Senior Suggestions Please!

caribeman

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Dec 26, 2011
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Enjoy meeting new people/cultures
Need some Senior Suggestions. Been taking care of Pops in El Campo for about a year. Beautiful place, limited English speaking neighbors and til recently affordable.

Dad is now restless, needs/wants more activity and I think needs more people to actually communicate with. I think he is tired of feeling isolated. He is 75, ambulatory - but with memory issues.

Can anyone suggestion affordable (what would qualify for HUD housing in the US) areas where he could walk safely, and be around other older folk - or at least English speakers.? Retirement communities like those in the states are not the norm here... i know...

I have found nice apartments in the cities - but not sure he can maneuver nor do I want him wandering around Sto Dom. or Santiago with no Spanish skills.

Trying desperately not to have to go back to the US.

Thanks!
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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how about moving from the campo a bit closer to gringos? sosua/cabarete area or bavaro/punta cana? lots of people of all ages speaking english. not sure whether you can afford a driver/carer too. some who would take him to the favorite bar/beach and come back to pick him up later?
 

caribeman

Member
Dec 26, 2011
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16
Enjoy meeting new people/cultures
how about moving from the campo a bit closer to gringos? sosua/cabarete area or bavaro/punta cana? lots of people of all ages speaking english. not sure whether you can afford a driver/carer too. some who would take him to the favorite bar/beach and come back to pick him up later?

I have been exploring Punta Cana...until now I had kind of an "anti touristy" approach cause it is so nice where we are... but thinking for him practicality is pushing to more gringolandia.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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i think it will be better, especially if he is getting restless. he will have more opportunities to interact with other people, maybe make friends? i know sosua has a shop with english books, here in POP there is a "meeting place" where folks meet to watch movies and plays or to discuss different DR related subjects (they are all old, i've been there) and in costambar we have a small library with books in english, german and french.

i am sure PC area offers the same. sometimes in order to make someone happy you may have to do things you would not have considered before...
 

expatsooner

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Aug 7, 2004
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Need some Senior Suggestions. Been taking care of Pops in El Campo for about a year. Beautiful place, limited English speaking neighbors and til recently affordable.

Dad is now restless, needs/wants more activity and I think needs more people to actually communicate with. I think he is tired of feeling isolated. He is 75, ambulatory - but with memory issues.

Have you considered involving him in some sort of animal husbandry project like chickens, pigeons, goats etc.? It would keep him active and moving and could lead to more contact with people if he does something like egg production that he could then take to market to sell. Plus contact with animals is very beneficial in terms of positive health benefits for all ages.
 

pelaut

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Aug 5, 2007
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. . . here in POP there is a "meeting place" where folks meet to watch movies and plays or to discuss different DR related subjects (they are all old, i've been there) . . .

And when you get to be "old", I hope you'll discover like I did, that all aspects of life actually can get better.

OP: take your dad to an integrative medicine doc (e.g., Clinica Luna in SG) and a geriatric doc. In this country you can afford to go to as many as you want until you find one that works for you. Might be as simple as mild hormone therapy. Look up Life Extension Foundation in Fort Lauderdale. There are anti-aging protocols today that, given the right ones for him, can let him live until he dies, not die by degrees.

Good luck. Keep us posted.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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hey, i did not mean it as a derogatory term to say everyone coming to the meeting place is old :) more like: this is a company fit for your dad right there.
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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Drop him off at my house!
(Just Remember To Pick Him Up!)
I'll teach him how to smoke cigars and drink coffee!
I live near the SD Zoo.
We already have something in common.
We both have nothing to do, and all day to do it!
I have "VIAGRA" if we get lucky!
CCCCCCCCCCCC
Pelaut.
I don't think that "ALL ASPECTS" of getting old are great.
But it beats the hell out of the alternative!
 

Ken

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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I have a brother in the USA who is now 70 and has these same issues with memory etc.. The house around the corner from me is available at 9000 pesos a month and a full time house keeper for about the same or a bit less. and if your Dad has a social security about the same $1000 as my brother's they oughta do pretty good financially together. I have a car and could take them around to the beach and to the gringo gathering place etc... PM me if you wsh to get further into the idea. I am in Puerto Plata.
Der Fish

I'm impressed. That is a very kind and generous offer.