Info about Harlingen, Mcallen and Brownsville, nurse worried to work there. (San Antonio: apartment, rent)

[junix3rd]

Hi Itchy Nose. I Used To Work In Mcallen Med. Ctr. For 9 Mos.
Patient Ratio Is 1:8 Telemetry Floor. Right Now. I'm Working For Doctor's Hospital At Renaissance, Patient Ratio 1:5 Telemetry.

[itchy_nose]

junix3rd: Thank you for that information. finally someone from Mcallen medical center.

[phatYbi]

im a dental assistant, grew up on in va. want 2 move 2 tx cus im white, but u kno the carlos mencia thing abt the last white guy n the barrio.. well that was ME.. so i would love bein around all spanish ppl. i speak it pretty good.. go 2 the REAL lil latino markets where they sell the food at and all that. im ALWAYS with mexicans. mexicans n my fam n everything.. just wana know how they view mixed children?(black/white) im tryin 2 get pregnant. not planning on moving there w/ the dad tho.. jus me n the baby.. he/she will definately speak spanish.. also, if iam living/working here, and saveabt 12 or 15 thousand (which i can do in abt a yr here since i have no bills 2 pay) and then move there, would i b able 2 buy a home, or would the income there be so low 4 a dental assistant that i wouldnt b able 2 continue 2 afford the home in the longrun? or is it fairly easy to own a hime in BROWNSVILLE! my plans were 2 work as a dental assistant and a night job down at south padre island.. realistic or no?! im ONLY talking abt brownsville tho. have no idea what any ofthose other places r. lol..

[David Pristupa]

I spent some time in Laredo. From what I hear it is similar here to what it is in parts of the LGV. It IS an interesting culture to explore. However if you are used to extroverted friendly people to connect with you likely won't find it here. It is a rather insular society . I know a Colombian that felt she couldn't assimilate and then moved on. If you are of fair complexion it will be very difficult regardless of your cultural background and fluency of Spanish. This is my experience.....

[Valley Guy]

As a 21 year resident of Harlingen, I believe BelleStarOfTexas has good reason to write what she has about the local area, the people, and Valley Baptist Hospital, based on her experience with other areas. Yes, this is a strongly Hispanic culture. Many people cannot even speak English. You are hearing many now speak Spanish first (especially in Brownsville and McAllen which are on the Mexican border) versus English because most people here have to speak it to get along, although there are many hold-outs. There is a strong sense of entitlement here, i.e., just because I was born, the system owes me free health care, education, welfare, housing, etc. Mexican nationals know this which is why our hospitals get over-run with illegal aliens and pregnant mothers from Mexico, doing all in their power to have their children born in a U.S. hospital because that will be their meal ticket for life with a child now being a U.S. citizen. And it has about bankrupt more than one hospital. Many patients expect their doctor to speak in Spanish or else they believe they are being discriminated against. We have a very hard time keeping good doctors down here because they are constantly being sued, the local mentality believing this is the way to get rich in America. That being said, there is a new University of Texas Medical Center focused on training local college students to become doctors and to STAY in the Valley. Many people do love it here for several reasons: It never snows, there is lots of sunshine (although sometimes, blisteringly hot and humid), the cost of housing is relatively inexpensive, you are near Mexico where there are still good deals to be found on some shopping items (and plenty of authentic Mexican food places to eat in the Valley), you are near South Padre Island which is a world class beach resort area, we have a rich variety of bird life here and this is a birding center. We are popular with Winter Tourists from the Great Lakes Region and they are a major part of our economy, so if you are in the medical field, expect to have a LOT of elderly folks during the winter months here. Crime wise, yes there are a lot of heinous and bloody crimes but there are more of them on the border near Mexico, typically in McAllen or Brownsville. Harlingen is more inland and considered a bit more safe so it ends up being more suburban in feel. Valley Baptist has been in the news recently for a group of doctors threatening to leave en masse because of the hospital director's focus on corporate goals rather than quality patient care, but that has been negotiated to a resolution. Intelligence wise, you have plenty of smart people here but the culture does not particularly emphasize education the way other urban centers might. If you are smart, you figure how to get the hell out of here and find a job that actually pays competitive wages. The wage scale down here is depreseed because we have such a large base of unskilled or manual labor, willing to work for minimum wage or less because of the illegal alien factor that employers take advantage of. But not to be totally negative...it is a good place to retire and perhaps raise your children if they are Hispanic. Otherwise, you might feel so totally a minority, you chose to live elsewhere. And that's just the truth! If you don't believe me, just go shop at H.E.B. sometime and see what you find. For all practical purposes, many people believe this IS Mexico and many locals feel more loyalty to a Hispanic culture than they do to being a U.S. citizen. If given the choice of moving north or be annexed into Mexico, I am amazed at how many locals would choose becoming a Mexican citizen because they have a higher loyalty to that culture than they do their U.S. citizenship, although I don't think all of them have fully thought out what that would really mean.

