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Everyone has posted about hospitals and doctors, but what about other urban amenities? Doesn't anyone like to go to sporting events, concerts, meetings? You don't want to have to drive several hours. Airports, yes, you don't mind doing that.
My closest neighbor,about 3/4 miles away, came by for a visit one day, he saw my Mandolin in the corner and asked if I’d like to go with him one Tues. and listen to/meet some of the local boys. The next Tues. off we went, a few miles away to So and So’s house. It was close to 7PM and the boys started coming around, there were 9 pickers I would say from age 25-75, impressive pickin’, lots of dippin’, and smokin’, come to find out, they rehearse every Tues, come Fri. they play downtown at an open mic, about a 20 min. drive.
Around here they use helicopters a lot for the emergency stuff. Ambulances are used for more routine transport. Vehicle accident victims are more likely to get helicopter transport.
oldtrader, that's great that you have excellent emergency services in your rural area.
Would some other rural areas perhaps not be as well-serviced?
I was responding to another poster who seemed to maybe be saying that he or she thought one should probably be within easy driving distance of a hospital or emergency room..... and it sounded like maybe the poster was thinking along the lines of being sick and being able to drive oneself - rather than thinking of emergency medical events taking place - so I was asking for clarifications with my question.
I live in a remote small village in the Prairies, which has a population of 351. I drive 30 miles for groceries, in the same town where the closes hospital is.
We have a volunteer fire station, and all of the volunteers are also qualified EMT (I believe one actually may be paramedic also). Any ambulance that is required takes less than 5 minutes to get to any house in the village, a response rate most municipalities cannot match. I can get to my groceries in about 23 minutes, so I suspect that is what the ambulance would take also when it drives in. I doubt if the combined response time to hospital is any faster in any major city one can think of (under 1/2 hour).
We have many seniors (about 1/3 are over 55) in town, and not once am I aware an emergency response resulted in a death that may have occurred under any other circumstances.
Just because we live rural, does not mean we have to drive ourselves to the hospital in an emergency. We do what they do in the city, call 911, and the send an ambulance with a trained EMT crew to our door. In fact we can get an ambulance to our door faster, than most people get them in the city, due to lack of all that traffic.
You may not realize it, but rural areas have fire departments, ambulances, police/sheriff, just as they do in the cities. They get around in cars now, not horses and buggies. We actually have those things called telephones and 911 services, so we can get that kind of help as needed. Yes telephones, as we no longer have to rely on smoke signals.
In our part of the world, our big medical system which we are part of, if too far for an ambulance, send a helicopter with a great medical crew for you, and if you live further way in Montana, or in Western North and South Dakota, northern half of Wyoming, or a good section in Canada, they send one of their 3 twin engine turbo prop medical air lift planes for you. Medical system actually own the helicopters and airplanes, which is very rate. Yes this medical system we are part of, is pretty good, and is the big one to go to for all that territory. It is good enough it has won award, after award, and is only one of 7 medical systems that is an affiliate of the Mayo Clinic. We have one of the best medical systems in the country, not what so may think they they have in rural areas. There is another huge hospital system in Billings, so we have 2 top notch systems not just one available.
My daughter had to be moved from our local small hospital to Billings 50 miles away. The 2 local ambulances were at a big highway multiple car wreck. So they sent a helicopter to move her. When that flight crew came into that part of the hospital, they handed the flight nurse my daughters records, answered any questions then got out of her way. I have never seen such a pro at work. Hooked up her own instruments to my daughter, checked her to see if it was safe to move he, and got her bundled up and ready to go. The pilots helped put her on their gurney, and moved her with the nurse trotting along side. In just minutes she was loaded into the helicopter and gone. Fifteen minutes later they were down at the big hospital.
The nurses we knew, told us about that flight nurse. Told us she was the best nurse in the system. She had the claim of never losing a patient she was transporting in over 20 years. They said if they are ever in the position of an emergency helicopter transport, they just hope and pray that is the crew they get. Said the others are all top notch, but that nurse is so superior to anyone they have ever seen, they want her.
Rural living, is not what so many city people think it is. It is not what they show on TV Comedy Shows. Andy Griffin's Mayberry, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres is not real life in most rural areas. Montana is the 4th largest state, with only a total of 1,000,000 people. We have something like 7 Indian reservations with the largest larger than the smallest state. Very low unemployment rate, and reasonable cost of living. And the modern amenities you have in the big cities, without all the problems that the big city states have.
Oldtrader,
You better stop bragging about how great Montana is or your population might soar!
Rural area retirement is not something you move into when you file for SS. I'm 70, living in rural retirement, but I've been living here for 24 years. When we bought the house one of the big positives was that it is a single story ranch style with no steps. We knew we could pay off the mortgage before retirement, so retirement cash flow would let us live comfortably. My wife is starting to experience some mobility issues, so we remodeled the master bath into a full handicapped/wheelchair accessible room with a curb-less shower. There's an automatic start generator and transfer switch, so if one of us is on an oxygen concentrator and the power goes out, we are covered. You have to plan and rebuild the facility to take into account the infermaties of old age. At that, we will someday reach the point where we can't handle it, probably in another 15 or 20 years. At that point we'll sell out and move to assisted living.
Around here they use helicopters a lot for the emergency stuff. Ambulances are used for more routine transport. Vehicle accident victims are more likely to get helicopter transport.
Around here they use helicopters a lot for the emergency stuff. Ambulances are used for more routine transport. Vehicle accident victims are more likely to get helicopter transport.
That's basically how it is here. Kingsport as level 1 trauma center, and sees a lot of airlifted trauma patients (a lot of ATV accidents, especially) from southwest Virginia.
I live in a remote small village in the Prairies, which has a population of 351. I drive 30 miles for groceries, in the same town where the closes hospital is.
We have a volunteer fire station, and all of the volunteers are also qualified EMT (I believe one actually may be paramedic also). Any ambulance that is required takes less than 5 minutes to get to any house in the village, a response rate most municipalities cannot match. I can get to my groceries in about 23 minutes, so I suspect that is what the ambulance would take also when it drives in. I doubt if the combined response time to hospital is any faster in any major city one can think of (under 1/2 hour).
We have many seniors (about 1/3 are over 55) in town, and not once am I aware an emergency response resulted in a death that may have occurred under any other circumstances.
I live on the North side of Chicago, recently called 911. The ambulance got there a minute after I'd made my way downstairs from the 2nd floor. The hospital is a mile from my apartment, it took about 5 minutes.
I live on the North side of Chicago, recently called 911. The ambulance got there a minute after I'd made my way downstairs from the 2nd floor. The hospital is a mile from my apartment, it took about 5 minutes.
Your situation is not the norm.
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