Anyone familiar with the worcester, ma area??

[jp1108]

Hello!

I am thinking of doing a travel assignment in massachusettes this summer from phoenix. I wanted to be reasonably close to boston as i have family there and would like to visit but didnt want to stay in boston. I will be traveling with 2 very active dogs that require daily runs and excercise so was looking for a quieter setting and one that hopefully i could find a duplex or something with a yard for the dogs. I have previously traveled with American Traveler and was very happy with them but has anyone heard of or travled with northeast travel nursing?? what did you think? any info would be appreciated

thank you

[Anmutasc]

I am from Mass and I would suggest choosing a different city. Worcester isn't the best area, still a city, still has crime, and kinda rundown. If you want a nice place to live you only need to go 20 minutes outside of the city to find housing with backyards, parks to run with your dog, and much quieter. The north shore I know has a lot of community hospitals that take travelers and has some nice areas. But of course, boston has the best hospitals in the world, so if you have the desire to work there, i would highly suggest Brigham and Womens Hospital, Mass General, and Beth Israel. Good luck

[jp1108]

thank you for the input, anmutasc. How about the waltham or newton areas? Those any better? I assume both areas has hospitals, any input on those??

[Anmutasc]

Both Waltham and Newton are very close to Boston,and both are nicer suburbs of boston. I went to nursing school at Boston college which is in newton, and it is a very rich, nice area. There is a reservoir around newton-chestnut hill area right by the college that gets a lot of dog walkers and exercisers! Its a good, safe area for the most part. I don't know a ton about waltham but have heard its not a bad area. Newton is really expensive for housing though. If you can afford it, I would suggest trying it because there are a lot of T stations ("subway" in boston) in the area for easy access to boston- 20 minutes to downtown. A very good hospital in the area is Newton- Wellesley Hospital, otherwise all the boston hospitals are easily accessible from both those areas, with a pretty short commute time (about half hour probably). Hope this helps.

[jp1108]

thank you, the input really does help tremendously, amutasc. I will keep your input in mind when i talk to my recruiter

[Kdog]

Hi JP,
I agree, avoid Worcester. Newton is a good area. Never heard of Northeast
but makes no matter as long as they have the Mass. job market.
Before you take a job in Mass, just post where you considering as to avoid a bad job and area. What is your specialty?

[jp1108]

I work for a local agency in phoenix and pretty much do any adult ICU. I started with CVICU but in the 5 years i've been doing agency work, i get bounced around to all the icu's. I'm hoping to find a med/surg adult ICU for my assignment. Is new bedford a bad area? how far is it from boston? thank you so much for all this info, this is great!

[Anmutasc]

New Bedford is south of boston, maybe about an hour, hour and 15min or so away. It is an ok area, but not great. If you work at a hospital there, you should probably know portugeuse... very large portuguese population, like probably 75% of people there. There isn't a whole lot going on in that city. If you were going to go this far south of boston, you might as well go to Cape Cod. Its really lively in the summer and a lot of fun. Only drawback is the traffic is awful, but worth it to live by the ocean, great weather, great beaches, and great atmosphere.

[jp1108]

thanks again for the great advice, anmutasc. They did mention cape cod but said it doesnt pay great since its a desired location for a lot of travelers this time of year. Plus, i think i'm going to be focusing on staying somewhere in the north shore area but working in boston. just keeping my eyes open for what comes up. Thank you for all you guys' wonderful guidance. will be sure to ask more as time goes on.