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Oftentimes, we hear about urban retirees wanting to retire to the quaint countryside or some other stereotypical scenario. I'm dating someone with complex and sophisticated medical needs. My local area just doesn't have all of the treatment she needs, and part of her treatment is being done at Vanderbilt, which is about 4.5 hours away.
Before dating her, I just wasn't that informed with the capabilities we have around here. I do not have any significant medical issues, and we can do the basics here, so I never really looked into it further. I had a generic idea, but hadn't "lived it."
If you're a senior with sophisticated medical needs, would you consider retiring to a small town or rural area away from a major medical center, potentially with specialists hours away?
I like living near major hospitals. We are about 45 minutes away from Los Angeles. There are also some very good and large local hospitals as well. We are covered for emergency care as well as long term and serious illnesses. As I age, I understand the value of it all. We are staying put.
Oftentimes, we hear about urban retirees wanting to retire to the quaint countryside or some other stereotypical scenario. I'm dating someone with complex and sophisticated medical needs. My local area just doesn't have all of the treatment she needs, and part of her treatment is being done at Vanderbilt, which is about 4.5 hours away.
Before dating her, I just wasn't that informed with the capabilities we have around here. I do not have any significant medical issues, and we can do the basics here, so I never really looked into it further. I had a generic idea, but hadn't "lived it."
If you're a senior with sophisticated medical needs, would you consider retiring to a small town or rural area away from a major medical center, potentially with specialists hours away?
i'm in fairly good health right now. I take medication for an underactive thyroid.
I used to say that I was going to move close to the medical center in our closest big city - San Antonio Texas.
Now - I just don't care! Our area is expanding and we have all kinds of specialists that come here to our rural county to see patients. We just got a new helicopter ambulance crew. We have an okay hospital.
If something happens to me - oh well. I'm not going to get all anxious about it.
Many of us who have worked in the medical field have a different view of healthcare than found in the general public. According to the most recent Johns Hopkins estimates, medical errors and improper treatment result in 250,000 deaths per year. Can you even begin to imagine all the suffering and other harm that is done that does not result in death? This is serious problem with absolutely no sign of getting better.
Sometimes it is just necessary to accept that the world is crazy. Instead of taking serious steps to reduce the carnage, the medical profession has invested huge amounts of time, money and energy into "patient satisfaction". It is like bad marketing. Instead of delivering good services, healthcare is trying to determine how they can pretend to make patients happy. The errors and deaths continue but when you are dying from the errors someone will come into the hospital room with a smile and call you by your name.
Anyway, many of us are very careful about how we pick doctors, providers and hospitals. You need to be near a major city to have choices and even then you can only do so much in the quest for decent healthcare.
Yes, for the vast majority of people. This is rarely a consideration for younger individuals. I certainly never gave it a thought. With age health issues become more important.
The original post has to do with people who already have serious medical conditions, not just people who worry or fear they may wind up with serious conditions as they age.
Everyone is giving their opinion on health care access as they age, but the opening post is about a young person with an already existing condition. I am talking about young people who do have necessary special medical care as indicated in the opening post.
All the younger working age people I know who have existing complicated health conditions take those conditions and the need for more rigorous medical care into just as serious consideration when considering a move as does anyone else, of any age. Personally I doubt any younger person under care for cancer, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, etc are going to be any more blase about where they relocate than an older person under similar circumstances. So, no, if you already have a serious condition, whether you are a senior or not doesn't make you more likely to consider your relocation.
I think the topic of the thread speaks for itself.
Concur with the very articulate foresight and reasoning expressed by LauraC in her posts. We are in late 50s and in a fairly active and good shape. While not facing any significant medical challenges right now, it is clear that some challenges are inevitable down the road. And, keeping the factors so eloquently expressed by LauraC in mind when selecting the location and nature of place to live is only sensible. It turns out that the condo we chose 6 years ago already meets most of those considerations, and it is based on some of the same criteria that we used. And yet, it also allows us to go on day hikes and strenuous bike rides right from home.
Never gave it a moment's thought. But once I got settled, I was glad to see that my apartment was in walking distance to the hospital and medical clinics. But the dentist wasn't so I had to take the bus to the dentist.
The original post has to do with people who already have serious medical conditions, not just people who worry or fear they may wind up with serious conditions as they age.
Everyone is giving their opinion on health care access as they age, but the opening post is about a young person with an already existing condition. I am talking about young people who do have necessary special medical care as indicated in the opening post.
