Looking to relocate to small town with a good hospital. (Altoona: insurance, job openings)

[RN Looking]

I am from Northwestern PA, born and raised, and still living in McKean county. My current town is so small we don't even have a stop light. I work at a local hospital and have found that since the merger of two hospitals there is no competition in this area. I feel stuck. In the past two months I have lost my pension, that is taken away, our insurance premium has gone up, and two weeks after that we found out that we know have huge deductibles on our insurance. If I even as an employee were to get sick and be admitted to my facility it would be $1500 deductible and then they only cover 90%. I own property in Du Bois area and have considered that area as I love the small town feel. However, I don't know much about DRMC, so if anyone has any information on what it is like to work there I would appreciate it.

My husband and two boys who at the moment are in 8th and 6th grade would love a place that is near some good fishing, as they love to walleye fish. I am okay with moving to anywhere in Pennsylvania and New York as I have both licenses living right next to the pa/ny state line. My husband will be graduating this coming may and will be sitting for his boards to be a registered nurse also.

So basically we need a small town with good schools, and a great hospital where employees like to work at.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Pitt Chick]

Mount Pleasant PA could work for you.

[gg]

Originally Posted by RN Looking

I am okay with moving to anywhere in Pennsylvania and New York as I have both licenses living right next to the pa/ny state line.

Firstly, there are others on here that will better help you with your questions, but I wanted to point out that having two different state licenses is against the law. You might want to let one expire.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Firstly, there are others on here that will better help you with your questions, but I wanted to point out that having two different state licenses is against the law. You might want to let one expire.

That is absolutely NOT true. Although PA and NY are not participating Compact Licensure states, nurses can still obtain additional licenses (i.e. have multiple licenses) to work in multiple states at the same time.

[utopian suburb]

Westmoreland Hospital in dahntahn Greensburg is a decent hospital and you can get the small town feel.

You can also look into Altoona and Johnstown but driving through J-town yesterday was pretty depressing.

Their heritage museum and children's museum was really nice and we checked out the heritage festival but, the overall area still seems depressed.

Conemaugh health system is a pretty good one though.

[hornet67]

Originally Posted by Pitt Chick

Mount Pleasant PA could work for you.

I would agree; Frick Hospital is located in Mt.Pleasant. From what I know of it, it's a nice old town, with a still vibrant business district. It's close to I-70, and to Greensburg, as well as the Laurel Highlands.
I don't know anything about the school district, however.

[RN Looking]

Thanks everyone, trying to decide where to relocate to is a huge undertaking. Will check out that area as my brother lived down that way for a few years while his wife went to school to be a physician assistant. He lived in Latrobe and worked in Greensburg, he liked it down there so it must be a pretty nice place in that area.

[Kippy]

As others mentioned, you might want to check into the Excela Health network, which has hospitals in Greensburg, Mt. Pleasant, and Latrobe. Currently, they list one hundred seventy-one job openings in the career section of their website: www.lah.com


In addition to the Greensburg/Hempfield area and Mt. Pleasant, you might want to look into the quaint little town of Ligionier, which isn't too far from the Latrobe hospital. You could also look at the Latrobe/Unity area for housing options.

I don't know much about the public school systems, but once you narrow down your search, I am sure that others could provide you with lots of insight.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Hopes

That is absolutely NOT true. Although PA and NY are not participating Compact Licensure states, nurses can still obtain additional licenses (i.e. have multiple licenses) to work in multiple states at the same time.

I thought she was talking about driver's license. Ha ha ha, too funny.

[neurodistortion]

Greensburg is a nice small town but Excela as a health system is not necessarily the best in the region, if you really want a better quality hospital, I'd suggest checking out Forbes Regional out in Monroeville or even the new UPMC hospital that they're building next door... Irwin is perhaps the closest true small town from that area, and taking the turnpike up will get you there in about 15 minutes. Norwin School District is also one of the better ones in the area.