Life as a Nurse in North Carolina

Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. My name is Luciana Da Silva with Connetics USA Nursing Agency. We are a direct hire company. We recruit nurses from all over the world to come live in the United States work in the United States and pursue their American dreams. This is onwards and upwards. Welcome, everyone. We have a fantastic show for you today, we took a poll in all of our groups as which state you wanted to learn about next. Everybody's seem to say North Carolina. So let's give the people what they want. today. We'll be talking about North Carolina, things to do there. Tell us about the areas where people live, what are the fun things to do the climate. So let's get started. I'd like to introduce two guests today that came to us from North Carolina. We have Dr. James who is no stranger to onwards and upwards. You have definitely seen him here multiple times. Welcome, Dr. James. And we also have Denique who is a nurse in North Carolina. Hi, Denique. Hi. Welcome you both to the show. Welcome again to our audience. Let's learn about North Carolina. Denique, tell us about yourself.

Well, I'm a registered nurse and I am from Jamaica. I have been in North Carolina now for I want to say a little bit over a year. I'm almost at my two year mark. So definitely looking forward to that. Welcome. That's absolutely wonderful. Dr. James, tell us about yourself. Hey, good morning. Good evening, everyone. I'm James. I am a nurse, obviously, and I'm originally from the Philippines. I came to the US in 2002. I work in the hospital for a lot of years. And currently I am an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina and Charlotte. Thank you for having me again. Absolutely. You were on our show about the next generation NCLEX we have another one of those shows coming up to thank you so much again for joining us. Of course you at home if you would like to live and work as a health care worker here in the United States. Go to our website apply. Our recruiters are waiting to speak with you Conneticsusa.com/application. Or you can always take a photo of that QR code right there and get yourself started. We are waiting for you. Let's talk about North Carolina. Let's get into it. Denique Why did you choose North Carolina?

Hmm Well, one of the biggest reasons why I chose North Carolina is that I was a pediatric nurse back home and they were offering pediatric position. So I decided to take it and I also had a friend that was working at the facility that I'm that I'm currently at now. And another reason is the Climate The climate tell us about the climate Dr. James um yeah, climate in North Carolina is I would say it's great it's moderate we don't have those crazy interests like we have up north or you know, the hot summer in the south. So North Carolina is geographically located in the middle so we you can enjoy the four seasons. Yeah, especially now it's like the peak of fall so all the leaves are turning you know, red, orange, all the different colors, exciting, vibrant colors. And there's actually a funny you know, a meme about North Carolina we're in fall you experienced this four seasons within a year you can also experience the four seasons in a day. Because it's morning it's spring. Yeah, at about 8am It can be maybe feeling like summer, you know, in the early afternoon so yeah, like it's a snowing in some parts and you know, on the other side of the town, it's fall. So it's crazy. It's but it's great. It's really very moderate. I love it. That's one reasons why I've been you know, I didn't go to another state I we will live we live in for 20 years. And that's one of the reasons like what Derek said, you know, the weather here the climate is great. Yeah.

Well for our viewers at home, let's take a look at a map of the United States and figure out where exactly is North Carolina where this weather's coming from. Like you said, it's on the East Coast. The Appalachian Mountains are there which is absolutely beautiful. And there are also very historic cities there that we will also be talking about. I personally know North Carolina I have family that lives there. My parents immigrated here to the United States from Brazil to be healthcare workers. And everybody seemed to end up in North Carolina. I'm in California, but it is absolutely a wonderful place. And there you can see on the map where it's located. Dominique, what had you heard about North Carolina? Before you moved there?

I heard that the people love to barbecue. I heard they're always having a good time, you know, going out to eat at any chance they got any was always about the barbecue. You were hearing about that southern food, huh? Yes, yes. Dr. James, give us an idea. How long have you been in North Carolina and eaten that amazing food? Yeah, I've been here 20 years. So yeah, we came in July of 2002. And, yeah, that was one of the pleasant surprises. You know, it's like, the hospital where that's hard. You know, it's like, okay, let's have a tour of the city. And they, they brought us to their showcase, you know, the southern foods and barbecue. You know, in the Philippines barbecue is, you know, the barbecue, or you have the grill, you know, in skewers, and here, it's more of like a sandwich just put pork, it's like, where's the meat? You know, it's like, but you know, the first time we tried it, it's like, what is this? Look, you know, you're gonna kind of get used to it. And it's actually yeah, there's even what we call here a barbecue festival. So Lexington, here's like, 30 minutes away from my town. So barbecue is a big thing. southern comfort foods, so it's great. Yeah.

When you say barbecue, let's be a little bit more specific. Because in the United States barbecue is a big deal. And every area has their own sort of barbecue. Before we get into that, I do want to say hello to our audience. We have people here in the chats, please tell us in the chat where you're from give us questions about North Carolina, we're here to answer them for you. Let's get into that amazing barbecue didn't make. Tell us about it. So as Dr. James said, we are used to barbecue being you know, an event you know, you get your grill and you go and you put some burgers and hotdogs and you have a barbecue. But here barbecue is pulled pork, they have like different sauces, they have their own sick signature sauce, different areas of the South and also North Carolina have different sauces. And it's just pulled pork on a sandwich or pulled apart by itself with mashed potatoes and gravy or green beans. So barbecue is really just the pull pork.

