What is considered a small town?

[NurWollen]

I was intrigued by another thread in which the OP was concerned that Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas might night have an adequately-sized patient base. He noted that some rotations were in Odessa and Amarillo.

I didn't want to derail his thread, so I started this one instead. Lubbock has a population of about 230,000. Amarillo's is about 190,000, and Odessa's about 100,000. I grew up in a similarly-sized community an hour north of Los Angeles, with no rural areas in between. So I am no stranger to truly large cities.

However, I go to school in a town of 30,000, with half of that population being students. There is a town of 50,000 a half hour away, but to find anything larger, you have to travel 3+ hours. I consider the area small, but not podunk. A surgeon in the area told that though he practices in a city of only 50,000, patients come from far enough away that he serves a region of about 400,000.

So I am curious to know, do SDNer's actually consider a place like Lubbock small? With all the small towns and medium cities in the region, they have got to have a potential patient base of several million. Am I mistaken?

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[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Hard to say, I consider towns small not by the amount of people that are there, but rather the amount of fun stuff within the vicinity like malls, movie theaters, etc. Though that being said, the quality and quantity of the above likely is directly related to the number of people in that area. So, I'd go ahead and say that under 20k people is probably a small town setting.

 

[FutureDrB]

I was intrigued by another thread in which the OP was concerned that Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas might night have an adequately-sized patient base. He noted that some rotations were in Odessa and Amarillo.

I didn't want to derail his thread, so I started this one instead. Lubbock has a population of about 230,000. Amarillo's is about 190,000, and Odessa's about 100,000. I grew up in a similarly-sized community an hour north of Los Angeles, with no rural areas in between. So I am no stranger to truly large cities.

However, I go to school in a town of 30,000, with half of that population being students. There is a town of 50,000 a half hour away, but to find anything larger, you have to travel 3+ hours. I consider the area small, but not podunk. A surgeon in the area told that though he practices in a city of only 50,000, patients come from far enough away that he serves a region of about 400,000.

So I am curious to know, do SDNer's actually consider a place like Lubbock small? With all the small towns and medium cities in the region, they have got to have a potential patient base of several million. Am I mistaken?

I had a lengthy PM conversation with the OP you are referring to and we discussed the pros/cons of Lubbock. Having spent many years here, as well as many years at University Medical Center which is Tech's teaching hospital, I tried to convey the point that you would see a wide variety of patients, possibly even a greater diversity than you would in an "urban" environment due to the fact that UMC is the only level-1 trauma center in the western region.

Having grown up in the D/FW area myself, I can still say that Lubbock is far from a small town. When I think small town, I think population under 10,000 people. There was another thread very similar to this where we discussed the meaning of "rural medicine". One poster said it best when they talked about the fact that "a small town is not necessarily defined by population, but rather what GPs are responsible for." Ie. not only tend to general ailments, but also deliver babies, etc.

 

[DrTroll]

First of all, thanks for not derailing the original thread.

I referred to Lubbock as a small city not because of population/area but its contrast with Dallas/Fort Worth metro(population: 6 Million+) that I live in. In Lubbock, you can go from one end of city to the other in 15 minutes during rush hour, whereas DFW or Los Angeles, it takes hours without traffic to get out of the populated area. So my opinion on Lubbock being small is definitely biased.

The 3rd and 4th year students in Tech are assigned to Lubbock, Amarillo, or Odessa campuses to do their rotations. So if a student is assigned in Odessa, all his/her clinical rotations are done in Odessa. The student ambassadors during the interview mentioned that Odessa students has to come back to Lubbock for a few weeks during some of their rotations because there is not enough cases to see in Odessa. This got my attention, and it's the reason why I was asking about this in the original thread. The posts and PMs from other sdners such as FutureDrB definitely helped me alleviate some of those concerns.

Overall, I think as long as the population the hospital serves can provide a good clinical experience, it is all that matters. Texas Tech health system is actually the primary health care provider to a population of about 2.5 million, so you are definitely right on surrounding population in the millions.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

coming from des moines, which isn't large at all, about 500,000, so I don't think this is small. Kirksville has 17,000 people and enough to run a med school, so Lubbock is more than adequate. i also would call a town of 10-15,000 is a large town and 10,000 or less would be small.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

coming from des moines, which isn't large at all, about 500,000, so I don't think this is small. Kirksville has 17,000 people and enough to run a med school, so Lubbock is more than adequate. i also would call a town of 10-15,000 is a large town and 10,000 or less would be small.

How close is KCOM to a mall or center of commerce? Any areas of interest or landmarks within the area?

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

10-15000 is about what is considered small if it is not a suburb. 190k is not small unless you consider huge metro areas to be 'average'... In MN I lived in a 'town' of 9k, next to a town of about 15k. I rarely had to drive more than a few miles to have whatever I needed to survive nicely. Which is perfect to me... No desire to live in a very urban area

 

[FrkyBgStok]

How close is KCOM to a mall or center of commerce? Any areas of interest or landmarks within the area?

mall? not sure. only been to kirkville 5 or 6 times. I don't think there is a mall there at all and it is about an hour from a place that might have a mall. but they do have a walmart which is a center of commerce.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

mall? not sure. only been to kirkville 5 or 6 times. I don't think there is a mall there at all and it is about an hour from a place that might have a mall. but they do have a walmart which is a center of commerce.

I pray that Walmart has a megaplex or Imax in it.... any good bars? lol

 

[Loudster]

I consider myself from a small town. The population is well under 5000, officially we're not an incorporated "town" (no mayor or any of that stuff), no Post Office, no stoplights, no Police (only county sheriffs), high school was about 25 minutes away in a different town. One grocery store, one gas station, 2-3 diner/restaraunts, etc.

That said, we're still only about 30-40 minutes tops from malls, theaters, hospitals, Wal-mart, Costco, etc. So, while I may live in a small town, I do feel like we still have access to the amenities of larger cities (not large in the sense of a big city like LA or SFO of course though).

To be honest, I love it. When I go home I drive over a mountain. On the other side of the mountain it's noisy, houses are close together, there's lots to do, and you can't see the stars at night. Drive over the mountain and almost everyone lives on several acres, it's quiet, stars look amazing, everyone's friendly, and it really feels like you've left work/school/whatever behind you.

 

[NurWollen]

It sounds like the size of a town can be defined by population or by access to fun stuff to do. The two are related but not necessarily the same thing.

Not a lot to do in my town, but if you go a half hour you can find most major stores, chain restaurants, and a small mall. It's enough to keep me happy. My idea of distance has also been shaped by how far I have to go to get somewhere.

 

[MT Headed]

Definition of a small town: when the elevation is greater than the population.

 

[FutureDrB]

Definition of a small town: when the elevation is greater than the population.

So if you're under sea level, do you live in a ghost town?
- Deep thoughts, by Jack Handy...

 

[Loudster]

So if you're under sea level, do you live in a ghost town?
- Deep thoughts, by Jack Handy...

How else do you think the Dead Sea got its name

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

I kind of wondered that as well. My city isn't "too" large. 😀

 

[Dharma]

From my point of view: anything smaller than NYC is small.

 

[UTsksk]

From my point of view: anything smaller than NYC is small.

That's a lot of places 😀

I live in a city/town/place that has just over a 100k population and I don't consider it small at all. I consider small where everybody knows who you are and you leave the doors unlocked.

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

That's a lot of places 😀

I live in a city/town/place that has just over a 100k population and I don't consider it small at all. I consider small where everybody knows who you are and you leave the doors unlocked.

Oh gah I know a place just like that...it is NOT a good thing. lol