All photos courtesy of the Convention & Visitors
Bureau of Greater Cleveland.

Drew Carey is right — Cleveland rocks!

Like a butterfly out of its cocoon, Cleveland has transformed itself from a drab and dirty factory town to one of the nation’s top cities in which to live and work, especially for those in the healthcare field. Among its many accolades, Cleveland was recently rated one of the most livable cities in America by Partners For Livable Communities, one of the top 10 cities for African-American women to live and work by Ebony Magazine, and one of the 30 best cities for young professionals to live by writer Sandra Gurvis.

The latter is particularly true for nurses. Cleveland has always been known for its prestigious medical facilities, and job opportunities are plentiful. Cleveland is also a city on the go, boasting a remarkable assortment of restaurants, activities, and attractions for fun-seekers of all ages.

A Bit of History

The City of Cleveland was founded in 1796 by General Moses Cleaveland, a surveyor with the Connecticut Land Company (the “a” was dropped in 1831 so the name would fit better on a newspaper masthead).

Sitting off the southern shore of Lake Erie, Cleveland quickly went from a small frontier town to a major center of manufacturing, shipping, and business. Today, it is headquarters for some of the biggest names in industry and service, as well as a burgeoning tourism and convention destination. An estimated 2.9 million people now live in the Greater Cleveland area, with half a million of them living within the city itself. As a result, Cleveland is now the 30th largest city in the US — and growing.

On Duty

Like most American cities, Cleveland is the victim of a nursing shortage, which translates into tremendous opportunity for nurses willing to relocate. The average annual RN vacancy rate in northeast Ohio is approximately 13%, which is slightly higher than the national average. The LPN vacancy rate is 20%.

A driving force in attracting new nurses to the Cleveland area is the Northeast Ohio Nursing Initiative (NEONI), which “represents the workforce interests of more than 60 members from 40 healthcare organizations to create and sustain a strong professional nursing workforce,” according to the Center for Health Affairs website www.chanet.org. NEONI’s mission includes attracting individuals to the nursing profession, facilitating education, improving public image, and increasing public understanding.

One of NEONI’s project highlights is a job shadowing program aimed at attracting young people to nursing by giving them an inside look at the profession. Through the program, high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors spend about six hours in a hospital setting paired with a nurse ambassador.

According to Lisa Anderson, MSN, vice president of the Center for Health Affairs, a metropolitan hospital association, nursing specialties most in demand in the Greater Cleveland area are telemetry, NICU, rehabilitation, med/surg, and adult ICU. “We have about 38 hospitals across northeast Ohio, so we’re heavy users of nurses,” Anderson says. Salaries for experienced registered nurses in the Cleveland area are quite competitive, with an average of $45,697 per year, which is about a grand less than the national average, but more than $2,000 more than the state average. The average salary for full-time LPNs is $31,324.

Most healthcare facilities in the Greater Cleveland area are moving away from recruitment bonuses in favor of extremely flexible scheduling and improved working conditions, Anderson notes. Parma Community General Hospital, for example, offers shifts suitable for parents who want to work while their children are in school. The RNs who fill these positions don’t do direct patient care; they’re support nurses who perform admissions, discharges, and patient education on inpatient floors, and assist triage nurses in the ED. “Employers are trying to find a good mix of benefits and working conditions that appeal to nurses so they will stay,” Anderson says. “They want to keep the nurses they have while recruiting new ones.”

Toward that goal, some facilities also waive refresher-course fees for nurses looking to reenter the profession and who agree to work for them for a specified length of time. “In addition, other facilities have created joint partnerships with local nursing education programs,” Anderson adds. “And a few schools, such as Cleveland State University and the University of Akron, are offering 15-month accelerated nursing programs.”

Graduate nurses can take advantage of various internship programs designed to ease their transition into the workplace. The Cleveland Clinic, for example, offers a six-month internship that allows graduate nurses to gain experience and practice their skills without being completely overwhelmed.

Nurses looking to further their education, or to mentor a student nurse, have a wide variety of nursing programs from which to choose in northeast Ohio. According to the Center for Health Affairs, the region offers five associate degree programs, nine baccalaureate programs, two doctoral programs, and 15 practical nursing education programs. No matter what your specialty, Cleveland has you covered.

“Cleveland also had one of the first nursing education articulation programs in the country,” Anderson says. “That’s an agreement among 22 schools to share common credit transfers so that LPNs don’t have to repeat course work. It puts LPNs on the fast track to becoming registered nurses, and RNs on the fast track for their bachelor’s degree.”

