Does anyone know anything about McAllen Texas?

[cmc4n6]

I have heard of big sign-on bonuses in McAllen Texas. I would like to learn something about the city. I know it is close to Matamoros, site of a major crime some years ago. I am tempted to go there and buy some property which is extremely reasonable compared to where I live now in San Diego. I work in a trauma center and feel ready for a change. Any suggestions?

[Rhett#4]

You bet I can tell you about McAllen, Texas. I have lived here for 14 yrs. It's hot and humid 3/4 of the year. The remaining 1/4 is our winter which is really like spring. Your right the cost of living compared to San Diego is low.
If your a outdoors person like me, take my advice and look in the area of Bayview, Texas for buying some land and building a house. Here is a website that will give you some ideal of what the Rio Grande Valley looks like in certain areas. http://raingardens.com/psst/meetings/PSST_Dec03.html
A lot of people travel here in the winter to go bird-watching in the the Rio Grande Valley area. We have lots of beautiful, migrating birds here. We bought some land in Bayview next to the resaca. I hope this helps you.

[Anonymous]

A good friend has been a nurse there for a number of years. Hot and culturally more Mexican than US, which, for the inexperienced, can be a challenge. High percentage of foreign nurses, principly Filipino nurses, who tend to be a bit cliquish and to keep to themselves, so a "new" nurse there without friends or ties might have to battle loneliness.

I understand the signon bonus is $50,000 for a four year commitment, but four years can be a very long time.

[Randy, RN]

Our Board needs help. OH, I hear McAllen is real nice!



Longview News-Journal, Monday, December 27, 2004
Study: Scores of Texas nurses are felons, INCLUDING REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS

AUSTIN (AP) — Scores of licensed nurses in Texas are convicted drug and sex offenders, and some of them are working in violation of state law, a newspaper investigation has found.

An analysis by The Dallas Morning News found that 57 licensed Texas nurses are felony sex offenders, including 31 who are listed in the stare sex offender registry. About 140 nurses have &felony drug records, and about half of them hold current nursing licenses.

In one case, teacher Shellie Jorden was sentenced to five years deferred adjudication for fondling one of his fifth-graders in San Antonio. Authorities recommended he no longer teach kids, and the state revoked his teaching license.

But, no one restricted the vocational nursing license he also held, Jorden, registered as a sex offender, successfully completed his community supervision mid returned to nursing.

Now, at the community health clinic where he works, Jorden spends about half his time working with young children seeking immunizations, He said he understands concern about whether he should be working as a nurse. ‘‘I can see your point,” he said, But, he added,, “all it was, was an allegation.” He said he pleaded guilty because “that was the best thing for me at the time, It’s not actually that I’d done anything or harmed a child.”

However, the mother of Jorden’s victim said she is outraged he is working with children again, ‘this man has no business being around any children, period,” she said.
Katherine Thomas, is the Executive Director of the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners. A newspaper report has found that scores of licensed nurses in Texas have felony records. Thomas said the board would like the opportunity to investigate the allegations.

There are about 500,000 licensed nurses in Texas. About half of the licenses are current.
Many of the rest have lapsed but could be activated easily if the nurse pays a fee or enrolls in professional coursework.
Texas prohibits felony offenders from working as nurses if they have gone to prison, The newspaper found 58 nurses who have been incarcerated for felony sex or drug offenses whose licenses have not been surrendered or revoked.

The state board that licenses nurses conducts few background checks, in part because there is not enough money to do so, Instead, state officials rely on nurses to self-report their criminal convictions.

Katherine Thomas, executive director of the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners, acknowledged that the agency “may not be aware” of nurses who have not self-reported their records. She said the board “would like an opportunity to investigate”.

The Texas Hospital Association, which represents about 85 percent of the states hospitals, said most hospitals perform their own background checks. But they are not required by law to do so. And most doctors’ offices and clinics probably do not check nurses’ backgrounds. Thomas said.

[zimbleboots]

I live in Weslaco, 12 miles East of McAllen. I'm a traveler. I tried nursing in The Valley. I'm a PACU RN and my background is in critical care. That's all I'll say, 'cause I could go on and on about what I've seen... And there's one lawyer to roughly every 500 people down here.

As I understand, the sign-on bonuses have been eliminated or greatly reduced at McAllen Medical Center, Edinburg Regional Hospital and McAllen Heart Hospital in Hidalgo County. They are UHS hospitals and collectively called the South Texas Health System (along with some rehab and behavioral health facilities owned by UHS too). UHS owns quite a few hospitals in the Katrina Belt, so they're suffering financially.The sign-on bonus had been $50,000 over four years. That comes to $12,500 a year or about $9,150 after taxes. And they take out the taxes first. But things could have changed. How knows. Sometimes decsions need to made in consideration of factors other than maximizing income.

It's hot here most of the year. It's usually too hot in McAllen to get humid and stay humid for long. It tends to be more humid nearer to the gulf, like in Brownsville. But compared to Houston, New Orleans, the Midwest, Washington, D.C., it's dry here!!! Just really HOT. Lots of wind all year 'round.
Great place for solar and wind technology. It's a bummer when your AC breaks down in the middle of September- the hottest month here. Last Christmas Eve we had 3 inches of snow- first in 100 years!!! Shut the highways down for a day. My neighbors made a snowman. But the snow cover was way gone by the end of Christmas Day. The snowman took about five days to completely melt.

McAllen is about 55 miles West of Padre Island, a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico. It's a few miles from the Mex border state of Tamaulipas. There's a magical quality to The Rio Grande Valley. Migratory birds by the scrillions and residential birds; exotic wildlife and plants abound. The culture is not so magical, however. I'm here for my little half-acre, my house and my barn. I speak fluent Spanish but I'm treated like a freak because I don't have a Spanish surname and I have a light complexion and blond hair. Minority status, for sure. Tejanos really don't like "white people". It's like any other prejudicial behavior, where you're judged by the way you look. The family system here is a closed system and self-contained. People tend not to have social relationships, just family. Nurses from the Philippines who come with their families do OK because they live in a self-contained world, also. You see it when you go to the grocery store, Walmart. People shopping in large family groups, almost never solo. And you really wouldn't want to come down here alone!!!!

I had a good friend here who, after 3 years, just couldn't take it anymore and moved herself and her two kids back to California. She's a chicana. It's a tough place to live. Also, there is no concept of customer service, but big concept of entitlement. Hard to get reliable work done on house or car. So you have to join a church, pretty much, to meet people with whom you might be able to do business. Liars, cheaters and stealers. It's a way of life.

I don't know what sort of healthcare facilities you've worked in, but things are done differently in THE VALLEY. I could write a book about this place.

Real estate relatively cheap, property taxes are very very high. I pay same tax amount on $150,000 house in Weslaco as I would be paying for a $550,000 house in Southern Cal. No state income tax, but sales tax is 8.25 % and clothing is taxed (unlike CA). Unprepared food is the only thing that isn't taxed.

But the winters are glorious, November-March.

[cyber_nursingboy]

yes state board conducts background check, u.s. needs for nursing people is a great advantage for Filipino's to excel. ive also tried running a background check to see how my record would looks like if there's any, the result was great but the only thing that annoy's me is to see my own record poping-up
see http://www.unlimited-backgroundcheck.com that where i got one.

[emeraldcity]

stay where you are. Do not come here! I just moved her from up north and I hate it. The weather is not too bad if you dont mind hot humid weather all the time. Health care is horrible and patient load is heavy. I live in Harlingen, Tx. which is about 30min south of Mcallen. I would not recomend coming here. This is probably one of the ugliest parts of the USA>

[marnacla]

It was HELL!