Business Idea - Independent and Assisted Living

[dv8]

what do other places offer? and most importantly: what do old people do? i'm thinking not all that much...

you could start with spanish, because why not? daily spanish classes, with a real teacher.
evenings at the movies: on a large screen, everyday. movies in few different languages to suit the inmates
if in a fallen resort: golf. and it is easy enough to build tennis court and a gym.
a spa: hair, nails, massage.

and outside: horse riding, quads, volunteering with kids...

 

[AlterEgo]

we talked about it before, sometimes people leave DR in order to care for someone, worried about their parents. why leave if you could bring your elderly here where they would receive excellent care and be close enough for you to visit more often?

Well, in the case of elderly Americans, they would lose their insurance coverage because Medicare & the supplements aren't valid in DR. Plus prescription coverage under Medicare. If they're low income, they get free meds and nursing home in most states.

As far as others, if they've done proper financial planning to protect their assets, they can get free nursing home care too. And I'm not talking about dumps. The one I'm most familiar with looks like a resort, large airy rooms, good food, activities all day, cable TV, entertainment, on-site RN nursing 24/7, frequent doctor checkups, a hair salon, mini golf, etc. I bet 90% of the residents are on Medicaid. The self-pays are paying about $9000 a month. Once their money runs out, they stay right where they are, because then Medicaid kicks in for them too.

 

[keepcoming]

In the US they have all kinds of activities from shopping trips (if able), movie nights, they hold seminars on different topics, dance classes, cooking classes, etc..The folks keep pretty active while living there and are still able. A friends mother is in one and they pay around $3100 for a 1 bedroom apartment type. It is a nice place and is about 2 years old. There are other monthly fees for different services. They have 3 meals a day and if they cant make it to the dining room they can have their food delivered to their "apartment"

 

[AlterEgo]

In the US they have all kinds of activities from shopping trips (if able), movie nights, they hold seminars on different topics, dance classes, cooking classes, etc..The folks keep pretty active while living there and are still able. A friends mother is in one and they pay around $3100 for a 1 bedroom apartment type. It is a nice place and is about 2 years old. There are other monthly fees for different services. They have 3 meals a day and if they cant make it to the dining room they can have their food delivered to their "apartment"

Yes, but that is Assisted Living, not a nursing home. The place I described above has both. Once you can't stay by yourself in the Assisted Living, you just move to the attached wing to the nursing home. Big difference in price and level of care.

The better places in the US have different floors/wings for different needs. For example, those who are mentally alert but physically challenged due to disease/age are totally segregated from those with dementia/alzheimer's. They gauge the activities accordingly, and the dementia wings have twice the number of 'aides'.

I don't see that sort of thing happening in DR anytime soon.

 

[dv8]

AE, you are probably right: not anytime soon. but everything you have been saying about USA is possible in DR as well: level of care, facilities, activities. granted, you cannot use your medical insurance but i assume not everyone in the states has it?
assisted living in DR would certainly be possible but this is an investment. quite large too. maybe affiliating with a dominican hospital (for more help, security and cheaper meds) would be profitable here.

 

[AlterEgo]

dv8, I'll hazard a guess that probably 90% of elderly people in the US today have insurance through Medicare and/or Medicaid. Number might be higher. Many who worked for state or federal government in almost any capacity have lifelong insurance after retirement.

You're right - it's absolutely POSSIBLE in DR, especially the Assisted Living.

The BIG question is what happens after the $$$ run out in DR??? In the US the government takes over. I don't see that ever happening in DR.

 

[mountainannie]

ok now for example i just got back from the Clinic abreu where it took me three hours to get the burn blister lanced and covered with suga de plata, gauze, and and ace bandage... I cried when it took as long to get the bill for 1399 pesos as it did for the treatment..

that is the sort of thing we are up against

here in virtual assisted living.

if there had been a service in gazcue that i could call to have some one with me.. i would. because you cannot go to the emergency room there or anywhere without someone at your side. you will not be understood or cared for very well.

not that the TREAT'MENT was not first rate.. they brought in an attending physiciain to check on the blister .. then he ok ed that it should be lanced... and the resident or iintern from surgery did it.

never a complaint about the bill ,, either.. never at Abreu..

For Hospiten . they would have charged US $1399 if they could have.. went there once for a simple malaria test and they gave me a three hundred dollar blood workup because i had a visa card.

now i have local health insurance so that they cannot pull that S

 

[mountainannie]

eithher they have to have social security or a million bucks which gives about $3600 a month...

you have to protect yourself

but since almost 100% of the US HAS social security to the level of $1500... then that is the limit to work with

 

[mountainannie]

if you can get an INSURANCE company in on it .. then raise the eligible age to 75.. since now you have to buy the one expensive policy which covers til death before 65 so that is asking a lot... most entries into assisted living are in their 70s,,,, catch my drift?

i had to take a medical exam.. chest weight height.. no blood work, no urine test.. just a medical check up with the insurance company... very easy

should be easy to evaluate a patient . client.. elder.. with a glance at their medical. Right now, I reckon my life expectancy is aoubt 83.... at least that is what i am willing to give it right now... could go longer if i can overcome this stress.. but my family history is not long lived with two brothers and an uncle gone before 70 and parents only in their early 70s.

They figured I was a good risk for insurance .. which is only about 3 million pesos for the rest of my life. That is all lthat I could buy. They said if I spent all of that here. i am terminal..

which was a comfort.