I absolutely love that. There's nothing like talking about food here in the United States. Everything is meat. Well, I would like to do a fun quiz with both of you and our audience about North Carolina. So here we go. You at home, put in the chat what you believe is the answer. We'll give it a little bit of time. Because I know that there's a bit of a lag there between when I read the question and when our audience hears that. So let's start with number one. The state capital of North Carolina is blank. Audience put in your answers and let's take a look. Okay, we are seeing some answers here in the chat. Keith is saying Raleigh as well. Dr. James, what is the state capital of North Carolina? Exactly rally, Raleigh. Wonderful, very good and looks like everybody in our chat. Got it as well. Great. Let's go to number two. I have to have my game show host voice. North Carolina's nickname is tar heel state. North Carolina's nickname is thar blank state. Type in your answers. Let's take a look here at the knowledge about North Carolina.

Yes, Tar Heel State. The Tar Heels state very good. And we'll be getting more into detail about what that means. Next question. North Carolina is the birthplace of Bill it in our Lean. There you go Pepsi Cola. Let's see if that's the word get there we go Pepsi Cola, not Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola. There is a big difference. Next question. Blank was founded in North Carolina. Our audience here. That's the city where I live. I take pride in saying that, you know, listen, Salem is the birthplace of this one. And let's figure out the answer. Let's reveal it. Our chat is going nuts here. I think everybody knows it. Oh, that's good. Mm hmm. The nape? What is the answer here? Do you know Krispy Kreme? Kreme donut? My husband is also an immigrant health care worker. And he is obsessed with Krispy Kreme since he moved here to the United States. I think I'm going to end up this big in a couple of years. So delicious. Dr. Krispy Kreme. It's, you know, right there where you are. Tell us about it.

Yeah, Krispy Kreme. Yeah. So basically, you know, this donuts, you know, but what is interesting, though, is if you travel internationally, because I do a lot of international travels, and they're Krispy Kreme is like, wow, it's adapted to their culture. But yeah, it originated here in North Carolina, and I've used it as one of our tourist spots. I mean, or whenever we have visitors like, Hey, you want to go to visit the original in a Krispy Kreme, so? Yeah, their doughnuts are like, it's so good. Especially Buy One Get One bucks free. You know? Let me get those two boxes. Welcome to America. Everything is big. Everything is bigger. The cars, the streets. The food. Yes, unlimited refills of that Pepsi Cola. Let's move on from food before we get too hungry, hungry, too hungry. Didn't eat. Tell us about where you live. Tell us about the city.

So I am in Greenville, North Carolina. Greenville is home to Eastern Carolina University, and formerly violent Medical Center. But now they recently changed the name to ECU Health Center Medical Center. So just a small town with those two large entities. The hospital that I'm at ECU is actually the largest employer in our town. To just see it as a small town with diverse culture. What are some of the closest attractions there? What do you do for fun there? Well, what do I do for fun? I would I try a lot of different restaurants. So even though we try to move from food, you know, I'm taking us back there. But most times, you know, I'll go to the movies or I will we have a lot of shows during the summer. So on Sundays, you can go to our town common and they'll have Sundays in the park music in the park. We have our State Fair in September, not state fair or tone fair. So to Pitt County Fair in September. Sometimes I'll go to River Park north and go kayaking. I mean, one of the pictures that you saw, but mostly just go trying different restaurants.

Well, it seems like that there's a lot of outdoor activity where you're living. Dr. James, tell us about your area. Yeah, um, I live in Winston Salem, which is calling the foothills because you know, geographically in North Carolina, we have the sea in the east and you know, the mountains on the west and you know, I'm right there in the middle towards the mountains. Winston Salem is the fifth largest city in North Carolina. And it's a very I wouldn't say it's getting more diverse. It's a way different compared to how it was 20 years ago. And like what Nick said, you know, there's a lot of diverse you know, restaurants in terms of you want to have like Italian food and Mediterranean or thigh Filipino foods, so we have a lot of those. It's a it's just been voted as you know, whenever they published like the top 100 and see these are top 50 cities to live in the US so we went from Salem, it's always one of it always has a place on those rankings. So that's again the reason why I stuck here I got sucker for green does too.

Yeah. And they're both very green areas the East Coast especially North Carolina is very different than let's say San Diego where I am right now. It's so green. It's like this lush, beautiful green and like you said, you have the beach on the east Appalachian Mountains, which different kinds there, right you have the Blue Ridge. And those mountains are actually blue. Yeah, we're actually gonna go there you know, in two weeks because like you know, during the fall, the best place to go is into the mountains because you'll appreciate those foliage and open the trees turn into their different colors, and then the summer and you can go to the beach, you know, and have fun. So this is really very diverse, you know, very great attractions, the natural attractions you know, all year round.

