hard trek. But I am on the path. I am due to arrive in Anchorage at the beginning of August.
I'm looking to rent a place in Girdwood or somewhere rural outside of Anchorage. There's a lot of ugly looking houses with baseboard heaters advertised on craigslist, but there's one or two log cabin / swiss chalet style buildings nestled into the woods that I like the look of.
If being on time and not missing a shift are essentials, you might want to re-think Girdwood. It's not unknown for avalanches to close the road, and they don't necessarily get cleared at a rate that's convenient for you. Some years back I had some friends living in Hope, and while it was a relatively easy commute in the summer, during the winter they ended up staying with friends in Anchorage for the work week and spending the weekends at home. One of them did get caught by the edge of an avalanche. She'd just gotten a new 4x4, and she said she had no idea it would do 70 mph in reverse until she looked up at the side of the mountain falling at her and basically pushed the pedal through the floor. A couple of cars did get covered by snow, but they managed to dig everyone out that time.
Location: Wherever they send me... (Family are based in Oregon)
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Avalanches? Bring it on.
The job I applied for in Anchorage when to an internal candidate, so I'm back to square one again.
Probably going to wait until after our second son is born in October and go from there.
Fairbanks remains my first choice because it's so near where I bought the land.
But I'm also thinking, why limit myself? If this is going to work longterm I can't rush things. I'd love to try for my private pilots license which would free me up to relocate further afield.
Soldotna, Homer, Petersburg, Wrangell. These all look like nice places to move to. I like the idea small coastal towns.
Anyone know of any other small coastal towns in Alaska with hospitals?
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