One of the toughest decisions for our family was ranking potential residencies. It can be very difficult to find a nice match for one’s own situation. We came from living in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and Phoenix for our undergraduate and graduate educations. It wasn’t until we visited Redding in person that we saw it for what it is: a gem! After we stayed in Redding for a couple of days before ranking, the program hit the top of our list. We hope the following will help you in your ranking decision.

Greg and Robyn Spears
Family Practice Resident and Spouse, respectively
Redding, California

Top 10 Reasons New Residents Need to Move to Redding:

10. The Professionalism—Redding is booming with new growth, necessitating growth in the medical field. At our church alone, 3 physicians just moved here this past year, fresh out of residency (a pediatric ophthalmologist trained at Johns Hopkins, the others orthopedic surgeons trained in Texas and Colorado). Here a physician is wanted, needed and appreciated.

9. The Education—Redding has excellent high-scoring public elementary schools to incredible fine arts charter schools to numerous home schooling and preschool resources, the options seem endless for a good education. And should a spouse want to return to school, one of my new friends here is working on her bachelors from Shasta College while her youngest child attends first grade. The Turtle Bay Museum also offers excellent learning opportunities from frogs to birds of prey to how dams are built at the Paul Bunyan play land.

8. Airport—Flight accessibility increases yearly. Currently, Horizon and United fly nationally into the Redding Airport. Otherwise, the Sacramento airport is a short 2 hours away.

7. The Goodness of California—Redding has all the goodness of California sans the materialism and smog. This community is a more family-friendly corner of California, unlike the Bay and Los Angeles areas. The produce is incredible, not to mention the garden that grows right in your back yard. The wide open spaces in Redding allow children (and pets) a large back yard to roam in. It allows a family to have room to grow. It guarantees working adults short commutes. (Greg’s commute is 2 minutes to the hospital via car, and 8 minutes by bike). No more crowded living and long commutes. The weather is very moderate most of the year. It may occasionally snow in the winter for a White Christmas. However, the biggest complaint is that it is hot and dry in the summer, reaching up to 110 degrees. The good news is that, unlike Phoenix where we spent our last year before residency, the summer nights cool off to a comfortable 70 degrees. And, you always have the lake to cool off at 10 degrees lower than the city.

6. The Church—Redding has an actively growing church attendance. Our church alone has had 5 new convert baptisms last month. The churches are incredibly energetic and full of life. Many young families with school-age children have chosen family-friendly Redding to raise their children. The primaries and nurseries are large and staffed with some of the best adults in the community.

5. The Culture— For entertainment, the pleasurable, historic Cascade Theater shows many a play and allows many professional troupes. Recently produced was “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”. We also have 18 screens of Cinemark excellence for a movie date. If you want fine dining, you have Outback, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and In N Out. But, many of the local family-owned restaurants also give you a taste of the warm friendliness of Redding. As for Shopping, we have everything from Costco to See’s Candy to Old Navy to Ethan Allen (a fine interior decorating and furniture store). Wal-Mart and Target, of course, are popular. And for groceries you have many choices including fancy shmancy Holiday and Sunset Markets or the frugal Food Max and Winco.

4. The Affordablity—Now is the time to buy and sell a home. Last year California homes increased in value 19%. If you buy a home here now, it will very likely pay for itself. With San Franciscans moving northward to Redding, the price of homes is likely to appreciate. Buy now and make a nice buck later.

3. The View—Surrounded by the majestic Shasta Cascades, any which way you look is a gorgeous view of the Redding landscape of mountains near and far. But, there’s plenty room to run. From Mount Shasta 50 minutes north to Mount Lassen 90 minutes East.

2. The Leisure Sports— WATERSKIING--a 25 minute drive from the front door of our house to the boat dock at Whiskeytown Lake (or you could drive 45 minutes to Shasta Lake, too, take your pick). SNOWSKIING—a 45 minute drive to Shasta Mountain will put you on the slopes for just $3 a child and $9 an adult for an awesome family home evening of night skiing. SKEET SHOOTING—Hunting is big in Redding, so there’s ample space and time for target practice. There’s a group in our church that goes frequently.

1. US—Of course, you will have friends here. The residency is a great family. We’ve made some of our best friends through the family practice program here. PLEASE, just come and take a look. We promise you won’t regret the trip out here.