Living & Nursing in Louisville, KY

They get together for a little horse race here every year. Even if you don’t follow horse racing, you’ve probably heard of it… It’s called the Kentucky Derby. Now you are “off and running,” at least in your mind—mint juleps, women in fanciful big hats, men in white suits smoking big cigars… Relax, that’s only a couple days out of the year! You may really like the Derby - or you may not care - either way, the rest of the year you’ll find more than enough enticements to make Louisville, Ky., a candidate for your short list of great places to live and nurse.

It’s one of “America’s 50 Hottest Cities” for business relocations and expansions. It has been named one of the “Top 50 large metro areas to start and grow a company” and one of the “Best Communities for Young People.” It’s number nine on the list of the “Top 20 Hot Headquarters Cities for the 21st Century.” Those are just a few votes of confidence from some national publications and companies.

If you’re doing an initial visit to investigate the possibilities, you DO need to see Churchill Downs (where the Derby takes place), The Kentucky Derby Museum, and the Louisville Bats Slugger Field. (Ever hear of the Louisville Slugger baseball bats? They are made here, and the ‘Bats’ are the Louisville baseball team.) You’ll have to visit the Louisville Slugger Museum also! Continue your tour with the Speed Art Museum, 4th Street Live!—that’s the downtown entertainment district, The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, and the Actor’s Theatre. After that, you’ll have just a taste of the diversity this major Kentucky city has to offer. There’s much more culture, as well as activities of all kinds, to be enjoyed in your spare time here. Remember, life is not ALL work!

Louisville is located in north-central Kentucky, on the Indiana border, with only the Falls of the Ohio River separating the two states. The proximity of the river logically has led Louisville to become a major shipping port, attracting many manufacturers and distributors to the area. The city is surrounded by the gently rolling bluegrass hills of Kentucky. The Louisville Metropolitan area, called Kentuckiana by locals, includes counties of southern Indiana. The Metro area boasts a population of roughly one-and-a-quarter million citizens. The downtown business district is southeast of the Falls of the Ohio River. Major thoroughfares radiate outward in all directions like the spokes of a wheel, making travel inside the city fairly logical and easy.

The city has been home to some rather notable Louisvillians such as Thomas Edison, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, Boxer Muhammad Ali, newscaster Diane Sawyer, actor Tom Cruise, and writers Hunter S. Thompson and Sue Grafton. The city was the site of the first human hand transplant, the first self-contained artificial heart transplant and the development of the first cervical cancer vaccine. Depending upon your point of view, Louisville is either the northernmost Southern city or the southernmost Northern city. It has that unique small town hospitality and feel but with all the urban amenities you could want. Its location places it on the northern limit of the humid subtropical climate. Expect hot and humid summers with mildly warm evenings. Several days of snow each winter are common in January and February. January is the coldest month with temperatures averaging 41 degree highs and 25 degree lows. Obviously, there will be periods of colder weather when the snows fall. All-in-all not too bad!

Compared to other cities of similar size, Louisville is consistently ranked as one of America’s safest cities and has been in the top ten safest for the last few years. Median age of Louisvillians is 37 years of age, so it’s a fairly young city. Median household income is $36,484.

Louisville grew on the strength of its shipping and cargo industries - its location places it within one day’s road travel of 60 percent of the cities in America. But here’s the really good news for you! It has recently emerged as a major center for health care and medical sciences industries. It has long led the way in advancements in heart and hand surgery and cancer treatment. Some of the earliest artificial heart transplants were performed here.

Louisville’s downtown medical research campus includes an $88 million rehabilitation center and a health sciences research and commercialization park that has drawn nearly 70 top scientists and researchers in combination with the University of Louisville. Roughly 72,000 employees work for more than 2,000 health-related companies located here. That includes health care providers, medical supply companies, insurers and claims processors. Two major Fortune 500 health-related companies have headquarters in Louisville - Humana and Kindred Healthcare. The city is also home to the operations of a growing number of pharmaceutical and biotech companies including Johnson and Johnson, Amgen, Genentech and Medimmune.

The cost of living is another factor that makes the city very appealing. Groceries are 16 percent below the national average, and housing is 13 percent less than national averages. There is quality housing at every price level all over the area. You can actually afford a house rather than an apartment, assuming the credit crisis lessens soon!

Activities? How about the country’s largest municipal forest for hikes, a world-famous skate park and free Shakespeare under the stars? (It’s actually enjoyable once you realize you won’t be tested on it next week!) The City of Parks project is the largest urban park expansion not just in America—but on the continent! They are adding 4,000 acres and a 100 mile loop around the city to the existing 123 parks on more than 14,000 acres! That ought to be enough room to stretch out in!

This great city is certainly “nurse-friendly” and worth looking into as your new home - but you had better hurry! Surely there is some sort of “race” to fill the best jobs!

Photos and information for this article courtesy of the Greater Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau (www.gotolouisville.com).