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For the most part we have received good service from most vendors such as A/C repair, electricians, etc., as well as store clerks, restaurant workers, etc.,but the MEDICAL services provided by the two big clinic systems are absolutely p*ss poor...
and I'm saying this as someone who just moved here after spending 3 years in Central America..
I'm sure everyone's mileage will vary. But...my wife and I have had several friends the past few years diagnosed with serious issues (in Albuquerque). Their attempts to get timely treatment met with pathetic results, and they went out of state for care. One of our friends had test performed in January and February of this year (in Albuquerque) that strongly suggested she needed further treatment. She was scheduled for a biopsy in OCTOBER! Consequently, she went to a cancer treatment center out of state, had the biopsy and a host of other tests, surgery, then recovered and was back in Albuquerque (and back to her normal activities) several months before her scheduled biopsy in Albuquerque.
I'm sure everyone's mileage will vary. But...my wife and I have had several friends the past few years diagnosed with serious issues (in Albuquerque). Their attempts to get timely treatment met with pathetic results, and they went out of state for care. One of our friends had test performed in January and February of this year (in Albuquerque) that strongly suggested she needed further treatment. She was scheduled for a biopsy in OCTOBER! Consequently, she went to a cancer treatment center out of state, had the biopsy and a host of other tests, surgery, then recovered and was back in Albuquerque (and back to her normal activities) several months before her scheduled biopsy in Albuquerque.
Wow, I am glad that your friends were able to have their medical issues taken care of !! Curious though, is this typical or more of the extreme? Could you enlighten us as to which medical provider they were members? Or is this a universal problem across all health providers in ABQ?
Wow, I am glad that your friends were able to have their medical issues taken care of !! Curious though, is this typical or more of the extreme?
It varies a lot. It took my wife 8 months to get a dermatologist appointment but the problem was taken care of before the appointment. It took us 44 minutes to get our flu shots last week. I have no problems getting appointments for cardiac check-ups, other people I have talked to have had problems. Medical care is one item I consider a low point in this area.
billygoat, you are comparing apples to oranges. LA has a metro of 13 million people and a CSA of 17 Million. Albuquerque has 860,000...It barely tops 1 Million if you include Santa Fe's MSA. It isn't really fair to compare the job market or the night life.
I'm a "well controlled" diabetic who takes a total of 3 pills a day; two of one med,
one of another. In Central America, these meds were over-the-counter and the
only reason to get a prescription was to make sure there was no misunderstanding
about dosage. No hay problema..
Not here. To get the meds I need to maintain my health I have to go through
a doctor to get a prescription... Una problema grande..
When I moved here last year, I managed to squeak in at Lovelace through a cancellation
but I was told that the normal waiting period for a first visit was about 2-3 months...
The doc I saw was approaching senility and refused to issue a prescription for
both meds I needed; he would only prescribe the most common one. I figured
I'd take that and run with it while obtaining the second med on my own which
is what I did. Several months later when my supply was running low, I scheduled
another appointment about a month in advance and at that one, the id-jit again
refused to issue a full set of prescriptions.. Why? Quote "because we normally
don't do that until a patient has been on (the drug) for a year or so and we're
sure that he needs (the other drug)".
Well, dammit, I'd been on these two drugs for almost 5 years and this senile
clown could not grasp the fact that a) I'd already been through that cycle and
had the records to establish it and b) that falling back to just the one med was
seriously putting me at risk. I raised hell with Lovelace and was shuffled to another
doctor who wrote the prescriptions.
I contacted Presbyterian who told me that it would be three months before they
could see me so I set up an appointment while starting to do some serious research
on alternatives including going out of the city for treatment.
In the end, I wound up finding a semi-independent nurse practitioner specializing
in diabetic treatment and things have been running very smoothly since. As a matter
of fact, the nurse has been working with me on changing the pattern in which
I take the meds, a totally foreign concept to Lovelace, and I have been able
to cut back one med by 1/3 while also making significant gains in lowering my
glucose levels to approximately normal. Screw Lovelace...
Even though I've worked this out, the whole situation does not bode well for
future prospects of receiving not only timely, but also adequate health care..
Oh, yeah, we have a VERY high option insurance policy that covers darn near
everything with no upper limits on coverage so payment was not an issue.
I thought Albuquerque was a pretty neat place, with good scenery. The people I conversed with were polite, etc. But I still didn't get a good enough feel for the city I believe. I had one person tell me that "This (Albuquerque) is the worst place ever"... I didn't bother to ask why but am curious to any of your reasons why this could be? I also would like an explanation to why New Mexico is called the "land of entrapment" sometimes?!?
I don't understand why you guys would allow speed cameras and red light cameras in your cities though...? Do you not realize that they do absolutely nothing for safety and are only there to make your fellow citizens more poor and give more of your hard earned money to the state to build more cameras to spy on you? What do you want to be... London?
So yea, if you could tell me about Albuquerque that'd be great.
we were talking about the "Land of Entrapment" thing the other day at work, most of my co-workers are from out of state, a girl from CA told me that when she first visited she thought it was so pretty here but then when she moved here she saw a different side of the state and she wants to get out and go back to CA but is not able to.
the red light cams suck, I hate them
locals usually have a different perspective on the city, usually just BLAH! and home, transplants see the sunsets and think its some sort of magical city but most are retirees, I also hear customers complain about the city and what they dont like, I think the people that move here for other reasons than retirement and sunsets usually dont like the amount of Hispanics and the NM culture and the way of life.
