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Any plans due to the current situation in the USA?

kenny said:
I know a forum where the mods put naughty posters into a forum named something like, "WHAAAAA! Where's my Binky?" HAHAHAHA!
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There's also the Cry Closet for general moaning and complaining. Both are not in the public area of the forum. One has to pass a rite of passage to gain access to the blow-off-some-steam areas. And for the really odious, there is The Sewer.
 
The Cry Closet is actually a really good name. The Sewer sounds a little bit scary.
 
Calliecake said:
In the past few days I’ve heard an aid who helps take care of my mom, laugh about a rapist, as if rape is now a funny subject. I’ve heard comments about men now saying to women “your body, my choice”. My SIL called this morning crying because she is fearful for her gay son.

Gee, and I wonder why I longer feel safe in my own country?

Thank you for your post @Brigid.
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this is just disgusting
i am wondering how old this person was
does he have no daughters or sisters? he must have had a mother
do they think they are being funny?
why would anyone say that kind of thing but to say it in mixed company is particularly disgusting

when i was younger boys were horrible and crude but i never heard anything like this yet from what i read in the news about boys having to be suspended from high school it seems like this talk is rife

i do not for one moment think you overreacted, and removing your self was the best thing you could have done
i would be tempted to make a formal complaint

im sure your mum will be pleased to see you nest time you see her
 
Begonia said:
It's hard for me in some ways to weigh in as I've never lived in the US. Canadians feel culturally distinct from the US altho our economy is heavily influenced by yours. That will become more clear if you decide to try to get residency here.

I live not far from Vancouver, a mere ferry ride away. Not knowing where you currently live, you may be used to exorbitant housing prices and rent, hopefully you are, as that may be a bit of a shock, or not. Food costs have skyrocketed. We lack competition in our food suppliers and that shows in our weekly food bills. My family of 4 is paying $1000 more per month than 4 years ago.

Our Healthcare system is in a crisis, pure and simple. In BC we do not currently pay monthly for public Healthcare, although we do pay for it with our taxes. You cannot find a family doctor anywhere unless you're willing to join a private clinic (they didn't used to exist here, but now do) or pay a family practitioner a yearly fee (not all charge but many now do). Even then, there are no guarantees. Many many m a n y people are without a family physician. You can use online doctors for some medical issues but even they have a backlogged system, and don't provide all services. Example: my son needed a referral to a psychologist so he could be assessed for ADHD. I tried for 8 months to get him into a walk-in clinic to no avail. The online doctors couldn't refer so we ultimately had to go private and pay $1000 for an assessment. Healthcare is not free in Canada. Our emergency rooms are backlogged and there are many heartbreaking stories as a result of overworked doctors and nurses and a broken system.

Positives? Weather is mild, being the PNW, and the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. There's plenty of outdoor activities to do. We are subject to forest fire smoke now, so if you have breathing issues, consider that.

Safety? Hard to assess that without knowing what your normal is. Relatively safe but do your homework. Each area is different.

That's some of the good, the bad and the ugly. Not too sure if this helps, but feel free to fire specific questions and I'll try my best!
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what is it with the shortage of GP's (General practitioners/ family doctors) it used to be just rural area where it could be diffiicult to find one, but now its the cities too?
here they have GP's on a roster basis alongside ED at the hospital, a nurse assess if you need ED or a GP -but if you cant get into a GP (last time Gary needed one it was a 10 day wait by which time he had got better on his own) thats where you go
hospital is free here but GPs are not and it does cost more to visit the GP at the hospital than one's regular GP

sorry to go a bit off topic
 
Calliecake said:
The Cry Closet is actually a really good name. The Sewer sounds a little bit scary.
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Calliecake, I hope you do decide to have a serious talk with this guy. You owe it to yourself and your mom to confront and enlighten him. Don’t give him the power to keep you away from your own mother! Life is short. It would be heartbreaking if your last visit with her turned out to be your last visit with her❣️
 
Begonia said:
It's hard for me in some ways to weigh in as I've never lived in the US. Canadians feel culturally distinct from the US altho our economy is heavily influenced by yours. That will become more clear if you decide to try to get residency here.