 

[mountainannie]

In the US they have all kinds of activities from shopping trips (if able), movie nights, they hold seminars on different topics, dance classes, cooking classes, etc..The folks keep pretty active while living there and are still able. A friends mother is in one and they pay around $3100 for a 1 bedroom apartment type. It is a nice place and is about 2 years old. There are other monthly fees for different services. They have 3 meals a day and if they cant make it to the dining room they can have their food delivered to their "apartment"

you could do this all in Gazcue for instance , with completely independent living .. if you bought enough apartments.. We have take out food from everywhere.. shusi, good dominican, pizza .. steak and fries

and then put in a SENIOR center like there are in lots of communities

with a visiting nurse service and then continuing care.

the advantage here is that all of the apartments are built with maid;s quarters and all of the doctors and medical is close by..

plus theater and art schools.. think of it sorta like San Miguel de Allende in Mexico if anyone has been there

 

[mountainannie]

someone, for instance, could buy THIS apartment and we could start

I already have a bilingual secretary and an insurance agent and doctors, and a great dentist

i can walk to the six thousand volume English library and have a membership at the pool and spa at the Sheraton which costs me $60 a month when i use it $30 when I do not.... as in if i am out of the country

If retirees switch their lives a bit.. to spend nine months here and three months there .. in the camper, say, driving from one grand kid to another.. that would be my ideal.

I did get to do that the first three years but now i am working with Haiti and had to go into debt after the earthquake.. like one does if one has friends who are rreally starving.. which the Haitians in LT were. But that was ideal... nine months here, three months there.

so it would not have to be an end of life scenario at all.. just a little delicate caring

sixty is the new forty they say

altough I would disagree.. sixty is still sixty. And sixty six is an elder.

 

[mountainannie]

when they swap that, they no longer have to pay taxes in the STATE in which they were living.. to the FEds, Yanks have to always pay.

So if we do not bill it as hospice end of life but as an adult active retirement urban center.. then do another one in puerto plata.

that could work.

for an urban life, Gazcue takes the prize

except for the occassional shooting and armed robbery

 

[mountainannie]

if we made it one small hotel in puerta plata then went around GAzcue to the apartments to rent.. most of them furnished..We could run it on a year basis year by year then they could have travellers insurance which might not be too expensive. We make it a swap apartment scheme.. bring only two suitcases and vary your time between the Capital and theCoast..

damn we are good

 

[AlyssaGilles]

These kinds of independent and assisted living communities are working properly in the era now, I think these kinds of things are now needed of our society. In the business sense it also works well, a profitable business.

 

[Tamborista]

These kinds of independent and assisted living communities are working properly in the era now, I think these kinds of things are now needed of our society. In the business sense it also works well, a profitable business.

Do they serve SPAM for the retirees?

 

[Criss Colon]

"Tambo" they "Spammed" the same story in another thread.
I told "WUD" his "Spam detector needed a "Tune Up"!!!!!!!!!!!!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
Hope he didn't get mad at me?????

 

[Angus623]

Hopefully the individual who described their research and the factors they discontinued the concept will see and react onto your post.

 

[Rep Dom]

I think that when you have an idea, a serious one of course, you should always give it a try...
First of all, if you dont you might, or will, have regrets, which is no good...
Then before starting your business, you MUST make a feasability survey. In your case, if you dont know anything about that business, I would put the survey into the hands of a specialized company...

 

[WheeledOne]

I know this thread isn't exactly fresh, but I wanted to express my support and offer a perspective I haven't heard mentioned.

I'm disabled, and have been since birth. I'm now 38, use an electric wheelchair, and need caregivers to assist with my activities of daily living. Here in the U.S., the cost of my care is extraordinary. Roughly $90/day x 365 days a year. I paid this out of my own pocket, because I chose to work (as a computer programmer) and was therefore deemed "not disabled" by my government.

I visited the D.R. last year and had a blast. While there, I became good friends with an expat hotel owner. I shared the details of my care expenses with him, and he was stunned. We talked about the care I could get in D.R., and it would cost me substantially less than $90/day.

I don't take any medicines, or need any specialized medical care. I get the flu vaccine every year because I have reduced lung function and pneumonia is really bad for me, but otherwise I'm a pretty healthy guy that just needs help bathing, dressing, getting into my chair, preparing meals, running errands, etc. It doesn't take medical training; in the U.S., I hire off of Craigslist.

If there were a cool, non-nursing-home-ish assisted living option in SD or the NC, I would be on it like white on rice. I could afford $2,000/month, no problem. Care, alone, costs me more than that here.

I know I'm not alone, too. There are many young, professional disabled people like me who would love the opportunity to live abroad.

 

[Lobo Tropical]

Tell me why this will not work, with the baby boomers looking for alternative retirement residential and living possibly and so many Dominicans wishing to return back, plus a ready and available cheap Dominican medical work force.

I found that POP had many hotels for sale. Why not turn them over and or buy one and convert it to an Independent and Assisted Living business. You can make two Thousand US Dollars per head per month, that?s about one million for 40 tenants.

Good idea,
It works in Thailand with excellent personal care.
Some homes specialize in care for Alzheimers and Dementia patients and are run by Swiss organizations.
The climate in the DR helps, labour is inexpensive. All that is needed is funding and a professional set up.
Care in the US and Canada is easily $3000-5000 a month and more. Germany is well organized for care but I'd prefer the DR.
No shortage of boomers.