One of the main reasons – probably the only real reason besides that little girl in Missouri, that we want to leave here is the medical care. I’m not going to say anything bad but remember that when Vince had heart issues, we went to Abilene. When I took meds that caused my blood pressure to go way up and I felt like I was having a heart attack, we drove 90 miles to Abilene, passing right by the local hospital but saying “no, thanks”.
We heard, but have not confirmed, that there’s going to be a big change in the medical community here. Vince said “You know that means we’ll probably never move from here.” When I was telling Nicole about it, she said “You’re never going to move if that happens!”
We’ll never have a big, “can handle everything” hospital but hopefully things are about to get better.
It’s funny because I feel like it’s both good news and bad news . . if it really happens. We’ve thought several places were where we would retire and then, after more research, decided that wasn’t the place for us. We’ve both said “This is a hard place to leave!” Our location is everything we’ve always wanted – land with no real close neighbors, privacy, a well for water, septic tank for sewer, solar panels for electricity, an internet tower for our own internet. We’ll never get all that again at a new location.
We’ll never have a good garden here, but we’re probably getting past the age of having a big garden. At least if the medical situation changes, we will be able to stay here if we want to stay and not feel like we HAVE to leave because of the lack of decent medical care.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that what we heard is true.
Susan Nixon says
I hope it is. Even 90 miles is reasonable, unless you have a heart attack or something else instant. You can be in a big city and still have horrid medical care, though. We’ve learned a lot this week about one of our three hospital systems. The doctors are outstanding, but the wards are understaffed, the staff is mostly inexperienced (less than a year as nurses or CNAs), and no one has taught any of them how to communicate with patients … or even that there’s a need to do so. Today’s nurse and CNA were exceptional – the first time in 8 days.
Judy Laquidara says
Yes, but as we get older, 90 miles is a long way to drive, meaning it would be a 180 mile round trip. When looking for a retirement location, being 20 or 30 miles from decent medical care was near the top of our list.
That’s one thing – we can do all the investigating, asking, reading reports/reviews but until you’re actually needing their services, it’s not always easy to judge.
montanaclarks says
Same in our little Montana community. We drive 105 miles for decent medical care passing right by our local clinic and hospital. Haven’t needed medical care in Arizona but we do have a fabulous nurse practitioner staffed clinic only just a couple miles from us. The nearest good hospital is once again 90+ miles away. Good medical care and the things you listed–“land with no real close neighbors, privacy, a well for water, septic tank for sewer, solar panels for electricity, an internet tower for our own internet”–don’t go together. We’ve looked!
Liz says
I knew a couple who retired to Lake Texoma area. They loved the area, but came back to OKC after about 10 years. The main reason was their concern of close health care.
I assume that there is a merger with a larger hospital in the state.
Nelle Coursey says
If it will ease your mind, we heard from a reliable source that Hendricks is buying BWD Regional and Abilene Regional!! YEA!! So maybe things will change here! I certainly hope so. It is about time!! Most all the Hendricks doctors come here once a week anyway! Maybe they will have someone here full time! They are a great group of people! Norma’s nephew is one of the big wigs there!
Judy Laquidara says
Yes, that’s what we heard too and from a reliable source – someone involved with BWD Regional but I wasn’t going to say anything til it was formally announced. 🙂
The cardiologist Vince uses only comes once a month or even every two months. None of their dermatologists come to Brownwood, the allergist and their orthopedic doctors from the group I use don’t come.
What we heard is that the entire system will eventually be a Hendricks hospital and all the doctors/employees will be under the Hendricks umbrella. It has to be a gigantic improvement over what we have now.