advice for working at area hospitals (Tulsa, Broken Arrow: 2009, hotel, home)

[jellingson2]

Considering a move to the Tulsa area. I am a Nurse Anesthetist and looking at jobs at: Claremore Regional Hospital, SouthCrest Hospital and St. Francis Hospital. I've been reading lots of threads on the area and it seems the south side is where to live. If I worked at SouthCrest would the commute from Jenks, Broken Arrow, Bixby or Union be easy? Likewise if I worked at Claremore Regional could I live within a 10 mile radious there and make the commute easily? A reasonable commute time to me is 20 minutes or less. Also, any opinions on those hospitals? Not really familiar with St. Francis location. Anyone shed any light on this. Thanks, JE

[briansgi]

Southcrest is the newest of the hospitals you listed, it's easy to get to, right off highway 169. Union is actually not a suburb, but a school district on the south side of Tulsa. If you lived in Jenks or in the Union school district you would be very close to Southcrest and an easy commute from the Creek turnpike.

As far as which hospital is best, I can only speak to St. Francis and my experience there 5 years ago. I broke my femur in 4 places and spent a week there, it was a horrible experience!! My co-worker had a heart attack less than a year ago and was treated at Southcrest, he and his wife were very impressed with the facility and the care he was given.

[jellingson2]

Good to know. The Southcrest Hospital has been recently awarded best heart facility in Oklahoma. Sorry to hear about you femur fx. Rehab must have been really tough. Thanks for the info. JE

[sgrizzle]

St Francis has been putting a lot of money into their children's wing and trying to recoup from a failed "heart hospital" venture as well as shutting down the only hospital in Broken Arrow.

St Johns is expanding into the suburbs building a new Broken Arrow hospital as well as the recently opened Owasso location.

I've heard lots of good about Southcrest and use them regularly. They are in Union school district. The only complaint I've ever heard from staff is she didn't like that her department wanted them to work 3 12's and then off for the rest of the week. She wanted 8 hour days. It does really well considering the partnership that originally formed it went under about the time building was completed.

OSU Medical Center will be an up and comer in the near future. If you like Osteopathy, go there. It is transferring from privately-owned to a true college hospital and this will be an incredibly good thing.

Claremore regional is owned by Ardent who also owns Hillcrest and just sold OSU Medical Center for about 10% of appraised value.

[jellingson2]

I did see a thread about the new hospital being built in Broken Arrow. It looks awesome. I will have to look into that one too. Any idea on completion? JE

[LBurry]

There is a new hospital in Owasso called Bailey Medical Center. My wife was treated there a couple months back for a hernia (emergency surgery and admission). We were extremely impressed with the facility and staff. It's small yet styled like a hotel with all private rooms. The staff seemed to be highly motivated and happy to work there. If you are thinking of making your home north of Tulsa, it may be one that you can consider.

[sgrizzle]

They just broke ground on the one in Broken Arrow. It will be a close match to the Owasso one LBurry just mentioned. Like Bailey, Southcrest is also all private rooms. They seem to handle mainly non-trauma patients like newborn delivery, gastric bypass, lap band, heart surgery, etc. They have an ER but it is seldom very busy.

[BAGuy]

The Broken Arrow hospital will be complete in Fall of 2009 and the medical office building is slated to open about 3 mths before the hospital. The Broken Arrow area is a great place to live and it is so easy to get around. There is access by the Broken Arrow Expressway (Highway 51), Creek Turnpike, and Highway 169 is just a half a mile outside of the western borders.

[jellingson2]

It's really nice to know these hospitals are looked upon favorably by the public. Thanks for all the tips and info so far. I'm not sure if Bailey Medical Center has jobs but I will remember them when I finally decide. Thanks LBurry, sgrizzle and BAGuy for the info. JE

[briansgi]

There are actually two brand new hospitals in Owasso, Bailey being one and St. John's.