Wow, I am glad that your friends were able to have their medical issues taken care of !! Curious though, is this typical or more of the extreme? Could you enlighten us as to which medical provider they were members? Or is this a universal problem across all health providers in ABQ?
Hmmm...I can't recall which insurance they had, but I do recall, in two of the cases, they had excellent insurance that allowed them to go out of state. But, we have another friend diagnosed with cancer and his insurance required him to be treated at a specific hospital in Albuquerque. He actually did okay with that and didn't have to wait too long.
I realize the demographic of our aging population is stressing medical resources in many places, but, we've also found that, in spite of that, some places definitely have better and more abundant resources than others. This issue has caused us to begin to think about medical aspects of cities as we age. We're retired but in our mid 50s...
Our son has special needs caused by a specific issue and sees a variety of specialists...about 7 in all. We've been trying to get him in to all of the specialists ( who are supposed to be working together as a team for his treatment ) since January. The first time one of them can see him is in November. Partially this is my fault. They gave us an appointment in April and when I called to reconfirm it, he was not on their schedule...? This doctor ( and he's the only ENT on the team so we have to see him ) has the rudest front office/phone staff I have dealt with so far. Apparently the only qualification you need to work in a doctor's office is an attitude, the IQ of a potato and the ability to mispronounce the first or last name of everyone you come in contact with.
This is with Presbyterian. UNM we gave up on when his first stay in the hospital involved a very very very creepy night nurse's aid and a threat by them to call CYFD when I wanted to discharge him early because he was so traumatized.
I thought Albuquerque was a pretty neat place, with good scenery. The people I conversed with were polite, etc. But I still didn't get a good enough feel for the city I believe. I had one person tell me that "This (Albuquerque) is the worst place ever"... I didn't bother to ask why but am curious to any of your reasons why this could be? I also would like an explanation to why New Mexico is called the "land of entrapment" sometimes?!?
I don't understand why you guys would allow speed cameras and red light cameras in your cities though...? Do you not realize that they do absolutely nothing for safety and are only there to make your fellow citizens more poor and give more of your hard earned money to the state to build more cameras to spy on you? What do you want to be... London?
So yea, if you could tell me about Albuquerque that'd be great.
I thought Albuquerque was a pretty neat place, with good scenery. The people I conversed with were polite, etc. But I still didn't get a good enough feel for the city I believe. I had one person tell me that "This (Albuquerque) is the worst place ever
He was having a bad day..........
I didn't bother to ask why but am curious to any of your reasons why this could be? I also would like an explanation to why New Mexico is called the "land of entrapment" sometimes?!?
Then you will never know , if you don't ask somebody............. Because of it's spell binding beauty..................
I don't understand why you guys would allow speed cameras and red light cameras in your cities though...? Do you not realize that they do absolutely nothing for safety and are only there to make your fellow citizens more poor and give more of your hard earned money to the state to build more cameras to spy on you? What do you want to be... London?
The traffic camera's are there to enforce anti-red light running laws and CCTV is for I.D.ing people envolved in criminal acts..........
So yea, if you could tell me about Albuquerque that'd be great.
Albuquerque New Mexico is a exotic desert city that has a lot of potential and will come into it's self in 3 to 8 years....just stick around and see...
I thought Albuquerque was a pretty neat place, with good scenery. The people I conversed with were polite, etc. But I still didn't get a good enough feel for the city I believe. I had one person tell me that "This (Albuquerque) is the worst place ever"... I didn't bother to ask why but am curious to any of your reasons why this could be? I also would like an explanation to why New Mexico is called the "land of entrapment" sometimes?!?
I don't understand why you guys would allow speed cameras and red light cameras in your cities though...? Do you not realize that they do absolutely nothing for safety and are only there to make your fellow citizens more poor and give more of your hard earned money to the state to build more cameras to spy on you? What do you want to be... London?
So yea, if you could tell me about Albuquerque that'd be great.
Speed cameras first: Do you have any idea how many cities are now using them? You can say what you want, I have no opinion either way, but they are what they are. Why do the people in ABQ put up with them? What would you suggest they do?
Now, that is over; Land of entrapment? Like all states there are a few who want to stick negative names on any and everything. Some people end up someplace and for many reasons can not leave. Other than that I have never figured this one out.
Yes, you can talk to people living in ABQ who hate it. There are problems; poverty, horribly windy springs which blow in dirt from everywhere, lots of drunk driving problems, depending on where you live, some have trouble accepting outsideres as people in NM are not open to change. Because of the poverty level the educational system isn't the best and there are certainly a lack of doctors, but some very good hospitals and the univestiy has a great program for all types of medicine.
Now the positives which are many:
It is a beautiful state with versatility that many never really see. You have the desert landscape (beautiful colored plants from spring to early fall) montains, rivers, and trees.
The people are friendly, the cost of living is low and there are great homes in every community. As the years go by the entertainment and dining choices continue to improve. Just the fact they have added 2 Trader Joes in the past few years shows the city is progressing.
You can live in ABQ and enjoy both inside activities, and outdoor living most of the year and the weather, other than spring winds is the best there is. The have 4 true seasons with none being too severe.
How is that for starters?
Nita
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Ah....Albuquerque New Mexico.................
