RN looking to reloc...
 
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RN looking to relocate

(@tpeach03)
Posts: 1
New Member
Topic starter
 

I will admit I have not done research yet, and this is my first post (as part of my research 🙂 I was looking on indeed, and found some government jobs but wanted to get a feel for moving to the islands. Any advice from RNs moving from the continental US to the islands would be great. It has been always been my dream to live anywhere else, but having kids at a young age kept me where I am now. Am I being ignorant to think that the healthcare system may not be the best? Or is it decent? Will I be discouraged? Or will I be just as frustrated with the lack of resources as I am in the states? Again, I'm sorry that I'm coming in as a newbie on this topic but I'm willing to listen to any advice given

 
Posted : March 29, 2024 2:50 am
(@stjohnjulie)
Posts: 1064
Noble Member
 

You will experience a lack of resources I’m guessing. The three islands are all pretty different.  St John has a severe long term housing shortage.   Nurses are in high demand.   Maybe you should look into that traveling nurse program.  You could do a short contract here and then decide if you want to make the move more permanently.  

 
Posted : March 29, 2024 3:36 am
Ca. Dreamers reacted
(@jaldeborgh)
Posts: 533
Honorable Member
 

Definitely a shortage of skilled nurses on St. Croix, so finding work should be easy.  The idea of becoming a traveling nurse to give the Territory a trial run is a great one, assuming the hospitals here are still doing this as they were after the 2017 storms.

As others have said the islands are very different. In my opinion St. Croix is the best choice if you’re looking for somewhere to live, mostly because it’s much less of a tourist destination.  That said, St. John is the most beautiful but its population is small (around 5K) so your options are always limited and it’s expensive.  St. Thomas, while having a much larger population (around 50K, same as St. Croix) is both smaller than St. Croix and has a very busy cruise ship port.  To me it’s busier and very much geared towards tourism, it does have some incredibly beautiful and peaceful places but you’ll have a more difficult time escaping the tourism vibe.

St. Croix by comparison is the “land of the misfit toys”, with lots of folks who have moved here to escape civilization because they march to a slightly different drummer.  It also has a growing seasonal population and seems to be enjoying something of a comeback, given the amount of investment in things like restaurants and hotels.  Like St. Thomas there’s reasonable infrastructure, not nearly to the same level as the mainland but acceptable as long as you’re adaptable.

I think it’s important to point out, don’t expect the islands to change.  Island time is a real thing and all change moves at a snails pace.  If you’re okay with that reality it’s a wonderful community.

The people are genuinely kind and friendly, the list of things to do is enormous, the restaurant scene is very surprising (in a good way) and the natural beauty can be breathtaking.  It gets a little hot and humid during the summer months, not nearly as bad as Florida and there is the risk of a major hurricane.  These are few and normally far between.  The non-major hurricanes, while still exciting, aren’t anything to fear.  Coming face to face with the full force of a category 5 storm, assuming your home is exposed, isn’t advisable.  The Territory is investing heavily to harden its basic infrastructure, which should help speed recovery with the inevitable future major storm.

My wife and I live on St. Croix more than half the year, buying a home in early 2019, we’re retired.  I could easily live here year round but my wife struggles with the hot humid weather of summer and we do have a lovely home in New England.  That said it’s been very easy to fit into the community, we’ve made a bunch of new friends and love the island.

 
Posted : April 1, 2024 5:31 pm
Regular6 reacted
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