Speaking of attractions, we have some questions going on in the chat here from our nurses. So let's take a look at people saying hello, first of all we had leg be saying nice Stephanie saying good morning. Good morning, Karolina from leg V. Katrina is saying I emailed Connetics about the job interviews, but I didn't receive any reply sad face let me say that Connetics has grown in leaps and bounds, especially within the last couple of years, why there's a huge nursing shortage here in the United States. We need nurses, Connetics, amazing company direct hire, like we talked about. And we are getting a lot of, of applications from nurses. So our recruitment team is trying diligently they literally work around the clock to try to get in touch with every nurse that applies. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer than others. But thank you so much, Katrina, for your patience. And we will definitely be getting in touch with you and helping you with your American dream. If you would like to fill out an application and apply go live in North Carolina, or California or New York or Texas we have positions for every specialty all over the United States, apply Conneticsusa.com/application. Now we have another question here.

Hello, I'm Stephanie Dorval. I am Haitian I'm a nurse. I also have a master's degree in this field, which I did in Brazil, at the University of bed Buka sorry, if I'm saying that correctly. Through the newspapers, I see that the USA is recruiting people I would like to embark on a new adventure, which is to put my skills to the benefit of the American Health System. How can you help me make my dream a reality? What an amazing message. And like I just explained, go to our website and apply we'll be happy to help you achieve your American dream. Bashar is saying hello from Nigeria. Hello everyone from Jamaica from our lien. We also have Allah das so day, which is saying who's saying Good afternoon watching from Nigeria, we have the Philippines in the house. People from all over the world. We absolutely love it. Let's go back to Denique here. You moved to North Carolina. What was it like on your first day of work? As a nurse tell us about it was a little bit intimidating at first. Back home, we still use paper charting. So getting used to Epic and using you know the technology here in the United States was a bit nerve wracking at first, but I must say that my facility, my manager, the other my colleagues on my now unit, you know, they were very receptive, welcoming, so that kind of helped to take some of the nerves off any questions I had. They were willing to answer and assist. So the first day was a good one. I must say that it feel kind of like Whenever you were a kid, it was your first day at school. You have those butterflies?

Yes, yes. Yes, it did. But you know, for me, it was just because I know nursing is the same. And I think a lot of nurses, they'll have that fear. But you know, nursing is the same it right across the board. But it's just the difference in terms of the culture, how things are done in your country, at your previous hospital, versus in the United States and technology getting used to the technology used here. Yes, the United States, in our hospitals, our technology is, you know, very, very high tech, let's say especially compared to a lot of other countries. Dr. James, you work in a university, you are a professor working with that people from all over the world. Tell us? How is North Carolina different from where you're originally from? In the Philippines? We know it's been 20 years? And then what do you see from your students? What kind of questions do they ask what are they feeling with their journey here? Yes, I'm in our university, it's a very diverse university, you know, we have like 30,000 students, we were the second largest university in the state. And we have a lot of those are all doing nursing, we have lesser international students, but you know, whenever we have this international nursing students, it's always good to, you know, look into their perspectives and how, you know, the differences in their, in their, in their countries. Of course, Philippines and the US, you know, even if I've been a nurse in the Philippines for like, 10 years before I came here, it is still very different.

And what I see as you know, the students questions, it's more about how they interact with their patients, because communication has been one of those issues for international nurses, you know, because, like, you know, not only for the language, but the context of another slang that we use. So, um, and what I really like is that being an international nurse, myself, and ever we have international students, you know, they have that sense of connection, that there's someone who understands, you know, their journey, so they kind of come to talk to me more often compared to other faculty, because, you know, it's like, okay, we know what you went through. So there is that, you know, international migrant story or an experience. But also, I would like to add on to maybe to piggyback on what Denique said, because I started working in a hospital, I was fortunate enough that, you know, the hospital created a task force to orient us, give us a program that is different from the American Nurses because they know we come from different background. So that was really, really very helpful. So we had other aspects of our training to help us transition to the US healthcare system. Yes. And at UNC, we're talking about University of North Carolina earlier in our quiz, there was that question about the Tar Heel states? Dr. James, who are the Tar Heels?

Yeah, dark house, our house, you know, so won't it? Yeah. Why did our house first you know, it? That's a that's a term that was coined during the Civil War, where, you know, in North Carolina, it was a no slowly either they work in coal mines, so you know, the, the, the footprints, you know, they have those cold doesn't, you know, and they're in their foot in their heels. So it's like a Tar Heel starts black. Alright. So it refers to those slowly jobs that they had in the state way back then. But you know, it has become the headquarters, the official like nickname for Carolina, which is the number one, you know, school in the state and one of the top five in the entire US. They call themselves star Hill. So we take pride in you know, Hey, Tom Hill, so you watch football or basketball and you see the star hills? Yeah, so that's the sky blue color.

