City With Amenities? or Rural With Little Crime? Which Do You Prefer?

[JRR]

Originally Posted by otterhere

Modern medicine can almost always "do" something. Some of us don't care to pursue those options.

Just out of curiosity, have you ever been in a situation where modern medicine could mean the difference between a long extremely unpleasant road to the end or pretty much resuming your life as before?

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

There's a difference between not wanting some complicated, harsh treatment for a terminal illness and being so far away from decent medical care that something that is readily treatable leaves you dead or permanently disabled.

That's a good summary. Some here are implying that medicine is only for prolonging a miserable existence, and also implying that anything worth doing can be done at a small community hospital. It's not that simple.

If a person doesn't want any medical intervention they have every right to take that route. I prefer to have a choice, as I've no idea what ailments might come my way in the future.

[otterhere]

Again, some of us are pretty much in the "no intervention" camp. Give the medical apparatus an inch, and they'll take a mile!

[HokieFan]

Since you have no car, I think it's imperative that you live in an area where there is easy access to transportation.

I live in a rural-ish area now and we have no public transportation, no taxies, no ride shares. It is not easy to get a ride to an appointment if you're unable to drive or have a friend or family member willing to drive you.

I think there is a middle ground between city and country. Live in a suburb outside of a small city that allows you to still have access to "city" amenities and good healthcare.

[Yippeekayay]

I'm not specific to city or town, rather I plan based on age of 90. At 90 I want to be able to just walk to these 3 important services:

- restaurant
- grocery
- barber shop/salon

1000 feet one-way is my limit so those 3 has to be within.

Then I look for all the other activities I want that must be within 2 miles with most within 1 mile. I envision myself walking 1 mile one way 2x a week until 80.
- park
- big mall
- dance/party (not club)
- art
- highly-rated hospital and clinics
- beautiful nature (God-made/man-made)

Condos are great for that in that some of them have commercial space on the lower floors. Others even have malls with groceries annexed to them but these are in more populated areas.

Both my condos are just across the street to a grocery, 365 feet and 385 feet away, respectively. This is critical to me. The one in the Philippines is in a business district so the grocery even has a food hall inside. The condo itself has commercial shops on the first floor. Las time I was there, we have Chinese, Persian and of course, Filipino diners. The one in Thailand which is close to the beach is across a convenience store. Outside it and in it's parking lot is a food stall (a nice burger joint!). I see myself with my own grocery cart acting also as my walker () just walking back and forth to these stores daily.

So big city, or small town, I am good with either as long as it meets my needs. And danger? You can limit that by choosing good locations.

[trobesmom]

I think it depends on the individual's situation. I'm in my late 60s and live rurally. But I'm healthy and that works for me. If I didn't have a car or needed extensive healthcare, I would probably have to move to a more populated area.

[Teacher Terry]

Originally Posted by JRR

Just out of curiosity, have you ever been in a situation where modern medicine could mean the difference between a long extremely unpleasant road to the end or pretty much resuming your life as before?

I definitely intend to take it on a case by case basis. My mom had breast cancer at 78 and had a mastectomy. She didn’t need any other treatment and was fine until at 84 they found she had stage one colon cancer. They only found out because a polyp ruptured and she was hemorrhaging blood bad enough to go to the hospital. She lived another 6 years but suffice it to say that she would have been better off if they hadn’t found it. I would have treated the breast cancer but not the colon cancer.

I told my kids if I get dementia don’t even treat a simple infection. Just dope me up on morphine and let nature take its course.