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I've mentioned this before, but my grandmother had a stroke last April or May. She was taken to a large hospital in Kingsport, a city of about 55,000.
I used to work for that hospital system. A few months before her stroke, and before I left the organization, my last major project was installing new software for the hospital call center to notify on-call physicians. I specifically remembered testing stroke call at that hospital with an on-call physician and their call center staff.
My grandmother waited ten or twelve hours on a gurney in the ED before being seen. After calling around, it turns out that hospital eliminated stroke coverage between when I tested the system at the end of 2022 and when my grandmother had her stroke.
If you have a stroke in most of extreme southwest VA, you are well over an hour drive, pushing an hour and a half to two hour ride in some cases, from a hospital that can somewhat treat you. That's a "risk" of living remotely.
Oh, and they probably won't get you an ambulance that far out. The hospital system also owns the med-flight service. Cha-ching! You'll be out ~$50k for the med flight, and traditional health insurance doesn't cover the bill.
I can guarantee you there are lots of people around here who buy that piece of rural dream acreage or whatever, and have absolutely no idea about the med flight issue, or even that something common like a stroke cannot really be treated in the immediate area.
So location is what you're promoting, not numbers... right? I was responding to the statement suggesting, numbers are safer.
To the OP’s original question — from reading it 3 times, my thought is these folks would not be happy living rural. A small suburb on the edge of town yes, but anything less populated, no.
I live very rural in an Ag county in Middle TN. Not so rural we are considered remote, but my road is barely more than one lane and we don’t have winter maintenance. This last snow storm, which eventually turned to ice for a week, found my neighbor driving part way thru the field to get to his job as a police officer. There are only 20 or so homes in the road, about 40% of them still third generation farmers on this road.
We are 20 minutes from any blue collar store, two hospitals with helipads that attach to Vanderbilt, and restaurants with blue collar dress codes. We all have guns and mind our own business unless someone has an emergency. It’s not a lifestyle for anyone who wonders when the street lights and sidewalks might be installed.
I was raised on a small dairy farm and have loved this lifestyle my e tire life. Mom was also raised on a big fairy farm and wasn’t happy to to continue the life style. Her heart preferred the ‘burbs.
My point is we all have a certain “heart condition” that dictates where and what ultimately makes us happy. Moving from one lifestyle to another is a huge change and has proved to be an expensive mistake for more folks than it hasn’t.
I don’t know what the correct answer is except, if one has to ask the question, one should look to move into a similar environment that they are used to.
So location is what you're promoting, not numbers... right? I was responding to the statement suggesting, numbers are safer.
I guess you can spin it either way.
Take some low population, remote town. You have that stroke I just mentioned. They may or may not have a hospital. If they do, it's probably not very good. You could very well be hours away from anywhere with reasonable medical care.
It's the same for a car wreck, accident, heart attack, or any other medical emergency.
My girlfriend's aunt and uncle are 74. She has some kind of slow-developing cancer. They live about an hour and a half from Knoxville, TN, in a remote area on a gated lake community.
They have to go to Knoxville for any sort of medical care. She flies to Boston periodically for treatment of the cancer at a major hospital there. They're affluent and can afford it. Most people here can't afford to do that and have to make do with, IMO, inadequate local healthcare.
I know a man who owns a winery and loves making very fancy meals. He's in rural southwest Virginia. He's constantly having to source ingredients from elsewhere because the local grocery stores don't have what he needs.
I have a huge grocery store near my house. It's a fairly low end chain - not a lot of variety, but what they do have, they stock a lot of. They never have chicken wings. Chicken legs can be hit or miss. About the only thing you're guaranteed to find is breast and whole fryers. They didn't have cilantro last week.
The only other nearby option I have is a dumpy Kroger that isn't maintained well. There's an Aldi - they're fine for some things, but limited in what they stock.
I picked up a pack of oxtails Sunday at the Asheville NC Sam's Club. The local Sam's doesn't stock them. They don't stock a lot of things I can get in Asheville. I started checking around for "butcher shop" in the city where I live, and again, no hits from Google.
This is a city of about 30,000. Best I can tell, I can't find a dedicated butcher in the city.
I don't have many medical issues. With that said, I have severe sleep apnea. I got the runaround from the same hospital system I worked for, and couldn't get in to see a sleep specialist within six months. I went to an out-of-area provider, and had the lab study done in about a month.
I did an at-home study and have a CPAP, but I'd be in a real pickle if I was relying on the local medical system.
Re: safety. I'm not even a senior and I consider myself to be more at risk from falling off a ladder than from a car break-in (a common property crime here in Indianapolis). If I fell off a ladder outside, a neighbor or passer-by would see me and the paramedics would be here in a few minutes.
That brings up another problem: who's going to do handyman work way out in the boonies?
Last edited by sheerbliss; 02-13-2024 at 09:49 AM..
Re: safety. I'm not even a senior and I consider myself to be more at risk from falling off a ladder than from a car break-in (a common property crime here in Indianapolis). If I fell off a ladder outside, a neighbor or passer-by would see me and the paramedics would be here in a few minutes.
That brings up another problem: who's going to handyman work way out in the boonies?
