[akaymik85]

Hi,

I am seriously considering a move to the Burlington area. I've got an opportunity to work for Fletcher Allen. My family and I will be visiting next week and I was looking for suggestions of what to check out while we're there.

We've been looking to move to New England for years now but have just gotten to a point where it needs to happen. We now have two small children and I wouldn't choose to have them grow up here. We have family in NH, Maine and Massachusetts. My husband was born in NH but grew up in CA. I grew up in the Midwest (Missouri) so I'm used to the cold/ice, however I don't think I'm used to huge amounts of snow.

We've been looking at houses online and St.Albans seems to have the more affordable houses. We've also found good houses in Milton and Jericho. How would the commute be in the winter to Fletcher Allen? Are the roads cleared fairly well? What kind of stores/shops do these areas have (grocery stores, movie theatres....)?

And also, it seems that Fletcher Allen is the only major hospital in the area. What have you heard about working there...good or bad?

Any input and your insights are very much appreciated! Thanks!

[68vette]

I work at FAHC. If you tell me what department you will be working in I may be able to give you more information. The hospital is a good place to work for, but it is the only show in town as you said. The only problem is that if you work in a specialized department that will only be found in a hospital of this size, you will be out of luck if you are not happy here. The next closest hospital that is the size of FAHC is Dartmouth in NH (1.5 hrs away). The nursing department and many of the allied health departments are union. We guess that within a few years most if not all departments will end up with a union. Upper managment is doing a better job keeping people happy here, but the reason the unions started coming in was due to the disatisfaction with treatment from up above. This is not the best hospital that I have worked for, but it is not close to the worst hospital that I have ever worked for. The department you will work in will play a big role in how good or bad it is. Some departments are very good while others are horrible.
We have people that live in all the towns you listed. Every one of them is able to make the trip in during the winter. When it's snowing out during the drive in you will have to leave earlier. Occasionally some are late getting here. The other thing to consider is that if you work day shift there is no on site parking (only night shift parks on site). You are shuttled in from various locations off campus. This will add an aditional 1/2 hour of commute time to your morning and evening. Something to consider if you are looking at Jerico or St Albans. Each of those towns is approx 1/2 hour from the hospital. As far as Milton is concerned, it will depend on where in Milton you will live. Milton is about 20 minutes out. Some areas of Milton can be a little furthur. Traffic is nothing compared to other parts of the country, but something to think about is during the rush hour times, traffic will be heavier. The traffic lights are not all timed and in many cases they are poorly timed. An example, today at 5pm I went to pick my son up in Williston (about 20 min from my home) and I ended up getting stuck for over fifteen minutes in a group of traffic lights near the interstate. Not horrible, but it can add to your commute time if you live out of town.
Snow is almost nonexistant in Burlington compared to the rest of the state. When I lived in central Vermont we could have 10-12 inches of snow that just fell and in Burlington there would only be flurries. Don't get me wrong, it does snow in this area, but the lake keeps this area more mild than the inner sections of the state.
What you require or like for stores, etc will depend on where you will want to shop or go for entertainment. In the Burlington area, the only place where you will find the box stores will be in Williston, about 10-15 minutes south of Burlington. Grocery stores are everywhere and most are the chain type stores found on the east or northeast coast. There is an outlet mall that is over in Essex, about 15-20 minutes to the east of Burlington. Theaters are in Burlington, Williston and Essex. National chain stores are throughout the area. Once you get outside of Chittenden County, the state gets rural. There are some bigger towns here and there, but nothing on the scale of Burlington. You would need to go south to Rutland or southeast to Barre/Montpelier to find bigger towns, but again they are small compared to the Burlington area.
You should also consider looking into the town of Colchester. It's the next town north of Burlington. It's close enough to take advantage of it's amenities without having to live there (The taxes and homes are cheaper).

[akaymik85]

I'm a respiratory therapist, any idea if they are union at FAHC? I'm much more of a night person, so it's good to know I wouldn't have to deal with the shuttle. Do you know offhand if a shift diff. is offered?
I've read some other threads and people have said that in St.Albans there is some "riff raff" and people are a bit "rough around the edges". I'm not sure what to think of those comments, but I've looked up crime statistics and it seems safe there.
Thanks for your response! I will be there next week so hopefully all goes well.

[xyz affair]

Vermont and the Burlington area are great places to live- low crime rate, one of the highest quality of life places to live in the US- Wellness for its citizens ranks in the top teir-

The caveat at least for you might be the winters. Winter in Missouri will be far different then winter in Vermont-

Winters in southern New England (most of Connecticut, Rhode Island, South eastern Massachusetts) are equal to that of St. Louis- Burlington will not be.

[68vette]

Originally Posted by akaymik85

I'm a respiratory therapist, any idea if they are union at FAHC? I'm much more of a night person, so it's good to know I wouldn't have to deal with the shuttle. Do you know offhand if a shift diff. is offered?
I've read some other threads and people have said that in St.Albans there is some "riff raff" and people are a bit "rough around the edges". I'm not sure what to think of those comments, but I've looked up crime statistics and it seems safe there.
Thanks for your response! I will be there next week so hopefully all goes well.

I work in the RT department at FAHC. I'm one of the department educators. The respiratory department is a union department. They are still in negotiations, so there is no contract on the table yet. It's going at a snails pace at the moment. The union and hospital administration can't seem to agree to much at all. There is a shift differential at the moment, but that may change for the better or for the worse depending on how negotiations go. If you were quoted a base pay, that should not change. Union dues have not been agreed upon either, but typically the union has told us it runs 1-3% of your paycheck.
St Albans is not a crime ridden area. The downtown area seems to be where most of the issues are. I think it has to do in part with kids having nothing better to do than hanging out and getting into trouble. The town does have one of the bigger drug problems in the state. That also can play a role in crime rates, but you won't get attacked or mugged walking down the street. Send me a PM if you want more info on the hospital. We need therapists, but I will be honest with you good and bad. There is no use having you move here and not liking your job or workplace, just to move away in less than a year.