Introduction – This is a description of how you can keep your loved ones and later on in life yourself out of nursing homes so that the full quality of life can be enjoyed. Nursing homes are no fun and have a habit of shortening the lifespan of the resident. We will show you how easy and cost effective it is to create a nursing home alternative in Panama at a most affordable price.
Panama Domestic Help – This is the key to what we are proposing. In Panama a live in maid can be had for $200 or so per month plus room and board. The maid will work five and one half days per week and live in the house. One can hire a driver in Panama for $325 a month who is also a live in and works five and one half days per week. Let us say you are generous and pay the driver $400 a month and the maid $250, for a total of say $750 with taxes, etc. and lets increase this to say $1000 a month including their food, utilities etc and this is an exaggerated figure. Now you have a driver and a maid in the home each working a five and a half day week, with both never gone at the same time.
Practical Applications of Domestic Help to Keep One out of the Nursing Home - You or your loved ones may be having trouble functioning on their own. Perhaps they are worried about being alone at home in case of a fall or slip or just worried about being home alone in general. Maybe they need someone to remind them to take their medicine at certain times. Maybe driving is no longer possible or has become a burdensome task. Cooking, shopping, cleaning, laundry, trips to shop, trips to the doctor and other things that used to be secondary have become major problems. Well in Panama all of this can be overcome through the hiring of live in domestic help. The maid prepares a shopping list which the driver can obtain while you stay home with the maid. The maid cooks, cleans, and does the laundry. The driver can take you out for social outings, walks by the water, sitting on a park bench, trips to the doctor or whatever you like. You are never alone at home anymore. Everything is being done for you so you can just enjoy the new found quality of life and enjoy the privacy and comfort of living in your own home or apartment.
Medical Considerations – Panama is home to many fine hospitals including a full John Hopkins Hospital. Many doctors in Panama are American Board Certified. When the Americans were here before the year 2000 the doctors needed to get American licenses and American Board certification to work on the American base which had 25,000 military plus dependents plus civilian employees. This was a big well paying market for a doctor in Panama. In short the Americans left but the doctors didn’t. Doctors in Panama even make house calls for $30.00 to $40.00 a visit. Imagine that! Of course the drugstores will deliver. Medicines are a fraction of the prices charged in the USA, usually about 35% of the USA prices for the exact medicine made by the same company in another country with the printing on the package in Spanish. Generally you will not even need a prescription in Panama for many medicines that are controlled in other countries. The hospitals are cleaner than what you see in the USA. English is spoken at least as good as it is in the USA hospitals, and the costs are much lower. People rent two room hospital suites here so their relatives can stay with them for less than a semi-private room would cost in the USA. To be a doctor in Panama one must be a Panama national so you know the country your doctor is coming from. Panama has two medical schools that are tops. The Dentists are also good and American licensed for the same reasons pertaining to the old days when the Americans were here. Dental rates are about 40% of the USA prices. Lab work is about 35% to 50% of the USA rate. If you are wondering the veterinarians are also good but not American licensed or board certified.
Panama Housing – You can rent or buy. You can get a house or an apartment. For most of you a full service apartment or condo will do the trick just fine. The building will have enclosed parking, a concierge, and security people. No one not known to the building staff gets in – no strange delivery people, no taxi drivers, etc. Your building will more than likely have a social floor complete with a swimming pool. There will be a generator that switches on if there is a power outage. Most apartments have a balcony and air conditioning. So if you say go with a three bedroom apartment with maids room figure a low of $650 to $4000 for a five thousand square foot palatial condo. A very nice unfurnished apartment with a view and pool that is over 2000 sq feet could be had for $1200 to $1500. Add in cable, internet, phone, and utilities for another $400 and you are finished. There are other smaller three bedroom units that are nice that can be had for well under $1000 as well. You need to figure out what the needs are and what the budget is. A nice condo can be purchased for $140,000 and up. Furniture in Panama is about 25% of the price in North America.
Summary – Panama can be a great place for people who wish to avoid going into a nursing home and do not need skilled care. In Panama such people should live longer, eat better and enjoy life much more with no loss in quality of health care. They person could even keep a dog, cat, bird or fish since the staff will take care of them like walk the dog, clean the cat box and so forth. The ambulances are not coming to the apartment every day hauling people off as it is in a nursing home. Remember it is always warm in Panama. The cost of living in your own home is still going to be much less than a nursing home where you only get a room and have to eat cafeteria style food. In this scenario one can come and go as they please, eat when they want and eat what they want, watch what they want on TV when they want to, take outings with the driver and so forth without worrying about cleaning, cooking, shopping, laundry, being alone, needing assistance to get out of bed or out of a chair, and so forth. It is actually the closest thing to a normal existence one could possibly have under the circumstances. If you are nice to the domestic help and treat them fairly they will become attached to you and your family and worry about you. Such is how they are. This is a hidden advantage of Panama.
http://panamalaw.org/bearer_share_corperation.html
http://panamalaw.org/panama_foundations.html
http://panamalaw.org/foundation_protectors.html