[RGV]

Belle works in Kingsville, and has been there for a few months/or perhaps a year. Kingsville is two hours north of the RGV and is very different from McAllen, Harlingen or Brownsville. You're talking about a town of what? 30,000 compared to a region of over one million and a booming vibrant economy which has a simbiotic relationship with the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros. Reynosa and Matamoros add another million or more in population to the mix; not to mention the influence of Monterrey, a city of three/four million just a couple of hours south of there. The culture in the RGV is much different than the culture or feel of Kingsville. She's not an authority on all things South Texas from SA down.

The RGV has had more influence from it hispanic heritage because of it's history, demographics, geography and population. That can't be helped or changed.

It was the US after all that fought a war with Mexico to insure that the lands south of the Nueces belonged to the US and not to Mexico. (by the way I thank god every day for the US's victory in that war).

VG, you on the other hand have lived in Harlingen you say for 21 years. I am from the RGV and grew up there for 19 years. My family has lived in the RGV since the late 1700's. My family lived there when it was Spain, when it was Mexico, when France ruled it, when Texas was its own country and when Texas joined the Union. There are plenty of old local families like mine there and we never, I can assure you, place more loyalty to Mexico than we do to the US. We all love the US, we're Americans.

Now the new immigrants comming in the last few decades. I can't speak for them. But, logically, if they are comming here for a better future, why would they want it to be ruled by Mexico City rather than Washington DC. That doesn't make any sense to me. They just left a country being mis-ruled by Mexico City. I think what's really going on is that they have pride in their heritage. There's nothing wrong with that. The Italiens had and still have very strong feelings for their heritage. So do the Irish. I don't think it's a longing for soverignty to be changed to DF.

Adios

[sheri257]

Originally Posted by bellestaroftexas

didnt claim to be from RGV........
by the way, there is a whole lot of litigation down here........i had NEVER met RN's who had been sued or been to court in my 15 years as an RN......here, almost EVERY single one has been!
the ER docs tell me that malpractice insurance for them triples anywhere south of Nueces County (where Corpus is)
just beware. these indigents are wanting to find any reason to sue you to make money.

I always wondered why NSO (which provides RN insurance) won't cover Texas nurses like they do in other states. Maybe this is the reason.

NSO will only provide $100,000 per incident with a $300K cap in coverage for Texas nurses.

But in any other state, they provide $1 million coverage per incident, up to $6 million. In Texas, the premiums are higher also.

On the other hand, Texas isn't the only state with border problems so, that may not totally explain the differences.

But the higher premiums and significantly limited coverage does seem to prove that there's more litigation risk in Texas.

[RN_brat]

Hey itchy_nose! I hope you're in the US now but I have been to McAllen/Edinburg area.I'ts pretty quite and peaceful and nice.I have friends that work in the area and they're doing extremely well.Housing is cheap and salary for RNs' are very comparable so you'll be fine.They have La Plaza Mall for you shopping and there's an outlet mall in Mercedes (about 35-45 min away from McAllen).They have a Cabalen restaurant and some other filipino stores.Yor hospital is adjacent to Rio Grande Valley Regional Hospital so if you want a part-time job ,hehhehe.Goodluck and God bless!

[southeasttexas]

Originally Posted by RGV

Now the new immigrants comming in the last few decades. I can't speak for them. But, logically, if they are comming here for a better future, why would they want it to be ruled by Mexico City rather than Washington DC. That doesn't make any sense to me. They just left a country being mis-ruled by Mexico City.
Adios

Then why do they insist on flying the MEXICAN TRICOLORES flag as they invade the US? Remember the May-Day (communist holiday) protest marches across the country?

What they really want is US health care, housing, transportation, and meal tickets while being "Mexico".

[RGV]

You can ask the same question about the flags that many other groups in the US, not just the immigrants from Mexico, like to display.

As for the invasion, It's up to all of us, and you, to put pressure on our own government to protect the borders. We must also expose the fact that many industries in our own country put pressure on our government to not inforce the immigration rules as they should. Industries such as construction, hotel, and restaurants in particular. Also,take a look at the areas where the day laborers gather for work, such as in front of Home Depots.

Notice who are the ones who drive up and pick up these workers. They are usually contrators (American citizens) in trucks who pick them up and put them to work. If this didn't occur, there wouldn't be as much incentive for many of the immigrants to risk the trek over here. The problem is the fact that Americans are putting these immigrants to work and are incouraging more immigrants to cross. It is Americans who are getting the benefit of this cheap labor. Yes, we are our own problem.

No one wants our country taken advantage of; and, more importantly, no one wants an easy avenue for potential terrorist to come into the country.

The need for our government/country to be on friendly terms with the Mexican government should not get in the way of protecting ourselves. I think our present President forgets this.

Further, we shouldn't allow our lust for cheap housing, food, and overall cost of living to get in the way of our need for more control of our borders.

You will get the most support for tighter border controls from the old families that live along the border. But, when we see attacks on hispanics in general, I can assure you, that support will fade quickly.