[Idaho Nurse]

As populations increase and suburban America expands, I would be interested in knowing what qualifies as rural. I worked for 7 years at a small hospital in east central Idaho. Our nearest regional medical center equipped to deal with trauma and cardiac emergencies was 160 miles away. How does this distance compare with others working at rural hospitals?

[Dave ARNP]

If you have to go towards town to go hunting... You might be rural!

Dave

[lsearl]

Small city hospital was 20 minutes away, tertierary hospital 80 miles away (rural NewYork State).

[Traveler]

Where I live qualifies as rural. When there's a medical emergency most folks (if possible) drive the patient down the mountain and either meet the ambulance in town 30 minutes away or try to make it as quickly as they can towards the trauma center (driving normal 1.5 hours away) or pray they get stopped for speeding and get an escort. My daughter had a severe head injury 4 years ago and I didn't even think about calling ems. I got to the hospital in 45 minutes. I got yelled at by every doctor and nurse there but later did the math and figured that I got her there faster. Assuming the ambulance didn't get lost getting to my house (good possibility) and assuming they weren't on another call far away, they would have taken 30 minutes minimum to get to my house. They would have called to have her flown and by the time she would have gotten to the hospital she needed to be at it would have been a minimum of an hour. BTW, daughter had a depressed skull fx that had pushed into the dura, had surgery, a dissolvable plate and by the grace of God she's a happy smart 9 year old.

Ann

[suzanne4]

I used to run a clinic in Tolleson, Az which was only about 10 miles from Phoenix but was classified as rural under the state government rulings. This was due to facilites that were available in the area...............

[sunshinenor]

My county is only about 5000 population....I live in Eastern Oregon. When I first moved here I went to look for our hospital and drove by it 4 times because it looks like a one story brick house...Our closest town and "bigger" hospital is 150 miles away.

[RuthieRN]

If they need anything more complicated test-wise than an X-Ray, they leave via plane.... -Ruthie

[Birdie RN]

The clinic I work at is considered by the state to be rural. It does not seem so to me- the population here is about one hundred thousand. We have two medical hopitals. We see about 500 patients monthly at my clinc. With one RN and one LVN and two partime doctors this is an adventure! I guess I don't have much time wonder if we are rural! (Ha-ha!)

[canoehead]

If the people who live in your own community call it a "band-aid stand" and have the nerve to do it while they are standing in front of you- you're rural.

[Angela Mac]

Rural- if you need to travel dirt or gravel roads for sometime before coming onto one that is tar covered and has a yellow line down the center, so that traffic can pass on both sides of it. You are rural.....I am rural & love the serenity of it....everyone waves at one another as they drive by.....