Made in India: Low-cost care for ailing parents

federica

Hm, I would say it depends on the place. Goa is an exception, as even the rural areas are quite developped, but still quite calm and friendly. I was thinking more about living in big crowded Indian cities (entering a bus and such things) or in underdevelopped rural areas (healthcare often too far away). All these infrastructure things... Of course it depends also how much you need help...

But I agree in this regard, money doesn't buy love and care that comes from the heart, and I think that is the most important thing when one is becoming more and more helpless.

gautam

Love would be incomplete if you dont have TIME to spend the same.
So i say love & Time go together.

YG: Very nice find

__________________

"Your thoughts could be your prison"

My pics on flickr

Kerela backwaters - by beach

lotus blossom

not to trivialize the crux of this article, which is how poor many americans are in face of the cost of living here, but what most speaks to me in this article is - the outsourcing of his parents. what isn't being outsourced today? america is selling out, on so many levels. pretty soon we'll be outsourcing the country. oh yeah, think that's already happened. just call us chinamerica...

__________________
Not all who wander are lost

ALPHABAR

i like this story...

"outsourcing" has become such a pejorative term...

but,if we start thinking creatively about "outsourcing" who knows what we'll come up with!

nvik16

Only if americans had a social cover , like europeans do ... I had a root canal and I was charged liked 5000 $ . I mean I was glad that I had dental coverage with my company or what would I do ??The next time something happens I am gonna go back to india . It works out cheaper including the tickets .....btw did you guys know they are starting a new non stop flight from NYC to mumbai 14 hrs flat ... should make things easier

Nick-H

America selling out?

I have the opposite view: India is selling out, opening its arms to another round of colonial takeover. This time its East India Comapny Inc

__________________
.


Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

lotus blossom

hmmm, you may be right, but i'm not so sure. it may be more like a merger happening, because america sees india growing ever more powerful whilst it's own economy is weakening, by the day.

m.bhattacharya

With changing demographic profile, the Western nations need to do some serious thinking about how they will be caring ifor their elderly. People now a days live well into the nineties. When they are in their late eighties and nineties, their children are not exactly young, and their grand children too busy with their careers.

India on the other hand still has and will have in the near future, a fairly bottom heavy demographic profile. This if organised rightly could become an excellent employment opportunity for those who are sensitive and caring by nature and do not want to enter the corporate rat race. Has someone thought of it as a business idea? Will require some degree of sincerity and honesty but will be rewarding both spiritually and financially.

Milan

lotus blossom

a few years ago (and maybe still) one of the fastest growing industries in the u.s. was homes for folks with alzheimers. so, we may be living longer, but many do not even know who they are!

and, whilst on the topic, there's the issue of keeping people alive at any and all costs, which is putting a heavy burden on the medicare system, and stretching a person's longevity.

i think that the key is how to live healthy lives that will allow us to naturally and gracefully age. my parent's aren't that old yet, but their health is not great. their diets are substandard and they both take a fair amount of medication to suppress the symptoms of their unhealthy lifestyles. my mom is becoming more aware of this, but is still in quite a bit of denial and fear about the correlation between food and wellness, and the ill effects of pharmaceutical drugs.

Sama

I've read that this generation of American children is the first generation of Americans that will NOT live longer than the previous generations.

Why? Obesity for one thing, lack of exercise (physical education classes are now slim to none in some school districts), and the nature of food and eating in America (fast food.)

Something for India to watch out for considering how many fast food places I saw in Chennai. People already go to my yoga school in Chennai for prescriptive therapeutic yoga because of their "western" afflictions, which heretofore were rather scarce.

__________________
My India, 2005-2008
sama: Pali/Sanskrit: that state of consciousness which reflects neither attachment nor aversion

Shaktipalooza

Yep, we're a nation of junk food junkies. I was on a train last week when two overweight mothers boarded with their children. They were chatting about what they fed their children. French toast sticks, Mcnuggets, fries, soda, basically garbage.

Obese America: 75pc overweight by 2015

I'd say about 70% of the people in my former office are obese. The company is getting killed by health insurance premiums but they went ahead and took away health club subsidies from their employees.

Priorities people!

__________________
IndiaGroove - Train finder now in beta!
Pics from India 2006
Traditional Indian Dance

birds

Goa may not be as calm and friendly as you may think. I am relatively new to Goa, lived here just about a year, but lived three years in Bangalore and eight in Delhi. What I find remarkable here is that lots of long term foreigners actually complain about the mentality of the Goans. I have never heard so many bad things about people from Bangalore or Delhi when I was there. Perhaps it is because many foreigners are here on their own, with their own small company while in bigger cities foreigners tend to have some 'protection' if they work for large(r) companies.

Whatever it is, I think Goa is not such a great place to be if you are older. Medical facilities are not as good as some like to portrait, in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities there is better available. Also, in Goa it is difficult to find any type of staff, including care staff because many can earn quick, relatively easy money in the tourist season.

Come to think of it, I think indeed that apart from the climate, Chennai would offer a good balance of available facilities, friendly, caring people and relatively good environment as it is close to the sea.

Same here, my grandmother had a miserable last few years spending most of her time in bed, even though she was in one of the most expensive care centres available, money could not buy her care and even giving love was barely an option as visiting hours were restricted.

I absolutely agree. In Asia and India time is still more easily available than in the west, and possibly more important, people (still) find relations more important than time. Of course, India is not a solution for everybody but neither are the western facilities.

Nick-H

Moved to a more chatty forum.

For more chat...

edwardseco

Twice that now in cheaper areas sadly. However, it is a complex process. Changes in health conditions have combined with smaller family size to create a heck of a social problem. This magnified by an entitlement system that was a Ponzi scheme (fraud) in the first place. Like you I doubt anyone in politics has the courage to face a problem that slowly develops and forces hard choices (Soylent Green?). Can't say I would be the best at such hard choices since I just spent tens of thousands of public dinero to keep my mother alive a few more days when the end was plainly visible. Without a strong spiritual basis its a severe challenge..

dzibead

It's not a question of judging someone for doing it. It's that for most people, this story doesn't present any more of a realistic option than would a story about some family that's filthy rich and can afford quality care in the U.S. for elderly and infirm parents. It's an interesting story and the guy is lucky that his personal circumstances make it workable for him and his parents, just as a filthy rich son's circumstances would make quality care in the U.S. a "workable option" for them. But neither set of circumstances has much relevance to Mr. and Mrs. Joe Blow.