I built my own home in 1995... and did 95% of the work, including the plans. Most of 'us' are very capable DIYer's... not to mention neighbors are very helpful. I belong (still) to the co-op when I had cattle. Now that I'm retired, but still have a place zoned AG. However... I can always get help on the weekend if needed.
I still do most of it myself. My most recent projects I used/hired people was building (just the structure) my 30x40 shop, had my septic tank pumped and a new metal roof. The rest I do/did myself. I'm not unique in my area.
As I continue my quest for our ideal retirement location, I feel like there's an important question that I can't seem to solidly answer. Do we want to live remotely or around others. It seems like a simple question, but there's so many factors and I can see pros and cons with both.
So the first part of it is, I know we for sure want to get away from traffic, but we like to have a nice variety of stores and restaurants. I could see living within a half hour of a small to mid size city or even in a town with a population around 20-50 thousand.
The second part is, do we want to live in a 55+ type community where we have the potential to have friends nearby. I also thought because we don't have kids that might be a good living situation where everyone looks out for each other in a good way. The con of that is I'm worried that as people age, many of them seem to find entertainment in policing the neighbors and getting in everyone's business causing drama. That makes me think we need to have at least a couple acres and some privacy, so we're not annoyed by busy-body neighbors. Then on the other hand as we age, is living remotely really the best thing for loneliness, safety, convenience, etc.
That brings me to thinking that living in a town where there's a mix of different people and things are within close walking and driving distance would be the best living situation for seniors. We're a ways out from becoming seniors, but definitely thinking ahead to position ourselves in the best situation possible when the time comes.
What thoughts do you have or what experiences have you had with this?
Depends on the person and what works best for them, both inwardly and out.
Inwardly, I don't have it perfectly but my conscience tells me I am in the environment, being alone on a ranch, that is most conductive for me, that living surrounded by people would drive me crazy. On a greater illustration, they say that if you are the kind of person who needs to have evening entertainment 2-3 times a week, then by living in the country, in 6 months you are going to hate it and want to move. That's not me (such as I see friends celebrating Mardi Gras but I don't need any of that).
Outwardly, for example, I have 6 cats, I foster, I am ready to take in a stray dog or cat. I probably could not live like that in the city ...... and, in fact, some of my herd came to me because their city dwelling human couldn't keep them anymore due to ordinances.
Depends on the person and what is best for them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheerbliss
........That brings up another problem: who's going to do handyman work way out in the boonies?
I hire local companies for that, preferably family owned companies for two lines of thought.
First of all, I believe in supporting my community. I have lived here for over a generation and I am a part of this town. So many people not in my social circle know me, trust me, that if I have a problem, they help me.
Ie, during that Texas blizzard, the ball valve froze right off the fire hose line of the well. I went to the drilling company and even though their computer was down, they gave me a new ball valve and wrote it down and didn't bill me till weeks later.....and if they hadn't sent me that bill when they did, I was about to go out to them and ask about it.
Secondly, call me a romantic, but I like to think of myself in old fashion days where they might ask if one of their family can stay with me in upset affairs of state (so to speak). Unlikely, perhaps fortunately, but want to be known as someone who shares.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 02-13-2024 at 11:05 AM..
Re: safety. I'm not even a senior and I consider myself to be more at risk from falling off a ladder than from a car break-in (a common property crime here in Indianapolis). If I fell off a ladder outside, a neighbor or passer-by would see me and the paramedics would be here in a few minutes.
That brings up another problem: who's going to do handyman work way out in the boonies?
There always seem to be handy people looking for a few extra bucks in remote areas. Ask your neighbors!
“The con of that is I'm worried that as people age, many of them seem to find entertainment in policing the neighbors and getting in everyone's business causing drama”
That happens with any age. I don’t like living in a suburb but there are just not towns in az I want to live. I loved Prescott but alas the lack of medical services ( only two oncologists and one was reputably an arse) and cost of houses put us off.
For us the priority was access to good healthcare, cultural activities , and easy access to day trip places, plus close to grandchildren. We were lucky enough to find a house on the edge of foothills and while it’s not rural we get to see a lot of wildlife , enjoy lots of hiking trails, yet can get to a lot of museums, coffee shops etc. neighbours in our area are not friendly, not unfriendly , but we don’t mind. We mind ours and they mind theirs.
For 10 years ( 2013-2023 ) I lived alone on 15 acres in a very rural setting. Hard to find a good handyman, but I did find one for electrical-plumbing-well work and he could always find someone for anything else. My neighbors were friendly and helpful in an emergency, but that one handyman was the most frequent visitor to my place except for the tree guy. And as close to a friend as I made in 10 years.
That said, at 76 I realized it was more than I could handle so I sold out and moved. Loved it there. Now love it here.
I've always lived rural, and today there is no home within view of my house, but neighbors are within a few minutes. Full service Town 6 minutes, international airport/ major medical, + metro 300k + population within 20 minutes. No stop lights in county+++. Major hiking, pics, fishing, hunting 5 minutes.
Noises= coyotes, cows, distant train and tug boats (5+ miles away)
I feel like this situation is quite perfect. That is definitely my dream life.
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