Yes. Yeah. Blue. Yeah. Carolina. Right. They call it the Carolina blue. It's  a little bit of a baby blue. And in North Carolina, North Carolina, UNC and football and basketball and everything. They have a huge a really big rifle in the den. Yes. Who is that rival? Do you know do you do you? Where's Duke located? Do you think is in Raleigh? I think or just around Raleigh? Durham, Durham. Yes, yes. Yes. So let's get into Raleigh. aid and how that whole area works because we're actually getting a question here from in the chat. Say Hi there. I'm from the Philippines and I want to have insights about living in Durham. Is the Filipino community active and do they have nearby Filipino stores? So first, let's get into Durham. There is an area in North Carolina and it's called the triangle. And Dr. James, can you explain the triangle to us? Sure, yeah, the triangle is composed of the three big cities rally Chapel Hill and Durham, it's actually called now like the Research Triangle Park or RTP. Because that area, um, they have a lot of big hospitals, medical centers, we have Duke University or hospital, we have the UNC hospital. And those three big universities, they are the pioneering, you know, institutions in the state advanced research. It's, it's so both education and healthcare, that's the, that's what defines, you know, that area, they have those big schools like UNC Duke. And the school system in that area is also huge. They have the highest the largest community college system. So what else cost of living is relatively more expensive. It's one of those works, that's areas in the state.

They're more expensive than ours here in the trial, we call our area that triad is really a a huge metropolitan area, you know, that Research Triangle Park, so that Durham rally, Chapel Hill area, it's a very busy, very vibrant, it's a you know, it's college people, you know, the, and that's also where my kids graduated at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. So yeah, Tar Heels State. Healthcare probably would be you know, if you're after those two things, come to North Carolina, you will never know those are world renowned. It's not only within the US there are world renowned medical centers and universities. Yes. and unique. You were saying that there's also a university in your city that's very, very popular as well. Yes. Tell us about that university. I like I love that we're getting into universities here in the education because everything is also about ongoing career growth, no matter where you're living. Give us an idea about that university, where you so Greenville I forgot to mention before so we are the eastern parts of the state. So the University in Greenville is Eastern Carolina University. So the Z UNC has a Tar Heel. So we have the pirates. And our colors are gold and purple. It's a large university. They have the Brody School of Medicine, they have nursing, you know, the sky's the limit. And as I said, Our hospital is now Eastern Carolina University Medical Center. So you know, coming to that hospital, they have a good partnership with the University. So if you're considering North Carolina, Greenville would be a good place to come because you have your hospital and you also have the university.

There, Nick, we have a question here from Ma Jovi. Mr. Alvarez doing great on these names today. Can you share something about traffic in North Carolina? Philippines is the best at it. So driving in and many places can be you know, we say in Brazil, your heart in your hands. What is the traffic like in North Carolina? Denique so I'll speak about Greenville. First, the traffic isn't bad. Most places, it's probably a 1015 minute drive to get to where you need to go. Only if they're doing road work or there's probably an accident, you know that you may have a little bit of a delay so nothing probably 20 minutes the most. Where I live to the hospital is seven minutes so it takes me seven minutes to get to work. So here in Greenville. The traffic isn't bad at all. But when you get outside of Greenville, you go to where Dr. James is or you know the rally where the airport is. The traffic can really be terrible, you know, an hour delay sometimes more. But yeah, the traffic it can be bad and it can be good depending on the area that you are.

You said driving to work do you recommend if a nurse is moving to North Carolina? Do they need a car are there Their modes of public transportation. Let's start with the NIC. And then we'll move to Dr. James. Yes, in Greenville, you'd need a car to get around. They do have a public bus system. But it's one it's not as reliable. And to it, I think it stops running at six. So it starts about eight in the morning and stops by six. And it doesn't go to like every route, you know, every area in Greenville that you'd want to go. So you definitely wouldn't need a vehicle to get around. In Greenville. What about in Winston Salem, Dr. James? Yeah, same thing. We have a public transportation, we have the buses, but you know, it only runs to a certain time. Like I think the last is 11. It's a bus system or anything that we have to wait for, like maybe 15 minutes before the next bus. So it's highly recommend that you have your own car. And I think that's a norm here in North Carolina, unless you go to Charlotte. And that's where I work at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Charlotte in general, they have a metro system, they have a train. So depending on where you work, and where you live, you can probably guess you know, it's cheaper to go by the train. But to go to other parts of the city or parts of the state, then definitely you need to have your car. Yep. It's like I wouldn't say the primary modes of transportation. If you really want to go mobile, so we're not really linked to a lot of trains, like the other big cities. Yeah.

