Now What Do I Do?

I live in a small, rural town in western Illinois. We don't have a stop light or a grocery store. The nearest hospital is in the next state, and are known well for misdiagnosis, malpractice, and patient abuse. The closest in state clinic is roughly 20 minutes from here, past currently dormant corn and soybean fields and grazing cattle. That is not the clinic I currently use.

I go to a clinic that is nearly an hour away because my daughter was referred to this clinic after a hospital stay. I figured it would be easier for continuity of care if we all had the same clinic, doctors, and network. My GP has been fairly fantastic, with very few complaints, and easily refers me to any specialist I need.

The cardiologist in the same network has given up. She prescribed me a medicine to increase my blood pressure and wrote me off. The neurologist quit soon after almost killing me with the only migraine treatment my insurance would cover. It isn't his fault, we didn't know. The OBGYN offered me an IUD in lieu of hysterectomy because she insisted the latter would require robot assistance.

I did get a wonderfuly wise rheumatologist. She resigned shortly after our last appointment in December due to her own health concerns. My GP referred me to an OBGYN in another network, he did give me my hysterectomy, with zero complication and minimal blood loss, and no robot. An IUD would have made it worse, and the pathology proves it.

I got a letter from my clinic yesterday stating that my GP is quitting effective next month. So, now I do not have any of my specialists, and I no longer have a GP. I am not super excited to find a new doctor because it is very difficult to get them to listen to your needs. I have had this problem for years. I spent the last 20 trying to get someone to listen, only to find out that there is already permanent damage.

I know that the logical choice is to just to set up service at the other clinic, the one that is only 20 minutes away. I know that all I have to do is make appointments and go. I simply have a lot of anxiety when it comes to doctor shopping. I am worried that it will take a year again to get a rheumatologist and I will be crippled by pain from months on end. I don't know why it has to be so hard to find and keep a doctor, but I don't blame them for leaving.

My story is not unique. Rural healthcare has always been a nightmare to find and keep. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly 20% of Americans live in rural areas, but only 10% of doctors practice in these communities. This causes a patient to doctor ratio of more than 100 to one, making it very difficult to find a doctor, and even more difficult to keep one. With mass resignations, it is becoming more difficult.

Those of us who happen to need mental healthcare face an even greater uphill battle. We have very few mental health practitioners, months long wait times, and extreme appointment protocols due to short staffing. They simply cannot afford to hold your place while so many other people are waiting. The hours long drives make it even more difficult, and virtual visits do not yield the most successful results because they feel so impersonal.

The healthcare burden on rural Americans can be seen in the people. My generation seems to have little hope of living to the age of our predecessors, and our children are suffering from lack of access to the care that our urban counterparts enjoy. Self-diagnosis and treatment are becoming more common, and it is particularly concerning in the teenage population. Self-medicating is dangerous.

I do know that there are some universities offering incentives to doctors willing to take up residency in rural communities like mine, and it is making a difference in States East and West of here. Sometimes I wonder if we are forgotten here, among the cows and cornfields. I guess it is time for me to call another clinic and start over. Anyone want to wish me luck?