I live not far from Vancouver, a mere ferry ride away. Not knowing where you currently live, you may be used to exorbitant housing prices and rent, hopefully you are, as that may be a bit of a shock, or not. Food costs have skyrocketed. We lack competition in our food suppliers and that shows in our weekly food bills. My family of 4 is paying $1000 more per month than 4 years ago.

Our Healthcare system is in a crisis, pure and simple. In BC we do not currently pay monthly for public Healthcare, although we do pay for it with our taxes. You cannot find a family doctor anywhere unless you're willing to join a private clinic (they didn't used to exist here, but now do) or pay a family practitioner a yearly fee (not all charge but many now do). Even then, there are no guarantees. Many many m a n y people are without a family physician. You can use online doctors for some medical issues but even they have a backlogged system, and don't provide all services. Example: my son needed a referral to a psychologist so he could be assessed for ADHD. I tried for 8 months to get him into a walk-in clinic to no avail. The online doctors couldn't refer so we ultimately had to go private and pay $1000 for an assessment. Healthcare is not free in Canada. Our emergency rooms are backlogged and there are many heartbreaking stories as a result of overworked doctors and nurses and a broken system.

Positives? Weather is mild, being the PNW, and the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. There's plenty of outdoor activities to do. We are subject to forest fire smoke now, so if you have breathing issues, consider that.

Safety? Hard to assess that without knowing what your normal is. Relatively safe but do your homework. Each area is different.

That's some of the good, the bad and the ugly. Not too sure if this helps, but feel free to fire specific questions and I'll try my best!
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Thank you so much for sharing these insights, @Begonia; I truly appreciate it! This is all incredibly helpful information to know at the outset, and it really means a lot.

I was aware of the cost of living issues, which is certainly a consideration, but I am grateful to know about the other aspects you described. I honestly had no idea that the Canadian healthcare system was in such challenging straits, and I am sorry to hear about the formidable issues you faced in obtaining care for your son. I am so glad you persisted in seeking an assessment for him and I hope that things are going more smoothly now! One of our kids has moderate ADHD and treatment has made such a profound difference for him, not only in his academic efforts, but as importantly in the way he views himself, in his confidence and self-esteem, etc. He is a much happier kid now! I recently had a similar experience to you in trying to get a dermatology appointent for one of our kids (far less stressful than trying to get an ADHD diagnosis, but the dermatology issue was a pressing one) as all of our offices had a 9-month wait for new patients. I called the offices twice a day to check for cancellations and ultimately got a next-day appointment three weeks later, so persistence finally paid off! So I applaud all of your efforts to look out for your son!

And my word, the views! I have seen many photos of your area and it is beyond swoonworthy! The beauty of nature wins some serious points with me, and the PNW has to be one of the most stunning places on earth. :love:

Thank you again for sharing so many insights! I think any geographic location is a mixed bag, so it's always a matter of making some tradeoffs. I will happily sacrifice some conveniences if it will give our kids a better quality of life. There are so many unknowns right now and much remains to be seen, but proactively researching options feels really good to me right now. Many thanks again!!
 
Ugh. Now I'm worried about serious communicable diseases. Should I get my titers done to see what I'm immune to already? If our requirements change and we have outbreaks or diseases become endemic to certain areas, will other countries require us to be updated on shots in order to visit? (Similar to visiting some African countries that require a yellow fever cert. or taking malaria pills) Do we need to worry about travel within the US? I'm serious.
Anyone thinking about doing something different/more health-related? Maybe I'm just getting paranoid. Or I could just take that four year cruise....
 