Yeah. And it seems like that that's a general rule in the United States. For most places that nurses want to live. There are the exceptions, but a car hitting the highway, one arm on the wheel. That's the, that's America. And then, you know, Uber as well, Uber can be expensive, and I know they probably would have heard about Uber or the Lyft. But you know, that can get pretty expensive. And I know for here in Greenville, you don't always have an Uber like in certain times of the night certain places. So you definitely would need a car to get around. Or their taxis. Yeah, yeah, there. But not as reliable. Yeah, not as reliable. Okay. Well, that's really good to know. And speaking about transportation, let's get into some fun places that both of you have been Where you've traveled around the state. Denique, where have you traveled for fun around your city?

So I've been to around my city. I've just done local places, restaurants. We have a trampoline park the movies, and you know, the town common or green areas and outside of Greenville. I've been to Wilmington, I've been to the beach. I've been to Charlotte, and I've been to rally. So those are three places I've been or two places outside of Greenville. Have you done any traveling around the United States and seen any other sites since you've been here? I have. I have family in New York. So I've traveled to New York a couple of times I've driven so you know, been through a couple of states stop, you know, had had lunch and just kind of sites saw some stuff for a little bit. And then continued New York City. Are they in Manhattan? Are you going into Manhattan or up in Manhattan, but they're in the Bronx, in the Bronx. So that is just east of Manhattan. And it's also a beautiful area there. How long is that trip? How long did that take? The GPS says eight hours but it takes me about 10

That's one of those one arm on the wheels, right. Dr. James, tell us about some other cities that you've traveled to in the state. Okay, yeah. First of all, I'd like to say no travel is my nickname. Traveling, I'm actually traveling and after this, this, this talk. So within the state I've been to, well 30 minutes to the Ansan of Greensboro we have like a new like a Broadway style theater bigger than Broadway actually. So if you're looking at the culture theater, you can go there. They have like a huge waterpark wet in the wild. And, you know, Wilmington near the beach and the mountains have been to Asheville to as far as Tennessee but you know, it hasn't been my goal to go to all those 50 states. I'm very selective to where I go. But I've been to as you can see here, California to Alaska to New York. Both of my kids now living there. York and Manhattan in the Upper East Side. So they I've been I've been, you know, a lot of I've been to Chicago, Florida, Virginia, Washington, DC. So what else? Georgia, Carolina blue. And if we could go back to that photo there of your children, that's Yeah.

Yeah. So yeah, they're the my son graduated in 2018. I'm a daughter in 2020. So those are Carolina blue tar hills. And the picture of the middle of that said, so we were like the first year of you know, migrating here in the US. We weren't we were kids. We were all kids. It's always a fun time. And it's great that you've been able to do a lot of traveling around the United States. And it's just time. Right, didn't it? Do you have any places in the US that you're just longing to go to? California? Yes. I want to see what Vegas is like. Las Viva party for Vegas, don't do it for more than three days, because it's really hard. Try more than that. Don't sleep Vegas doesn't sleep be that doesn't sleep. So that'll be a lot of fun. And hopefully, you'll win a lot of cash from all of that gambling over there. So moving on, let's talk a little bit more about North Carolina here. I have this question for the neck shopping. How's the shopping there?

Shopping is good. For me, I have to get out of Greenville. If I want to go to like the bigger malls so in Raleigh or Charlotte, I'd have to get out to go to the bigger malls but shopping is good here in North Carolina have pretty much any store that you can think of it's hair, but all the good shopping areas are backup. Dr. James side. Dr. James going to you now what's the shopping like, man? Go for it. Yeah, my, my actually, you know, back then my wife was suckered into shopping like another girl or woman right. But the fun fact is that, you know, women in Winston Salem, you know, in a survey national survey, they have the largest spending among all the different cities in the entire US and I'm like, that's probably stop here. So because, yeah, because keep in North Carolina, and we go they compete and you know, especially like, sales season now that Black Friday is coming, you know, next month. I mean, literally, it's like, you know, having them for free because it shopping is just amazing. We have a lot of outlets, you know, the outlet malls, where you know, if you can drive for like an hour, 45 minutes, then you can get those deals better price lower price than what you would get in a mall? Yes. So I mean shopping. In our area.

It's like it's so tempting, you know, sometimes, because you don't have any plans for shopping that you go home with like, oh my god, I just found like $200 in the south know how to dress. That is for sure. It's very different than say where I am in California where everybody's in flip flops and a T shirt. Not the nurses but mostly other people. And in on the East Coast. It is more formal. It is you know more not traditional, but just very nice. Ladies are ladies, gentlemen are gentlemen. The door helping you know, Hey, can I carry those heavy groceries for you? You're trying to parallel park? Somebody's helping you out? Yeah.

Yeah, if I may add a speaking off, you know, how you dress. Because since we have four seasons, you know, you change wardrobe every three months. You know. It's like, I think if you're a fashionista fall, it's probably the best. More during the winter, and then you know, you were last year in spring in the summer. So I mean, you have all those different so when you go to the malls, depending on which season you're and you know, you have a lot of different changes. And that's why I said you know, alluding to the shopping like it's full so all the summer codes are on sale right now. So that's why people shuffle a lot. So you can have a lot of those different wardrobes on different parts of times of the year. Yes. And as you were you were saying loose CNN this, I don't know if they do it in a north or probably where you are. But here in the south, they say that you don't wear white after Labor Day. So you have to, you know, coordinate your dress code or your wardrobe until the end of next year until the end of this year with no whites.

