Small to medium cities in New Mexico good for asthmatic? (Albuquerque: insurance, high crime)

[modernglobal]

Hi everyone,
My husband and I moved to San Diego 5 years ago from the East Coast. Although the weather is amazing, we've decided to relocate because San Diego has a lot of traffic, which is affecting my asthma. I'm also concerned about smoke from the increasing risk of fire. Are there any small to medium cities in New Mexico you could recommend? We were in the state about 10 years ago and loved the friendliness of the people. However, we were a little concerned about the high crime stats and wanted to be close to great healthcare, so we chose San Diego. Also, we want to be within a half hour of good cultural offerings. I know this is a tall order, but any recommendations? Thanks!
MG

[ABQ2015]

There are several older threads in the NM subforum on asthma. I suggest searching on threads with the word asthma in the title. Just skimming through one thread, asthma seems to be aggravated by different factors depending on the person. Some asthmatics do well in NM because of a lack of mold and humidity while offers suffer because of pollen, dust, altitude, and cold dry winter air. The Albuquerque/Santa Fe and Las Cruces areas have the best healthcare. Albuquerque has lots of pollen being in a bowl and windy plus non-native trees (ash, mulberry, elm, etc.) planted by residents. Lower desert elevations have less pollen but more dust.

[modernglobal]

Thanks---I'll have to watch out for the pollen and plant only native trees in the yard.
MG

[pathrunner]

You will want to stay close to Santa Fe or ABQ for healthcare. I lived in Las Vegas NM and near it about 30 miles north while I was helping a friend on their ranch. The weather is brutal and changes quickly. The healthcare in outlying small towns is not good. The primary care doctors will not take you for anything other than straightforward family medicine. All specialties are referred to Santa Fe (or ABQ). There are no specialists in outlying areas. I was flabbergasted by that, coming from SoCal and AZ. (Phoenix by the way has too many particulates and I didn't do well there which is sad because I loved it.)

I have lung issues but did fine in NM. Actually didn't get sick at all, even at 0 degrees during the long winters. The altitude takes about a month to get used to, so you will need to watch out for that (I was at 7300 feet). It's just tiring and you need to rest after exerting.

Check out the Bernal area. Close to Santa Fe and it's lovely. Very small area, no real town, lots of nice homes, very quiet. The further out from Santa Fe you go, the cheaper the housing will be. Santa Fe is pretty high. Santa Fe also has a lot of traffic, I didn't like it. I felt like I was back in L.A. (I lived in San Diego too.) Going there for appts though is not bad, and it's a cool town with all amenities and conveniences.

I wouldn't live near ABQ but that's just me. Lots of traffic and busier. Likely more particulates in the air.

The ER doctors in Las Vegas actually come over the hill from Taos when I was there. That's how bad the shortage of doctors is in more rural areas. You want to stay out of areas that have a high crime rate. There is a lot of alcoholism in NM. The auto insurance is higher. I was not happy when Triple A told me what my rate would be. I was told it's because of all the uninsured motorists. But what you save in housing will make up for it.

When I lived there, rich Texans were buying up land like crazy for future use (cattle). I'm sure that's still going on.

All this being said, I think you will love New Mexico. It is a beautiful state, especially up north. There is a lot of poverty there but it's not like there's homeless everywhere like in CA.

PS I forgot one more thing. I met a lad in Las Vegas who had been told by her doctor to move there because of her lung issues. He had researched it. Well, she did but she didn't like it and left within months. There wasn't enough creative culture to suit her.

[modernglobal]

Thanks, pathrunner. Good info about the healthcare.
MG