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Planning my move to CR for the long term – interested in comments/experience with live in maids who also serve as a cook – other than just rice and beans
. Also longer term idea is rather than move to assisted living in the US, why not live in my home in CR with a live in nurse. Comments on this idea and issues/things to consider would be appreciated.
I think there was a pretty good article here about a husband and wife that moved to CR with an older parent that’s now being taken care of at home with a much lower cost!
Not really a bad idea… and if quality health care is nearby… it’s a great idea!
I also seem to remember a project here in CR that was developing homes and a community designed for just this type of plan. The houses were clustered, nicely laid out for older folks… and there was an on site nurse and caregivers as well as a community center and meal plan. Kind of a tropical “assisted living” setup with private homes. It didn’t have the look or feel that many of these places have! Seemed like a really good idea!
Thanks for the comment. My mother in law lives with us and will potentially need home nursing care before either my wife or I. So my idea is to have home care for her then us if needed, and prefer the stay at home idea to another type facility at this stage.
I think this is a great idea, if it can be made to work. Any time you can provide for anyone to live in a less restrictive and more homelike environment, everyone is probably better off.
The fly that may infest this ointment, however, would have to do with the type and intensity of care that the patient might come to require. One could hope to go a long way with the assistance of a housekeeper who could cook and clean, but when more expert care is required, and for more hours per day, then the plan would begin to fall apart.
It’s likely that you can find a live-in housekeeper without too much trouble. Finding someone to assist with bathing, dressing, toileting, medicating, and other much more personal needs is another matter. And when the patient becomes chairfast or bedfast, or when dementia onsets, needs increment dramatically.
And remember that the Costa Rican labor code requires specified vacations, days off, etc. What will you do then?
This is a HUGE untapped market and even after screaming about it for years, very few developers have serious plans to build any kind of an assisted living facility. And the ones that I have seen are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive….
You can read the article about Bob & Jill and her 98 year old father entitled: ‘Retirement in Costa Rica: Real lives and real perspectives from San Ramon’ at:
[ https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/2114.cfm ]
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comMy idea is to have both a maid/cook as well as a live in nurse.
It may take two nurses to provide enough coverage with the limits on hours worked and vacation/days off. My idea is get a home that has maid’s live in space, and potentially one additional space for a live in nurse. Once the work for a nurse is high enough to require more than one, I would convert one of the car bays to a second live in space or convert an extra bedroom. If I can get a place with enough land to build a simple two bedroom/bsth building nearby, that would work as well.
While having this space and paying for help isn’t a low cost option, it certainly costs less than the $200/day for assisted living in Houston and that is for one person not the potentially three I might have.
A business opportunity might be to provide nurses as vacation or peak demand supplements to those who might need it or in my case when one nurse might not be enough.
Another opportunity might be to build a small planned community with independent homes in it with access to common facilities including support for the needed medical care, nurses, access to a medical doctor if the community was not in a major city area etc.
The ladies in my wife’s family live to mid 90’s in relatively good health but need assistance. I expect that to be true for my wife even with her lupus and arthritis. They say the key to long life is to have a chronic disease and learn to live with it. I hope I have my mom’s genes, she is mid 80s and in great health living on her own in the country not far from town in Oklahoma.
Thanks for the issues/concerns to help me plan this more completely.
I recently saw a report on one of the national news shows about a very nice new development going up near San Miguel Allende, Mexico. This project offered manageable smaller homes with lots of services and then a full-on nursing home as an option for folks who needed higher levels of care. Alzheimer’s care was going to be included. The report noted that the nursing home costs were going to be less than half of comparable care in the U.S. The developer said that the units were nearly all spoken for.
This topic is of real interest to me as I am going to be leaving my 88-year-old mom behind in the U.S. At this time she doesn’t need any help (bowls twice a week, Tai Chi daily, volunteer, etc.) but eventually she will. I am already weighing my options to bring he to Costa Rica at some point. It would be terrific if one of the developments noted above was available. This seems to be an immense growth opportunity with the millions of baby boomers entering retirement – certainly some who already are experiencing health issues. Does anyone know expat retirees in Costa Rica who are trying to “age in place” with home health???
Thanks for your response. I think a development with independent homes where some individuals needed full time nurse coverage makes sense. Each needing full time nurse coverage could have one nurse as a live in and for vacation and other coverage get nurses from a shared pool available to those in the development. The common facilities for the development could include living quarters for the shared nurses as well as any specialized exercise or other equipment that might be needed by more than one but which could be shared.
I am not aware of the development in Mexico you mentioned but will check to see what they offer a model.
There is an excellent and very affordable assisted living facility in Belen, Heredia which is written about at:
Thanks for this pointing out this article. I have the same idea / future need but envision privately owned housing as a living arrangement as well as apartments. This demonstrates to me the concept will work, the question is the market and cost for this arrangement. Also independent homes owned rather than leased might complicate things .
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