It at the rule goes, it's from Memorial Day, which is like the kickoff weekend of summer here in the United States. It's at the very end of May. So it's Memorial Day to Labor Day, which is at the very end of August, early September. Only time you can wear white, that's socially acceptable. Yes. However, this crazy rules about fashion, you know, yeah, yeah. Well, it is a wonderful place to be you were saying that as far as fashion goes, you're constantly having to change your wardrobe. You're also saying that there are the four seasons, give us a little bit more detail about that? What's the weather like? How's it there right now? How was it last month. So right now, um, we're, it's a little bit cold for fall, it's been in the 30s for this past week. Last month, it was a little warmer, I would say 50s 60s. We're still feeling some of that summer temperature. So right now it's the fall, you know, the fall that Dr. James talked about, you know, the leaves are changing, and it's absolutely beautiful. So now, you know, you have to kind of layer up so it can't just be flip flops, and just a tank top, you know, you have to probably wear a shirt and a jacket on over it. And then in November, we'll continue December will be winter. And that's when you really have to bundle up not as much as New York or anywhere up north, but you definitely want to get warmer.

One thing I do love about North Carolina is that or winters are not bad. We have mild winters are snow doesn't stick. So last year, in January, we had a snow D. I know my side in Greenville, or snow was up to about four and a half inches. And that was the largest they've seen in a while. And that was it. No more snow, everybody was back to normal. But winters are pretty mild here. And then winter, we get into spring, spring, you know, things are starting to warm up. It can get cold sometimes during spring. So you don't want to just take out your tank tops and your shorts and your flip flops right away. Because there will be days where it will get cold. And like Dr. James said, You'll leave the house and it's sunny outside and by 12 o'clock. It's a thunderstorm and you're like where did this weather come from? And then by three, four o'clock, it's bright again. And everything is good. And then you have summer you get out your barbecue, your grill, your flip flops and your shorts.

And you head to the beach because yeah, beaches. There are mountains. Yes. And like you were saying the mild winters. But there it does get quite a bit of snow, especially in the mountains, doesn't it? Yes.

Yes. Oh, that's our North Carolina because it's yeah, it's a mountain. So they usually have the first days of fall first days of winter. So whenever it's close, it's usually snows more in the western part of North Carolina more than the in the middle and in the East. And the weather. Yeah, two weeks ago, it was like so summer here and then this Wednesday, just this week, you know, our temperatures dropped to below freezing. Like one Celsius, right? And I was 12 Celsius. So we have those crazy weather. You know, it just like didn't make sense. Like where did this weather come from? Yeah, what did they smile? It's generally mild. Yes. Well, you can make snow angels, which is always really fun. Maybe a white Christmas. I love a snow a good snow ball fight. I'm not great at it. But that's always fun, too. And this weather that Dr. James is talking about. It's very actually it's a special event in a way because they're hitting record lows on the east coast. So it's not normal. You don't get this every year in October. Usually it's still very much it's fall. You have a beautiful fall there. And especially like we were saying up in the mountains, the fall and even the snow later on is just absolutely gorgeous. I want to take some questions from the chat right now. Let's see where you're saying okay.

Deborah Amara, what does your offer look like? And what's the process for someone that has passed the NCLEX? And almost done with the visa screening process with CGS? And CGFNS? Please let me know. Well, great question, you are on the right track, you are checking off all of those boxes to come here to the United States. What you need to do is go to our website and apply Conneticsusa.com/application, we're right there, we're ready to help you out if you have your NCLEX if you're almost done with your visa screen with the CGFNS, which we do help applicants with, but it looks like that you're already on that right track. So whenever you apply to Connetics, it shouldn't take too long. And Dr. James, you are an NCLEX expert for those of our nurses who are watching right now who don't know what the NCLEX is. And it's important, just to touch on that just for a little bit for a minute. While we're having the show and having those questions. Tell us about it.

Yeah, so for you to come over to the states and work as a nurse, you have to pass the NCLEX Arts and National Council licensure examination for registered nurses, it's a long name. So it's starting with NCLEX. So the NCLEX is the first step when you apply for any nursing position. And Connetics is one of those requirements. And then you just need to prepare, it's because it's very different from how you probably were taught or tested in nursing school, internationally. And depending on if you're planning to take the NCLEX if you haven't done so yet. So just keep in mind that in April of next year, that test plan will change. And I know we're gonna have a series of shows regarding the NCLEX. So for more details about that, yeah, 22 we cannot act. So it's like the licensure exam you need to pass or to have before you they can initiate that application process and before you can come in to work in the US.