If you’re looking for challenging career opportunities, Greater Cleveland is the place to be. In fact, few cities can boast such a high number of quality healthcare facilities. For instance, U.S. News & World Report ranked the Cleveland Clinic third in its 2002 listing of the best hospitals in the US. In that same survey, the Cleveland Clinic was also rated the nation’s best hospital for cardiac care, with University Hospitals of Cleveland coming in at No. 22 and Hillcrest Hospital ranking No. 29. Cleveland’s Huron Hospital and MetroHealth Medical Center, as well as Middleburg Heights’ Southwest General Health Center ranked well in several other specialties.

In addition, the Cleveland Clinic recently achieved Magnet status, and University Hospitals of Cleveland has applied for this prestigious honor.

Off Duty

Anyone who thinks Cleveland is boring hasn’t visited the city in awhile. No matter what your interests — from sports to fine dining to heart-stopping thrill rides — Cleveland has it all.

Fabulous food. Cleveland is an incredible smorgasbord of ethnic diversity, which means a great dining experience for practically every taste. There are literally hundreds of excellent restaurants in the Greater Cleveland area, so we turned to the editors of Cleveland: The Official Visitors Guide, published by the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland, for some tips on the best places to eat.

If you’re looking for good, old-fashioned American dining that won’t cost you an arm and leg, check out Brasserie, Dick’s Last Resort, the Gridiron Grille at Cleveland Brown’s Stadium, or the Winking Lizard-Gateway. Steak-lovers shouldn’t miss the Cleveland Chophouse & Brewery, Ferris Steak House, John Q’s Steakhouse, Nick & Tony’s Italian Chop House, or Jack’s Steakhouse.

Have a hankering for seafood? Your dining choices include the Blue Point Grille, Hornblower’s, Watermark Restaurant, Charley’s Crab, and Pier W. Meanwhile, diners in the mood for something more international can pick from Creole (Fat Fish Blue), French (Chez Francois), Greek (Greek Isles Restaurant), Italian (Circo/Zibibbo, Frank & Pauly’s, Johnny’s Downtown), Japanese (Benihana Japanese Steakhouse and Seafood, Sakura Hibachi & Sushi, Sushi Rock), Mediterranean (Mad 4 You, The Cabin, Sans Souci Restaurant), Mexican (Mi Pueblo), Spanish (Marbella Restaurant), and even vegetarian (Tommy’s).

Visit the visually stunning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum to see the largest collection of rock-and-roll artifacts in the world.

Fun stuff. Everyone has his or her own idea of a good time. From vintage rock-and-roll to the tallest, fastest roller coasters, Greater Cleveland is the place to enjoy it all.

One of Cleveland’s most famous attractions is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Here, music-lovers can enjoy more than 50 different exhibits, exciting movie presentations, and the largest single collection of rock-and-roll artifacts in the world.

If football is more your thing, relive the glory of the gridiron at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in nearby Canton. It features an eclectic array of football exhibits, as well as the GameDay Stadium Theater, where visitors can enjoy some of the sport’s most exciting moments.

If you like your rides fast and furious, check out Cedar Point, which has been voted the best amusement park in the world the past four years.

If museums don’t get your heart pounding, check out Cedar Point in nearby Sandusky, which was voted the best amusement park in the world for the past four years by Amusement Today. It boasts 68 exhilarating thrill rides, including the world’s tallest and fastest roller coaster, which reaches speeds of 92 miles per hour. Other area amusement parks include Dover Lake Waterpark in Sagamore Hills; Goodtimes: The Center of Family Fun in Avon; and Six Flags Worlds of Adventure in Aurora, where you can ride not one, but four heart-stopping roller coasters.

Sports thrills. Professional athletics is practically a religion in Cleveland. Baseball buffs will want to visit renowned Jacobs Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, while football fans should schedule a tour of Cleveland Browns Stadium. If basketball is more your game, you can cheer for the Cleveland Cavaliers or the WNBA Cleveland Rockers, both of which play at Gund Arena, as does the Cleveland Barons minor league hockey team.

Watch the Cleveland Indians play at beautiful Jacobs Field
and get a great view of the city.

The Greater Cleveland area also caters to those who prefer to play rather than merely watch. Golfers will delight in swinging their clubs at the region’s more than 300 public and private courses, while fishing enthusiasts can try their luck against walleye, steelhead, and perch on Lake Erie aboard one of the area’s charter fishing boats.

Shopping fun. Like any bustling metropolis, Cleveland has more than its share of shopping malls and hot retail outlets. Downtown houses two malls, The Avenue at Tower City Center and The Galleria at Erieview, as well as three historic shopping arcades that feature a wide assortment of upscale stores and specialty shops. The outlying suburbs also have several shopping malls, most of which contain one or more of the nation’s most popular retailers, including Dillard’s, Kaufmann’s, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Serious shoppers will find plenty to like at The Avenue at Tower City Center.

