Hospital Information (Portland, Hillsboro, Forest Grove: housing, rent, work)

[superstace]

Any nurses or medical professionals out there who have information about Portland hospitals?? I am a labor and delivery nurse looking to relocate to Portland in the next year or so. OHSU looks nice on the webpage. I am interested in caring for a diverse patient population, in a teaching hospital if possible. I love working with Spanish speaking patients in particular.
Has anyone had a baby at OHSU? If so, how would you rate the services there? What about other hospitals in the area? Which ones have the best reputations? Where do the Latinas go to have their babies?
Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Stacy

[diggitydot]

Originally Posted by superstace

Any nurses or medical professionals out there who have information about Portland hospitals?? I am a labor and delivery nurse looking to relocate to Portland in the next year or so. OHSU looks nice on the webpage. I am interested in caring for a diverse patient population, in a teaching hospital if possible. I love working with Spanish speaking patients in particular.
Has anyone had a baby at OHSU? If so, how would you rate the services there? What about other hospitals in the area? Which ones have the best reputations? Where do the Latinas go to have their babies?
Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Stacy

Which types of students do you enjoy working with? You might contact a few of the local nursing schools and find out which hospitals they prefer sending their students to for internships and rotations. (Do they even do rotations in nursing school?)

OHSU is a great hospital and is also affiliated with the Doernbecher Children's Hospital. There are ample opportunities to work with various students, interns, and residents @ OHSU. Another hospital with a great reputation, particularly for high risk pregnancies or for premature babies, is Legacy Emanuel. (Most of the locals just call it Emanuel.)

If you have more questions about specific hospitals, feel free to PM me. My mom has been a nurse for 30+ years, 15 of which have been in Portland and my husband is a med student who knows several of the area physicians and hospitals.

[rainkissed]

I'm an RN who has lived in this area for >25 years, but was in Sacramento for a few years recently when my husband was transferred. Pay in Sacramento or Bay area higher than around here. I was making nearly $100K/year in the Sutter system, no PM differential, but wages are in the $35/hr range plus shift differential. You might find info on pay ranges on medical center websites. However, housing is considerably less which offsets the pay reduction, and I find my take home pay similar because of lower taxes. Many hospitals here to choose from; 4 main systems: Legacy, OHSU, Kaiser and Providence. Across the river in Vancouver Southwest Medical Center is expanding. There is a shortage of hospital beds in the Pdx area with plans for more hospitals and/or expansions in process. OHSU and Legacy-Emanuel probably have the most diverse populations/high risk pregnancies, but there is a large Hispanic population out around Hillsboro, Cornelius or Forest Grove which attracted seasonal workers. The only hospital I know of out there is Tuality which is rather small although you'd have to research that. It used to be independent but I believe now is affiliated with one of the larger systems. Kaiser is planning on building a hospital out there in the next few years, FYI. You should have no trouble finding work, many opportunities for RN's here. Hope this helps...

[willowandoak]

I'm glad I saw this thread! I'm an RN (Women's and Children's, preferably mother/baby or L&D), and we're planning to move to the Portland area sometime in the next couple years. I was going to ask pretty much the same question... where I'm coming from, though, $35/hour is a HUGE pay rise!

thanks,

Willow

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by superstace

Any nurses or medical professionals out there who have information about Portland hospitals?? I am a labor and delivery nurse looking to relocate to Portland in the next year or so. OHSU looks nice on the webpage. I am interested in caring for a diverse patient population, in a teaching hospital if possible. I love working with Spanish speaking patients in particular.
Has anyone had a baby at OHSU? If so, how would you rate the services there? What about other hospitals in the area? Which ones have the best reputations? Where do the Latinas go to have their babies?
Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Stacy

Interestingly, I have a friend who helps deliver babies at OHSU. She loves it, from what she's told me, particularly the fact that it is probably the most diverse institution in the city, far, far beyond the city's makeup in general. This is what she's told me, and how comfortable she is there, and she's black - and black people only make up a small % of Portland's pop.

I don't know about the services, tho.

[osu_grad]

I work at and am a patient at OHSU hospital/clinics. I think it is an awesome place to work and heal.

[ginamcd]

Yep, I'd say Emanuel probably gets the most diverse group of folks. They are the main emergency type hospital for high-risk care. I had a baby via c-section at Providence Hospital, which has a decent maternity ward and also had a baby at Emanuel via emergency c-section (only hospital my dr would recommend for emergency c-sections). Emanuel has great care but a very crappy maternity ward. The laboring rooms are very nice, but as soon as you're done laboring, you recover in these crappy rooms which are so tiny you can barely fit the main bed. Not sure why they do this...I was able to stay in the same room at Providence. Their room was large w/guest bed for hubby, rocking chair, dining table, tv/vcr, private sink to bathe baby and private bathroom. Both hospitals were accommodating for birthing balls, large jacuzzi birthing tubs and other alternative options.

Good Samaratin also has a nice maternity ward......but, is probably the least likely to have a high percentage of hispanic admits.