All the younger working age people I know who have existing complicated health conditions take those conditions and the need for more rigorous medical care into just as serious consideration when considering a move as does anyone else, of any age. Personally I doubt any younger person under care for cancer, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, etc are going to be any more blase about where they relocate than an older person under similar circumstances. So, no, if you already have a serious condition, whether you are a senior or not doesn't make you more likely to consider your relocation.
The local care was obviously fine before she got very sick. I had wrist surgery from a fall and a wrestling injury in high school at BRMC. That was fine. I've had a septoplasty here. That was fine. Still, I haven't had a medical issue of any consequence, other than respiratory infections and one staph infection, in at least five years.
She can't find a quality rheumatologist here. My mom went to the same rheumatologist my girlfriend has, and mom ended up finding someone in Knoxville. A former coworker of mine also has lupus, but lives in Lebanon, VA, and he also had the same problem in getting the underlying lupus symptoms managed here. He eventually found someone in Knoxville who was successful. Running to Knoxville or Asheville for a specialist is tough if you don't drive, are working full time, etc.
She needs hip replacement from long-term steroid use as a treatment for the lupus, and no local physician will touch her for a hip replacement at 23. The surgery is going to be done at Vanderbilt.
If you're in average or even slightly below average health, you're probably fine here as long as you have fairly routine stuff. If it gets complicated, that's where the challenge begins.
No, but it's not just that. You need to consider your spry self may not be so spry, down the road and do you really want to have to move again when you are really old?
The hospital where I live is 5 minutes away. My doctor is 3 minutes away. I live in a town with just under 30,000 people but it sits on 85.3 square miles of land. So technically you could live in the same town as the hospital but not be near it, I just lucked out since I put no thought into the location of the hospital. I did not have the mobility medical problems I have now, when I retired, so who knew to pick my location based on that? I lived much further from the hospital when I was still in the workforce and lived in two other states.
Besides moving near specialists, which you should do with a pre-existing condition, I think it's a mistake to relocate to any type of home in any location with stairs, inside or outside of the home, or an older house with narrow hallways or doors (difficult to turn around if you later need to use a wheelchair, walker, scooter or rollator) or a small bathroom. It's not just the difficulty of going up and down the stairs or turning around. The lug factor should be considered because you are going to eventually need to hold on to the bannister with one hand as you get more shaky on your feet (or your head) which means you will be able to carry less with only 1 free hand...meaning multiple trips up and down the stairs.
I lived on the second floor of an apartment complex before and after I retired and I had to move to a ground level apartment (same complex) when I began to have trouble with my legs, 6 years after I retired.
I suppose if you are thinking of buying a condo or an apartment with an elevator in the building, you should ask how many times it's not in service per year. It might not be because of maintenance issues but due to weather related power outage issues. What would you do if you lived on the 15th floor of a condo on a beach and you weren't home when the power went out in a hurricane? How would you get up there when you returned if the power was still out? How would you get down the stairs if you had to evacuate and the power was out? How about in a fire? (future thinking, not how great you feel when you retire and relocate)
Don't give your kids a reason to put you in a nursing home (because your home becomes physically unmanageable). If you are married, one of you will probably die first. Can the remaining spouse handle the home at age 60, 70, 80, 90? What's in the attic? What's in the basement? Do you have to go down steps (with no hand rail) to get in the garage.
I'd also look for:
1) a town that has grocery delivery service just in case you need it years from when you retire,
2) the washer/dryer on the same floor as the bedrooms
3) no tripping obstacles like a fireplace lip (look for one flush with the wall if you want one), an ottoman, a coffee table or a dropped living room (one or two stairs).
I don't disagree with any of this. My grandmother is 82, and still owns the home she bought in 1967 with my grandfather. It's a tri-level - laundry in the basement, kitchen/living on the main level, and all the bathrooms and bedrooms upstairs. She's had knee issues for several years, and had a knee replacement in January. She has gone from the walker to just a cane, but still cannot get up the stairs effectively at her home. She's living with my aunt now, who has a one level townhome with basement, but grandma does not go into the basement.
The bathroom comment is interesting. Only one of my relatives has a shower that is level with the ground that would be easy for someone with mobility issues to get into. In my grandmother's house, the master bath has only a shower, but it is raised and recessed with the door being the only opening. The toilet area is so small that my shoulders touch both the vanity and the wall if I sit on it.
My realization of the limited radius of high quality health care.
Our youngest is completing Med School next week. Among the med students there is a running joke, P=MD. As long as you pass you become a Doctor. There is little attention paid to the students' academic results/proficiency once they graduate. It appears to me, based on family history, that those who barely passed Med School tend to congregate in rural areas.
I have also heard this joke
What do you call a person who finished medical school last in his/her class ? - MD
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