Hershey Med (Philadelphia, Harrisburg, York: homes, car inspection, property taxes)

[stickwithnursing6]

I am an RN with close to 10 years experience. My husband and I are looking to a move from CNY to PA. Just looking for any information on working at Hershey med. How is the pay, nursing, nurse to pt ratios on med-surg type floors and ICU, how are the benefits. Stuff like that. Also would like to know how the area is to live in. Any info is greatly appreciated!
Thanks

[ki0eh]

There are a few of us around (me included) who have relocated from Central New York, Syracuse media market, to the Harrisburg-Hershey-Carlisle area.

Compared to Syracuse, the Hershey area has/is:

- Warmer both winter and summer, seemingly by 5-8 degrees. Many more flowers and fruits grow around here than in Syracuse. Much less snow, except for the occasional nor'easter. Much less ability to handle snow, but not as bad as DC in that respect!

- Much heavier traffic. There just aren't enough lanes for all the cars and trucks buzzing about. Many daily traffic choke points.

- Higher home values, lower property taxes. But people still complain about the taxes.

- A NY "hamlet" is called a "village" in PA; a NY "village" is called a "borough" in PA; a NY "town" is called a "township" in PA. Hershey is a village with no separate existence, most of the Hershey 17033 zip code is included within http://www.derrytownship.org/ - a fair portion of Derry Twp also has a Hummelstown 17036 postal address.

- Much denser housing stock/smaller lot sizes in both older and newer communities. Row homes and "semi-detached" homes are common. Semi-detached means only one party wall - growing up in CNY I didn't know what that even meant when I moved here. Still think it sounds like being half pregnant.

- A single-family home called a "ranch" in CNY is a "rancher" around here.

- No lakes, some go out on the Susquehanna River but it's a lot rockier and water level changes by quite a bit. There's nothing like Skaneateles around here, in any sense.

- Similar level of box-store shopping, however it is located on the east side of Harrisburg, generally in the I-83/I-283 and the I-83/US 22 interchange areas. No Carousel Center, the malls are smaller but power center retail strip malls are a bigger deal.

- Grocery shopping much feebler and more expensive, except for the nearest Wegmans is 45 minutes on a good day and more like 1 hr 15 min in normal afternoon traffic to get there from Hershey Med.

- MUCH more conservative politically. The Democrats here are about like the Republicans in Onondaga County. Anyone espousing here the prevailing political views around Ithaca would be immediately ostracized.

- There's no such thing as free public swimming. You need to join a private swim club, or pay to use the municipal pool.

- Much tighter car inspection standards. Visible rust fails an auto inspection in PA.

- It's only 2 hours on the weekend to bigger shopping in Baltimore area or Philadelphia area - maybe 2 1/2 to Washington DC and a little over 3 to New York City. So this area is somewhat less isolated from bigger things than Syracuse is. Amtrak (not from Hershey, but best from Elizabethtown with free parking 10 mi away) is a viable alternative for weekend getaways to downtown Philly and to NY City, even day trips.