Work at La Bonhuer...live where? (Memphis, Jackson: house, construction, university)

[Pearlbob]

I'm just going by how long it takes me to get out to the Johnson Rd area of Germantown, and how long my friends say it takes them to get from there to work downtown....they usually say about an hour. The problem, to me, is that you have to take Poplar waaaaaaaaaay down from I-240, or you could drive down to 385 but that's almost like backtracking. The traffic on Poplar is horrendous, and that stretch of interstate gets backed up so bad. However, I haven't driven that way before work in years, so maybe it has gotten better.

I would say though, to the OP, if your husband is on-call or an ER MD and would need to race up to the hospital ASAP, Germantown would be a long drive for that. Realistically speaking, always up the time estimates people give. When you consider getting out of your neighborhood, red lights, a wreck, getting to the LB parking garage or lot, walking to the hospital....that all adds time.

Also, yes midtown definitely has some iffy areas, but if you are spending $700k on a home, you will not be near those areas. The streets with homes of that price tend to not have the same type of strange people living there or walking around. If you have a smaller home of $180k, then you might be closer to some weird people. Central Gardens also has hired security trucks that drive around 24/7.

[Pearlbob]

I just had to add, my heart skips a beat thinking of what kind of beautiful, old historic home I would buy in Central Gardens if I had $700k!!!!

I looked at realtor.com last night for homes in that price range in midtown and downtown, and I think you could find something very, very nice. If you really like to garden and want a big backyard, you'd have to go with Midtown. Homes downtown are either zero-lot line, or they have tiny little "backyards" that are basically right up next to the back alley or neighboring home. They are all newer homes, which of course does have its upsides, but I would imagine any $500-700k home in midtown would be completely renovated and up to date.

[gator girl]

Thanks for the discussion on G'Town. It looked like a nice community, but my husband is an ICU doc and will have to be much closer than even a 20-30 minute drive under ideal circumstances. Sounds like Midtown might be our best bet.

I look forward to visiting your city!

[Pearlbob]

Understandable; I know doctors who are on-call and they always complain about the far drive, even from east Memphis, that they make in the middle of the night. The good part about midtown, is that it's all streets, so even if there is a wreck or construction, he could easily just go 2 streets over and avoid it without getting stuck in traffic.

As another poster mentioned, LB is in a rather rough area. Actually, the area RIGHT there is all commercial, hospital area, but a few blocks in a couple directions are in some shady neighborhoods. The problem is that LB is right next door to The Med, which is our emergency hospital and where they take anyone with no insurance, thus the people hanging out at The Med tend to be a bit rough. It's one of those places where people joke "if you have a heart attack, go to the Med, get stabalized, and then get transferred the heck out of there." They have a great ER (obviously, it's where they take all gun shot/car wreck victims) but beyond that it's a mess.

If you have any other questions, ask away.

[strumpeace]

The areas mentioned by the posters on this thread are all nice areas. You might also want to check out the Galloway - Red Acres neighborhood. It's probably 8-10 minutes from the medical district. Very nice homes, lots of doctors in the area.

Best wishes.

[tennreb]

Originally Posted by Pearlbob

The problem is that LB is right next door to The Med, which is our emergency hospital and where they take anyone with no insurance, thus the people hanging out at The Med tend to be a bit rough. It's one of those places where people joke "if you have a heart attack, go to the Med, get stabalized, and then get transferred the heck out of there." They have a great ER (obviously, it's where they take all gun shot/car wreck victims) but beyond that it's a mess.

If you have any other questions, ask away.

The Med does not have a good ER. It has a good trauma center. There's a big difference. The reason is because UT has an excellent trauma surgery program that pretty much wrote the trauma manual the entire country uses. UT does not have an ER residency program, so the Med ER is not staffed by university physicians. The reason UT does not have an emergency medicine residency program is because the trauma surgeons will not allow them to have access to the trauma center, which is required for adequate training in emergency medicine. I personally would never go to The Med ER for any reason. If I have a heart attack, take me to Methodist University. If I'm in a car wreck or get shot, then take me to the trauma center. Sorry, this is off topic, but it is good to know.

The area around Le Bonheur got a lot better when they closed the huge Dixie Homes public housing project that borders it. That removed a lot of the vagrants hanging around. Still, there are some pretty bad neighborhoods around there that make the area less than safe. This should get a lot better when they begin to redevelop the old Dixie Homes site, which is being tied to the new Le Bonheur hospital. The city did a great job cleaning up Uptown by tearing down unsafe houses, building new ones, and heavily policing the area. I think they'll apply the same methods to the Dixie Homes area.

[Pearlbob]

Well, right...that's what I meant. I guess heart attack wasn't a correct example Maybe "car wreck" or "getting shot in in the LB parking lot" would be better examples. haha. I actually have a (darkly) funny story about that, but I'll refrain from telling it here and scaring the poster off.

I agree though - same problem was affecting St. Jude. Big ghetto housing project right next door. Eventually the placed closed and is now very nice apartments. The whole area around St. Jude has been redeveloped (Uptown). It seems to have helped the area a lot and now Uptown, as well as the SJ area, are much nicer. Hopefully LB will do the same.

[tigergal]

Originally Posted by Kabluey

Unless rush hour has increased enormously in the past 10 years, I can't see an hour commute for an average rush hour. My parents live in the G'town Station area of G'town ("ghetto" Southwind, lol), and they work at the VA and Shelby State, make a daily commute leaving home at 7:30. Whether you take city streets or Nonconnah Parkway, I think it takes 30-40 minutes. Non rush hour can take 20-30 minutes. On a very bad day, in the past, it could take up to an hour. Part of me remembers them taking Nonconnah Pkwy, but another part of me sees them taking city streets, Poplar Pike, etc. I think you gotta just check the traffic. The highways were very speedy in the past, but maybe they've gotten congested.

Congestion has become an issue, particularly since the construction on Walnut Grove, sending those drivers into other arteries. Until a year ago, my husband used to work in the LeBonheur POB and the drive from Cordova took approximately 40 minutes if he got to LeBonheur by 7:30. If he left the house at 7:00, it took approximately 55 minutes going through town and about 50 minutes going the expressway.

[strumpeace]

Because I was a poor grad student with an research assistantship that paid peanuts and had no health insurance, I had to take my wife to The Med ER last year when a recurring problem recurred. It was absolutely awful. She was in the ER for 14 hours. They were out of rooms or partitioned areas or whatever they have, so they put her on a bed in a hallway with a whole slew of crackheads.

My son and I waited in the ER waiting room -- along with a dozen or so homeless people. Apparently, as long as they don't fall asleep, the homeless are welcome to sit in the ER waiting room all day and harass everyone else.

The restrooms were covered with human waste (walls, mirrors, etc.). The staff members were as ghetto as they come, screaming at each other, cursing, etc.

I have never seen anything like it. Wife and I have made a pact that we would let each other die at home before going to The Med for anything. What a horrible place.

[Pearlbob]

How horrible. There have been so many stories about people getting infections while at The Med for non-infectious related problems (heart attacks, car wreck, etc) as well as so many money related scandals over the years.

I thought I had heard though, maybe a year or two ago, that Baptist East was also going to be another hospital for the uninsured. ??? Any validity to that? Maybe it was just an idea that never happened.

Luckily, LB has nothing to do with the Med. They may be next door to each other, but they are totally separate worlds. LB is really pushing to be a world class hospital, although it will always be overshadowed by SJ (even though they are totally different types of hospitals).