Absolutely. And also those English exams as well. You can watch Connetics college every Monday, we actually do NCLEX prep classes completely free for you to help you pass that test as well as all the different English exams. So once again, apply on our website Conneticsusa.com/application. Thank you so much, Dr. J. For explaining that to our audience. We really appreciate it. We have let's see people are tagging their friends. Francis is asking about the outlet stores. Dr. James, you told us about that already. See Ren is watching from Manila. Sarah from Zimbabwe. Pedro is asking are you Brazilian Luciana. My parents immigrated to the United States from Brazil as healthcare workers. I was born here in the United States. But yes, the majority of my family is still in Brazil important, though likely. Just to answer your question there. We're also getting hello from Japan. How's COVID-19 situation of NC healthcare system right now? The Nikkei? I'll let you answer that question.

I it's a lot better. I think about two weeks ago or three Dr. James can help me or Governor Roy Cooper lifted the mandates, you know, the mask mandates and everything. So I must say that my hospital I've noticed that the numbers, you know, we have drastically decreased it so it's getting a lot better. The push for the vaccinations, a lot of persons have been vaccinated still being vaccinated. So that has also helped quite a lot to reduce the numbers.

So it's very different than say a year ago. Yes, definitely. Definitely. Are people still wearing masks in North Carolina? Not as much? No. You do have a few persons like you know, at supermarkets or other stores. They'll wear but majority don't wear masks anymore. We're also getting a question here from Keith. Going back to weather. How about natural disasters? Is North Carolina prone to flooding, hurricanes, et cetera? Denique, have you seen any sort of crazy weather? Dr. James shaking his head? No. Yeah, he's been here for 20 years. But I know hurricanes Dr. James like probably a few will come because even the one Ian that was our most recent hurricane in the United States. I think some parts of North Carolina got like ultra bands. I know from Ian, but generally no, no. Yeah. If you were to compare it to the different you know, National Natural disasters Across the country, I mean, again, pretty mild. We don't have no violent tornadoes that we have in Florida or those tornadoes into Central, you know us. You may have this tornado warning.

So once in a while, but it's rare that we have a top down, you know, and it's just very mild. I think because of the geography, you know, North Carolina has protected us a lot from those tornadoes and the hurricanes. So nothing, nothing really. That's out of ordinary, you know, yeah. So it's, it's a good weather system here. Yeah, absolutely. And a lot of community support when if there are natural disasters in the United States, you may see on the news that there's a lot of community support people helping each other through those natural disasters. So if you do live in an area that is more prone to natural disasters, like Florida, you're looking at hurricanes in the southeast, or in the Midwest, are looking at tornadoes, and these happen all over the world, too. But the beautiful thing, is the community support everybody helping their neighbors in need. How has community support overall been for you? What have you experienced living in North Carolina?

It has been it has been really good. The salt is known for that hospitality, you know, that southern hospitality. So arriving in the US, my hospital, like Dr. James had mentioned, they had a program solely for international nurses. So aside from the assistance that we got, as international nurses at our hospital, we were also able to be paired or linked with the other persons that, you know, from, for me from Jamaica, that would have been in Greenville for a couple years. They were able to show me around, you know, introduce me to church introduce me to where they go shopping. You know, so community support has been really good. That's southern hospitality, that you hear off it. It's the real deal. The real deal. I love to hear that. We're getting a question here, going back to Dr. James, and I'm kind of jumping around here. But we don't have much time left. And I want to make sure that we answer as many questions as possible. Dr. James, how can we get a hold of you to get NCLEX tips I just started and it's very confusing. Don't know where to start. Love Sarah.

Yeah, thank you know, I have a Facebook group. If I mentioned here, it's cleaning, review and nursing review. You can search on it and just type in and you know, send a request to join. I have a lot of those endless resources. And I have posted questions. It's a five year old group. And right now we have like 6000 members. So you can add on and learn as much about NCLEX. The details about NCLEX on that page. It's called nursing review, very generic nursing review on Facebook groups. It's a we'll make sure to put the link to your group in the chat. It's absolutely phenomenal. And it was a community support that you began just not making any money off of it or anything like that just to help.

Yeah. If I if I have some mentioned, I want to add on what Denique said about community support because I thought I know there was a question earlier than I think I failed to respond to that. My apologies. Yeah, there's also a lot of those nurses groups in North Carolina I somebody asked about the restaurants or you know, Asian stores. So the Philippine Nurses Association for example of North Carolina is very active. There are multiple you know, associations all throughout the state because I think I Filipino from Anil asked that so they have a big you know, representation and in the triangle and Durham area in the Charlotte area and here in New Instance. So this also is going to be one of your support not only for your professional support but also people oh you know, for same people for you came from so a lot a lot of support and southern hospitality is like a trademark really. So I'm glad that Nick mentioned that.

