Moving to NE Ohio (Youngstown, Austintown)..Nursing jobs? (Cleveland, Akron: how much, house)

[NurseVixen]

Hello, I am a nursing student graduating in February with my LPN. My boyfriend lives in the Austintown area and I am moving out there to be with him so we can get married

My question is: What is the outlook for nurses in that area? I currently live in Oregon, and LPN jobs here are fairly abundant in a wide variety of settings and pay about $20/hr to start as a new graduate. I was wondering what I could expect in Ohio?

Also, where are there nicer, more upscale places to shop around that area? Can you get local and organic produce/meat/etc from the farms around there?

Thank you

[TheYO]

Originally Posted by NurseVixen

Also, where are there nicer, more upscale places to shop around that area? Can you get local and organic produce/meat/etc from the farms around there?

Upscale shopping is non-existant in the Youngstown area. You'll have to go to Cleveland or Pittsburgh to find upscale stores.

I don't know about local meat, but there are places to get local produce. There isn't Whole Foods or anything like that though. It's not really a foodie area.

[warren zee]

We are moving there too as you know. Where is the absolute closest place to get interesting, good food? We like Wegman's - a regular upscale supermarket that has stores in PA and Upstate NY.

What is the closest thing to a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's? Would it be in Pittsburgh or Cleveland?

Also, I was wondering about ethnic restaurants? I know the area has Italian covered. What about other types of food? Thia, Indian, Eastern European. Mexican, Chinese, and anything else?

I wouldn't say that we are foodies, but we don't eat fast food - other than Chipotle. And we do like to eat out and cook and entertain. We don't mind going for an hour drive once a month = but which direction?

Thanks!

[NurseVixen]

Originally Posted by TheYO

Upscale shopping is non-existant in the Youngstown area. You'll have to go to Cleveland or Pittsburgh to find upscale stores.

I don't know about local meat, but there are places to get local produce. There isn't Whole Foods or anything like that though. It's not really a foodie area.

Aw, bummer. Thank you for answering! I suppose we can just make a weekend visit up there and make a day of it since that isn't too terribly far. Do you know anything about the nursing scene out there? I know some states are really hard employment-wise and low pay for nurses, but other states pay well and have plenty of jobs...I was curious which end of the spectrum Ohio was on?

[TheYO]

Originally Posted by warren zee

We are moving there too as you know. Where is the absolute closest place to get interesting, good food? We like Wegman's - a regular upscale supermarket that has stores in PA and Upstate NY.

What is the closest thing to a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's? Would it be in Pittsburgh or Cleveland?

Also, I was wondering about ethnic restaurants? I know the area has Italian covered. What about other types of food? Thia, Indian, Eastern European. Mexican, Chinese, and anything else?

I wouldn't say that we are foodies, but we don't eat fast food - other than Chipotle. And we do like to eat out and cook and entertain. We don't mind going for an hour drive once a month = but which direction?

Thanks!

Yeah, you'll have to go to the Cleveland or Pittsburgh suburbs for Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. Since you'll be up in Warren, the Cleveland burbs will be your closest option.

There are Chinese places everywhere. My favorite is House of China in Boardman, but to be honest they are all pretty much the same.

There's a decent selection of Mexican restaurants. My favorite is Los Gallos. They have a few locations, the closest one to you is in Austintown.

I know there are a couple Indian places in Boardman, but I've never tried them. I'm sure there's one up your way as well. I don't think there are any Thai places in the area, but there's a Vietnamese pho place in Boardman. I'm not sure about Eastern European places. There used to be a Hungarian restaurant on the West Side, but I think it closed down.

One of the best places in Youngstown is the Tokyo House. It looks really sketchy on the outside, it's not in the greatest part of town, and it's closed every summer. Chen, the chef, is hilarious and makes amazing teppanyaki. There's always a line to get in, but it's well worth the wait.

As for driving an hour to Cleveland or Pittsburgh for food...Cleveland wins hands down, and I live in Pittsburgh. Cleveland's most famous restaurant is probably Melt Bar & Grilled, which makes ridiculous grilled cheese sandwiches (vegan versions available!). Other than that, Cleveland has more fine dining and more options when it comes to ethnic food. While you're there, make sure to check out the West Side Market.

[TheYO]

Originally Posted by NurseVixen

Aw, bummer. Thank you for answering! I suppose we can just make a weekend visit up there and make a day of it since that isn't too terribly far. Do you know anything about the nursing scene out there? I know some states are really hard employment-wise and low pay for nurses, but other states pay well and have plenty of jobs...I was curious which end of the spectrum Ohio was on?

Sorry, but I don't know anything about the nursing situation in the region.

[CortlandGirl79]

There are plenty of nursing homes always looking for LPNs in the Youngstown area, but I'm not sure what kind of nursing you want to do. Warren has two hospitals, St. Joseph's and Valley Care - Trumbull Memorial. Youngstown has St. Elizabeth's (same health system as St. Joe's) and Northside (also Valley Care). There's also St. Elizabeth's Boardman Campus, Akron Children's of the Mahoning Valley and several out patient and surgical facilities.

Giant Eagle and Rulli Brothers might meet some of your grocery needs. I hear White House Fruit Farm has great deli meat in addition to local fare. There are a lot of farmer's markets in the summer.

As for restaurants other than Italian you might want to look into Yamato's in Warren. There are also Greek, Middleeastern, Mexican, etc. This area is really big on Polish/Slavic/Hungarian foods, but you'll find most of those at the local Catholic Church dinners.

[SorryIMovedBack]

I'm across the line in PA. When I talked to Mercer County and Lawrence County vo-techs about LPN, they said that starting pay is about $15/hr locally, in western PA. Most LPNs work in nursing homes and LTC. Down in Beaver County and near Pittsburgh and Washington, PA, the experienced LPN pay at some nursing homes is $18-20/hour, but I know it's not that in rural western PA. But there does seem to be a lot of demand for LPNs.

For 2009, PA state average LPN salary, gross salary, was around $40,000. Average RN was around $63,000.

Sharon Regional in Sharon, PA does still employ LPNs, but I think that they have very low turnover and most of their LPNs have all been there for years. I don't know what's going on at the OH hospitals. Go to allnurses board and see if you can get any answers there.

"Obamacare" will be mandating that all nurses working the hospitals must be registered nurses, so I tend to think that there won't be too many LPN jobs opening up in hospitals. New grads are usually hired by nursing homes here.

[SorryIMovedBack]

You can search jobs at indeed.com, and you can register with Ohio https://ohiomeansjobs.com/omj/. You can also drop in at the OneStop for your county, after you get moved, and see if they can offer any assistance. They still have to track LPN programs that are on the WIA training provider list to see how many retrained people got jobs, who employs them, and how much they are paid. The WIA or TRA/TAA coordinator at your county's OneStop might be able to steer you to some potential employers in the area.

[CortlandGirl79]

The assisted living facility I used to work at paid around $16/hr for LPNs. This was at a facility just south of Youngstown in a nice area.