Of particular interest to hardcore shoppers are Aurora Premium Outlets and Prime Outlets at Lodi, both of which sell name products at discount prices. No matter what you’re looking for, you’ll almost certainly find it at one outlet or the other.

Cleveland culture. As a city more than 200 years in the making, Cleveland is justifiably proud of its history and culture. The city is packed with must-see attractions — far too many to mention here. Some of the highlights include Hale Farm & Village, an outdoor living history museum that takes you back 155 years to the time when the Western Reserve was just being settled; the Steamship William G. Mather Museum, a 618-foot ore carrier that now serves as one of four Great Lakes freighter ship museums; the James A. Garfield National Historic Site, the home of our 20th president; and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, a tribute to Cuyahoga County residents who died in the Civil War.

Living Well

Cleveland has risen from its industrial roots to become an ultramodern city with a high standard of living and an ever-growing need for healthcare professionals in all specialties. The city’s ethnic breakdown reads like the United Nations, with German being the most common ethnicity, followed by African-American, Irish, Italian, English, Polish, and Hungarian.

According to the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland, the median household income in the area is $35,895, and the largest age group is 20-44 (35%), followed by 45-64 (23%), and 5-19 (21%).

The economy in the Greater Cleveland area has had its share of problems as a result of the recent economic downturn. However, healthcare has emerged stronger than ever, according to the Greater Cleveland Nurses Association, with stiff competition among providers and plenty of job opportunities for qualified applicants.

Housing in northeast Ohio is still a pretty good bargain, with the average single-family home selling for about $104,000. According to Apartmentassistant.net, residents of the Greater Cleveland area spend 40% to 60% less for housing than do residents of comparable metropolitan areas. This is just one reason that Cleveland was ranked the 14th best place to live out of 343 metropolitan areas by Places Rated Almanac.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) provides public transportation throughout Cleveland and 58 surrounding municipalities. Buses offer a convenient and inexpensive ride to virtually any destination within the city, with one-way fares starting at just $1.25. (All-day passes and other packages are also available.) The RTA system also features four rapid transit lines for quick-and-easy access to downtown Cleveland, Tower City Center, Flats Entertainment District, Cleveland Browns Stadium, Hopkins Airport, and other points of interest. Fares are a reasonable $1.50 each way.

Parents will be happy to know that Greater Cleveland has some of the best schools in the nation. Many of the region’s secondary schools are regarded as leaders in education, and there are 21 colleges and universities within the Greater Cleveland area, including Case Western Reserve University, John Carroll University, Cleveland State University, and Ursuline College.

What You Can See for a C-Note

You’ve been working hard and now you finally have a day off. Best of all, you have $100 to spend on anything you want. What should you do with that c-note? Let’s start with a relaxing breakfast at Brasserie, located in the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel. A scrumptious meal will set you back just $15 and fuel you up for our next stop — a morning visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, where the U2: In the Name of Love: Two Decades of U2 exhibit is currently drawing big crowds (the exhibit ends in September). The museum is open 10 AM to 5:30 PM (and until 9 PM on Wednesdays), and admission is just $18.

From there, let’s swing over to Alice Cooper’stown for lunch. The restaurant “where rock-and-roll and sports collide” is conveniently located near Jacobs Field and the Gund Arena, and most meals cost less than $15. If you’re lucky, maybe Alice Cooper himself will show up!

Now it’s time to stroll over to University Circle to enjoy one of the nation’s largest concentrations of cultural arts and educational institutions within one square mile. Our first stop is the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is considered one of the finest in the world, and even better, admission is free. From there, we’ll go next door to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where we can see everything from dinosaurs to rare jewels (admission: $6.50).

Since we’re in the neighborhood, we should also visit the Cleveland Botanical Garden, which was founded as the first urban botanical garden in the US. The garden’s new feature attraction, the Eleanor Armstrong Smith Glasshouse, features recreations of the exotic ecosystems of Madagascar and Costa Rica. We’ll no doubt be immersed in a world of beauty and wonder for our admission price of $7. Because we have a little time left, let’s also drop by the Western Reserve Historical Society, where the region’s rich history is brought to life in amazing detail (admission: $7.50-$12, depending on which attraction you visit).

That’s a pretty full afternoon, so we’ll wind down the day with dinner and a comedy show at Pickwick and Frolic. Cleveland’s most unique dining and entertainment venue offers American rustic cuisine made from scratch, a 125-seat cabaret hosting dinner and show packages, tableside magic, rock-and-roll impersonators, and an intimate martini bar. Prices vary, but a great dinner plus entertainment can be had for as little as $25.

Built on manufacturing and shipping, Cleveland has in recent years become an internationally acclaimed center of medical research and state-of-the-art healthcare. That’s great news for nurses who love a bustling city and a challenging work environment.