It is a trademark just in the last couple of minutes i in this is a big topic and we do have an entire show that we did on this. If you want to go to our website and check it out cost of living. There's a difference between the two places that you live. Denique if you'll give us kind of a range. What are you paying for rent one bedroom, two bedroom, just a range. So one bedroom can go from anywhere from 800 to 1002 and two bedrooms can go anywhere. where you're from 900 to 1003. And cost of living here, I'm sorry, you can't I was gonna say that cost of living here in Greenville is very good compared to other parts of the state, you know, it's very affordable here in Greenville and hosing is, you know, after you may finish your contract you're thinking of staying here in North Carolina housing is very, very affordable here in North Carolina. versus you know, up north a lot of persons from up north are moving to North Carolina and also the South because of our affordability of housing and also other things.

And Dr. James, just a quick idea, cost of living in your city. Um, cost of living is relatively low, you know, you have your dollar can go a long way here in Winston Salem, you know, that's why I alluded to the shopping earlier, just so people can shop a lot because it's cheap housing. People are buying the houses, especially if you're an RM you know, like, at first you know, they were they were shocked why you were buying our houses like one year after we settled here in this in North Carolina. So it's relatively cheap if you want if you have a family, if you want to have like a strong you know, start and invest in your, you know, resources or home your card and everything. I agree with Nick, you know, come to North Carolina, it's relatively cheaper than going to you know, different states. Yes, your money will go a long way literally.

And if I must also add Luciana. Just like Dr. James, there are a lot of persons nurses that started out in North Carolina, finished their contract in North Carolina and stayed in North Carolina, it's one of those states that you do make a home hair. So it's not just about oh, I'm going to finish my contract and leave. It's one of those states that you stay you, your family love, love it. They enjoy it, and they stay. On the other hand, you know, people who started here and say, Oh, my God, you know, I want to venture daughters state, they went to Texas to California to wherever and then guess what, they came back? Because you know, and there was there was an exodus of nurses who came from New York, New Jersey, here in Winston Salem, you know, it's like they left or they started and they stayed here for good. So migration internal is so high in in North Carolina, that's that made us you know, like the number nine most populous state now because they love coming to North Carolina. So I hope you guys will also come and join us, you know, the next you're going to have extra eggs, we'll help you come here.

We'll help you get there. Let's go to the final advice, the neck, what is your final advice, if you could give any advice to a nurse at home right now in their home country thinking about coming to the United States and working it can be very scary. And it can be very scary. But I would say just have an open mind, the sky's the limit here in the United States, there's so much that you can achieve here. You know, just have an open mind come to have fun, come to work, make money, but also to further your studies have an open mind the sky's the limit? Dr. James, what is your final advice for our nurses. Um,

I've always believed that you know, to be successful in life, if you want to know what you want to do with your life, like you have to have a clear goal, you have a clear focus. If you do exert those BB efforts, baby steps, you know, towards that goal. So when you come to the US, What's your why? Why are you coming here? Do you want to earn money or just do and go back to your country or you want to hear you want to be here for like professional and personal growth? Or do you want to come here and you know, live forever? I mean, I mean, and totally migrate. So you have to deal with what your goal is? What's your why? Because I mean that will give meaning to your family here. So yeah, thanks for stronger. Absolutely. Well, thank you both so much for joining us today. It's been an absolutely great discussion. Arlene is saying great presentation. Michelle, great presentation. goads. Monique, wonderful people. Are you saying hello to Dr. James. Thank you both so much for joining us today. Before we end our show just a few things to remind our audience about first of all, let's take a look at our Connetics college schedule. Like I said we have some upcoming shows here NCLEX and Isles Pearson and the OET exams we do free, free classes to help you pass those exams.

Just like conductor James is group. So take a look at this schedule here. And you can also see it on our website. But every Monday 5am, California time, you'll see our experts giving you some classes on that. Next, our upcoming shows onwards and upwards shows on the 28th. The AR N transition, this is next week supporting your spouse aren't come to the United States, their spouse has come along to so that support is very important. That's why we're going to be talking about it. We're also going to be doing a healthcare facility showcase on advent health. An immigration Q&A The following week. Then on the 18th of November, med techs in the United States, RNs we have a lot of RNs here. But let's also talk about med techs. And we of course, we have our monthly love for a talk show. If you didn't catch the show on this past Tuesday, it was all about Filipino nurse associations. So go back on our website and take a look at that because that is that support that Dr. James was mentioning. Next Generation NCLEX is going to be on the 15th of November for the love for a talk show, as well as clinical differences in the med and search on December the 13th.

So lots of great shows coming up for everybody. We also have our Connetics initiatives, like we talked about $1,000 referral bonus, all you need to do is go to Conneticsusa.com/referral, and you can make $1,000 If you refer a nurse with NCLEX that is for a limited time. Also, we have our podcast, we have a new season that is going to be released very next week and the season is actually going to be about stateside exactly how we are talking today on this podcast nursing in America. We will cover all the different states in the United States to give you more information about what it's like living in particular cities. Thank you so much, everyone for joining us today. Please come back again next week. Same time, same channel, and of course, onwards and upwards. Have a great weekend everyone