Brookings OR and Healthcare (crime, to live, vs)

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

It is a sliver of Salem, but it isn't the totality of Salem. Salem is pretty politically moderate. I'd say we are pretty 50/50 liberal and conservative. We are like all cities that have their share of cuckoo crazies. Salem is no exception in that regard.

Oh, I know. It's my hometown. Newport and Florence are along those lines as well.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Oh, I know. It's my hometown. Newport and Florence are along those lines as well.

The biggest issue, besides the homeless situation, that Salem has is that our police force hasn't kept up with the population growth. I can't remember how many police officers we are down, but it is a lot.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Newport and Salem appear to have about the same blue/red percentages. But I can see how it would be easier to get away from the extremists in a larger community.

Brookings is more isolated than most coastal communities; even Coos Bay is more than two hours away. It also receives more rain than most of the other parts of the coast, and the "Brookings effect" is just an occasional occurrence. I can see why a professional family wouldn't want to move there simply because of the lack of amenities and the not-so-great weather, and even the most progressive politics aren't going to change the remoteness factor and the climate.

Off-topic, but I don't think I could ever live in Salem again. I used to go out to Cascade Gateway park every single day and walk around it with my dogs, but that isn't safe anymore. It always was a little sketchy out there but nothing that ever felt unsafe.

I think the issue is that a Newport medical practice draws from all the surrounding rural communities like Toledo, Elk City, Pioneer, etc. and a lot of very rural folks living up in the mountains. You get a lot more people showing up to the clinic armed, for example, and demanding their prescription for ivermectin instead of getting vaccinated. That sort of thing.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

I think the issue is that a Newport medical practice draws from all the surrounding rural communities like Toledo, Elk City, Pioneer, etc. and a lot of very rural folks living up in the mountains. You get a lot more people showing up to the clinic armed, for example, and demanding their prescription for ivermectin instead of getting vaccinated. That sort of thing.

What a crock of hooey. No one has ever gone into a clinic and demanded ivermectin at gun point. You think that everyone who does not think just like you do is a toothless uneducated redneck hillbilly?

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

What a crock of hooey. No one has ever gone into a clinic and demanded ivermectin at gun point. You think that everyone who does not think just like you do is a toothless uneducated redneck hillbilly?

I did not mean to say they are demanding ivermectin at gun point.

I am saying that patients show up to medical clinics for an appointment and then the concealed weapons come tumbling out when they get undressed for their checkup. Trust me, that is a somewhat unnerving experience for a female clinician when she has patients who she doesn't necessarily know carrying weapons into her exam room and when they start getting undressed the weapons get stacked on the table. And that is something you commonly get in more rural areas. More than you might think. And most female doctors are not particularly interested in seeing male patients who come into their exam rooms armed with weapons.

Coincidentally they are often the same characters who turn out to be anti-vax and who get irrational about COVID or are in denial about it. And yes, demand their prescription for ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, and other fake cures. Which makes one ask, if they don't trust modern medicine why are they in a modern medical clinic in the first place? My wife is a clinician and she has had multiple patients refuse vaccines and subsequently die of COVID. Some of them who would indeed, come into her exam room armed. You get that everywhere of course, but a higher percentage of your patient population is like that in rural areas. And if you don't think clinicians are aware of that you are naïve.

It is just one more reason why rural areas have a harder time retaining doctors. And it has gotten a LOT worse in the past couple years with the insane politicization of COVID.

[Hoonose]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

I did not mean to say they are demanding ivermectin at gun point.

I am saying that patients show up to medical clinics for an appointment and then the concealed weapons come tumbling out when they get undressed for their checkup. Trust me, that is a somewhat unnerving experience for a female clinician when she has patients who she doesn't necessarily know carrying weapons into her exam room and when they start getting undressed the weapons get stacked on the table. And that is something you commonly get in more rural areas. More than you might think. And most female doctors are not particularly interested in seeing male patients who come into their exam rooms armed with weapons.

Coincidentally they are often the same characters who turn out to be anti-vax and who get irrational about COVID or are in denial about it. And yes, demand their prescription for ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, and other fake cures. Which makes one ask, if they don't trust modern medicine why are they in a modern medical clinic in the first place? My wife is a clinician and she has had multiple patients refuse vaccines and subsequently die of COVID. Some of them who would indeed, come into her exam room armed. You get that everywhere of course, but a higher percentage of your patient population is like that in rural areas. And if you don't think clinicians are aware of that you are naïve.

It is just one more reason why rural areas have a harder time retaining doctors. And it has gotten a LOT worse in the past couple years with the insane politicization of COVID.

Sounding similar to my inner city Chicago stories where I worked back in the '70's. Only thing is the gun owners didn't carry guns as a God given right.

[Metlakatla]

Idk, I've never heard of weapons tumbling out at medical clinics here, and if we'd had such excitement here in Florence, it would have been all over NextDoor. There was a blowhard in the waiting room during my first Moderna vaccine whose big mouth I could have done without. I guess he was there with his wife who had to get the vax for her job.

And most female doctors are not particularly interested in seeing male patients who come into their exam rooms armed with weapons.

From what you say, your cousin continues to work in Newport but lives in Salem? That sort of indicates that the weapon wielding individuals weren't the main reason for her move.

Newport has a higher percentage of Democrats than Salem does, certainly high enough to make up for any Toledoites that wander into town from time to time (and Salem has its own rural satellites to draw from .... I mean, Dallas....Falls City....I could go on, while places like Elk City and Pioneer have about five people). Neither Newport of Salem are anything like Curry County.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Hoonose

Sounding similar to my inner city Chicago stories where I worked back in the '70's. Only thing is the gun owners didn't carry guns as a God given right.

Just NO. Oregon coastal communities aren't anything like inner city Chicago.

[Hoonose]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Just NO. Oregon coastal communities aren't anything like inner city Chicago.

I know both very well thank you. Just saying that there is a larger world with different experiences out there.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Hoonose

I know both very well thank you. Just saying that there is a larger world with different experiences out there.

OK. You said it sounded similar to inner-city Chicago; just clearing up that it isn't.

Sounding similar to my inner city Chicago stories where I worked back in the '70's. Only thing is the gun owners didn't carry guns as a God given right.