The Positive Approach  by Elaine Smith

I’ve been asked by the Experience Albert Lea committee to write an article about why my husband and I moved to Albert Lea 1 1/2 years ago at our ages, which were then 74 and 83. Since I was born and raised here, I felt that this was home. My husband, however, was born and raised in Texas. We both had moved to Colorado as young adults, met there and lived in Denver for 51 and 60 years each.

Have you ever heard of someone wanting to move to Minnesota for health reasons? Well, we did. Both my husband and I had disorders affected by the high altitude and lesser oxygen, as Denver is a mile high. My husband knew about the famous Mayo Clinic, and he wanted to go there for his pulmonary hypertension. Since we had already purchased an apartment at Village Cooperative of Albert Lea in 2006, which we used as a vacation home, we decided to make it our permanent home.

The move helped. My husband’s lung disease has been stable, and I no longer need to wear oxygen at night as I had to do in Denver. We also found some other benefits. Our eyes aren’t as dry as they were, and I no longer need to use Restasis eye drops. Using lotion on dry skin has also become less of a need.

Our friends in Denver, who didn’t want us to leave, kept emphasizing how terribly cold it would be in Minnesota and how bad the mosquitoes are. Well, I walked to country school in the winters as a child and I walked the campus of the University of Minnesota for four years in the winter months, and I survived quite well. And, we haven’t had one mosquito bite since coming back here.

Unfortunately, people in the middle and southern states have a perception that Minnesota has unbearable weather. How often do they hear about our very pleasant spring, summer and fall weather? Some days I’ve felt like we were in Hawaii. We don’t have 100 to 105 degrees of heat in the summer like Arizona and other southern states have. And, we have the beautiful lakes and green scenery like nowhere else.

We need to advertise the advantages of living here to other states:

• Our location with easy access from Interstate 35 and Interstate 90 in Albert Lea.

• Our proximity to Mayo Clinic for health care — a real plus for aging retirees, especially. Minnesota ranked first in the United Health Foundation’s rankings of healthiest states for senior retirees in recent years.

• Our low crime rate.

• Minnesota has greater longevity with an average lifespan of 80.85 years in 2001, second to only Hawaii; Albert Lea was also the first city chosen for the Blue Zones Vitality Project for longevity and wellness.

• Both young and old people who want to work should be made aware of our very low unemployment rate — that there are hundreds of jobs in Albert Lea going unfilled. Anyone looking for work should be able to find employment here.

So, to summarize, businesses also should find this area a good place to set up business. CHBC named Minnesota the sixth-best state in the nation in which to do business. With the efforts the city is putting into making our downtown and streets more attractive and functional, Albert Lea should soon be growing, if we can just get the word out to others.

 

Elaine Smith is an Albert Lea resident.