HI:

We'd move to the States in a heartbeat if it were feasible. I'll leave it there b/c if I elaborated, I'd be banned.

cheers--Sharon
 
Daisys and Diamonds said:
what is it with the shortage of GP's (General practitioners/ family doctors) it used to be just rural area where it could be diffiicult to find one, but now its the cities too?
here they have GP's on a roster basis alongside ED at the hospital, a nurse assess if you need ED or a GP -but if you cant get into a GP (last time Gary needed one it was a 10 day wait by which time he had got better on his own) thats where you go
hospital is free here but GPs are not and it does cost more to visit the GP at the hospital than one's regular GP

sorry to go a bit off topic
Click to expand...

I think we need to rethink how medical doctors are trained and treated. Personally I think it’s a terribly difficult system, that’s gotten more difficult.

Here in USA, we’ve had a nursing shortage for decades. I used to work for a huge healthcare organization in a rural state (25 years ago) that actively recruited foreign nurses. Foreign nurses were the solution to shortages! The system was simultaneously terrified of unionization because it cost more.

But they and the rural state also did not incentivize/train students in high schools and colleges. When I was in high school I recall public trades high schools being available (for other skilled jobs, also union) and we also had “candy striper” programs to get students volunteering in nursing hospitals.

My point being. Our government stopped helping students to be trained in all the necessary occupations that keep a system afloat. The government stopped acknowledging that human beings need practical jobs and skills building and networking during young adulthood to build a future workforce. They need encouragement and care, mentoring, etc. And another source of support and networking (unions) seem to also have stopped actively reaching out to young people.

It’s as if our government stopped thinking about the future in the context of our youth. And they stopped thinking how to fill occupations Americans will actually need in the future.

Now we have both profound labor shortages in all the medical areas, and skilled trades, as well as young people who were not trained to work. And those who do can’t afford to live like adults eg have houses and children, and again they’ve been taught that they shouldn't really do that anyway because it’s selfish or personally oppressive or causes environmental impacts.

Hope these thoughts aren’t too political.
 
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canuk-gal said:
HI:

We'd move to the States in a heartbeat if it were feasible. I'll leave it there b/c if I elaborated, I'd be banned.

cheers--Sharon
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I hear you.
 
LightBright said:
we also had “candy striper” programs
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When my daughter was younger, she always told people she wanted to be a "candy stripper." :lol-2: The manager who hired her loved that little anecdote!
 
LightBright said:
When I was in high school I recall public trades high schools being available (for other skilled jobs, also union) and we also had “candy striper” programs to get students volunteering in nursing hospitals.
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Yes, in my high school the boys took "shop" class. I'm pretty sure there was one for wood, and one for metal. Of course, the women took "home economics" to learn how to cook and sew...I'll leave that alone.

We had candy stripers too. I think now the push is for everyone to go to college so fewer and fewer go into the apprenticeship programs that are available for some of the trades.
 
We have to wonder why they want everyone to go to college. Community colleges were made free of charge by the federal govt if I’m not mistaken. Maybe it was my state only. AFAIK the government is not subsidizing technical educations.

I know two young people who were made nearly bankrupt - one by their public college and one by medical paraprofessional education.

We have to ask why our government isn't identifying or even trying to identify labor shortages, which can be solved via providing and subsidizing/enabling technical non liberal arts education.

We have to wonder why our government sees the low birth rates and inability to buy homes but doesn’t act.
 
LightBright said:
We have to wonder why they want everyone to go to college. Community colleges were made free of charge by the federal govt if I’m not mistaken. Maybe it was my state only. AFAIK the government is not subsidizing technical educations.

We have to ask why our government isn't identifying or even trying to identify labor shortages, which can be solved via technical non liberal arts education.

We have to wonder why our government sees the low birth rates and inability to buy homes but doesn’t act.
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Community college is not free everywhere although it is in a lot of states, in some form or another and with different ways of qualifying. But it is not free nationwide. It was proposed to be nationwide, but that didn't happen yet, as far as I can find.
 
Raise your hand if you were a candy striper too! :wavey:
I did it from age 14-16.

(For those unfamiliar with the origins of the name, google images of candy striper uniforms and you will see why they were called that.)
 
Honestly, I think most Western economies are suffering from all these issues. Healthcare systems are under strain all across Europe due to aging and obese populations, here in the U.K. there aren’t enough nurses and we actively recruit from countries (eg Nigeria, the Philippines) who can probably least afford to lose THEIR staff. We try to send 50% of young people to university but it’s almost impossible to find a decent electrician or joiner. I don’t know how it can be fixed.
 
Unfortunately as unbelievable as the situation in the US is, a different set of issues and problems plague the people of all countries in similar ways. Throughout my life I've lived in 3 different countries and I believe it's just the grass is greener mentality. Plenty of my friends have moved to Japan only to be ostracized there and discriminated there. It sucks but I guess you pick your battle.
 
Is the USA perfect? Heck no. Is any country perfect? Heck NO.

So many think the grass is greener somewhere else. It isn't. As others have stated there are issues everywhere.

I have friends all over the world and you know what? There is no perfect healthcare system. Fact.

Some of my friends have had to travel here for what was considered "elective" surgeries in their countries. Nope, not elective at all if you cannot walk without severe pain!

I am gladly (for now) staying in the USA. Where opportunities abound for all.
One cannot say that about every country.
That's why people want to come here among other reasons.
 
For a lot of my healthcare (even though I have insurance) I pay out of pocket because its cheaper for me to do that than to pay their copay.

For meds. I use GoodRX when I can, my insurance oop is for the birds (I literally pay an average of 30 dollars for T3 versus what my insurance copay which would be 72 dollars. T4 hovers around 12 dollars.) If the med is compounded, I do pay that out of pocket but I will also shop around to see who's got the better prices.

Plus even if I decided to leave, the places I would want to go would not accept my babies. and I will not ever willingly leave them behind.


For better or worse, the US is home for me. We'll make it work.
 
I appreciate everyone's insights! I agree with so much that has been expressed, and I agree that it's a mixed bag anywhere you go, and nowhere is perfect. And I want to be clear that I truly love this country; the US is my home, and I don't want to leave. If it were just my husband and myself we would not be considering a move; this is entirely about how we want our kids to grow up. I am trying to stay hopeful that we will not even need to consider this, and even if we move, it would just be for a little while until things settle a bit, and then we would be back. Or perhaps moving to a different state in the meantime would allow us to feel more secure. And @Arcadian, I second your sentiments wholeheartedly; if life leads us elsewhere, we will only consider going to places that will accept our furbabies! (Fortunately everywhere we have considered appears to be amendable to this!)

But for now, I'm just taking deep breaths and focusing on making the most of every day and embracing the opportunities that are within reach. I am so grateful for so incredibly much, and hopefully all of the internal dilemmas we are experiencing will prove to be unnecessary. Regardless, I appreciate everyone's thoughts on all of this!
 
Snowdrop13 said:
Honestly, I think most Western economies are suffering from all these issues. Healthcare systems are under strain all across Europe due to aging and obese populations, here in the U.K. there aren’t enough nurses and we actively recruit from countries (eg Nigeria, the Philippines) who can probably least afford to lose THEIR staff. We try to send 50% of young people to university but it’s almost impossible to find a decent electrician or joiner. I don’t know how it can be fixed.
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Same issues as USA, thank you for the information.
 
I read them all (well, all up to about 1974.) My sister and I loved them - and before Amazon, when we lived in a town with no bookstores, Trixie Belden was available at the Ben Franklin (local equivalent of Woolworth's or five-and-dime.)

I don't know anyone who remembers them. Peppermint Patty, nice to share this bit of my youth with someone!
 
Yes, we had a Ben Franklin store too. Oh this is all bringing back such wonderful memories that I haven't thought about in so long. Thank you empliau for sharing your memories with me. It brought a smile to my face. :)
 
Thank you @empliau. I remember the Ben Franklin store. This was one of the stores my friends and I went to when we were kids. This was a right of passage when I was a kid. Our parents would drop us all off and another friend’s parent would pick us up. Two hours of independence spending babysitting money.
 
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