For many “Boomers” the dream of retirement is now becoming an illusion, with shrinking investment funds and with the new found responsibility of taking care of their parents. The Solution: Retire in Mexico and Bring Mom Along. To take care of your parents Serena Senior Care, recently opened the first Assisted Living Residence in Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico called Casa Harmony.

Rosarito B.C. (PRWEB) July 24, 2009

Serena Senior Care opened the First Assisted Living Residence in Baja California, Mexico a solution for many Baby Boomers whose dream of retirement is now becoming an illusion, with shrinking investment funds and with the new found responsibility of taking care of their parents. This double “whammy” in addition to increasing costs of medical care and other living expenses has left many upcoming retirees scratching their heads wondering “when will it be my turn?”. Well, the answer is just a few miles away: south of the border.

The global economic crisis has affected the retirement capabilities of many Baby Boomers, in 2007 50 million Americans had 401(k) plans worth $2.5 trillion at the top of the market, which subsequently lost over $1 trillion by October 2008 (even more since then!). Another $1 trillion in IRA assets vanished as well. Now, one in five middle-aged workers has stopped contributing to their retirement plans in the last year, and one in three has considered delaying retirement, according to a new survey by AARP.

In addition to reducing their retirement resources, many of those “Boomers” are now facing a new challenge; taking care of their parents. According to the non-profit Pew Research Center slightly more than one of every eight “baby boomers” are simultaneously raising a child and providing some form of financial assistance to a parent. Demographers call them the “Sandwich Generation.” About 20 million Americans are now struggling to juggle caring for their elderly parents while raising their own families.

For this “Sandwich Generation” prospects of retiring seem slim, as taking care of elder parents who are becoming increasingly frail presents a major challenge. By the year 2020, 12 million older Americans will need long-term care according to AAHSA. Among those turning 65 today, 20 percent will need care for more than five years. Paying for long term care is the biggest challenge, only one in five individuals will be able to afford private long-term care insurance and the national real estate crisis has affected these seniors’ ability to sell their homes. In 2005, the average cost of a private room in a U.S. nursing home was $203 per day; the cost of in-home health aides averaged $19 per hour.

The Solution: Retire in Mexico and Bring Mom Along. International Living Magazine, a publication specializing in evaluating overseas retirement destinations, has declared Mexico number one for two years in a row. It offers wonderful ocean front retirement homes or haciendas in colonial towns filled with historic and cultural treasures. Additionally, Mexico offers high quality medical services and low cost of living.

One of the preferred sites within Mexico is Rosarito Beach, which is on the Pacific Ocean just 18 miles south of the Border from San Diego California. It offers wonderful weather, a growing expatriate community of over 20,000 foreign residents, and currently has an inventory of approximately one thousand new ocean front condominiums and homes at a fraction of the price compared to the US. “Retiring in Rosarito, looking at the sunset over the ocean from my own living room sounds great, but what about Mom or Dad?” The answer is “no problema,” you can bring them along as well.

To take care of your parents there is a wonderful new service in Rosarito by Serena Senior Care, which provides Assisted Living services in the comfort of your own home or in one of its Group Homes. Their bilingual Customer Service center is available 24 hours through a toll free number, ready to support you in any emergency, supported by a broad network of the top medical services in the region.

In May this year Serena Senior Care celebrated the grand opening of a new, all-inclusive, assisted living facility in Rosarito. The beautiful and spacious residence is exceptionally equipped to host up to 12 residents. In this home, residents will have lodging, all meals, housekeeping, personal care by trained bilingual nurses and caregivers, supervision from a bilingual Geriatrician, social activities, physical excercise program, and many other services. This new service is a great value, with an affordable monthly fee that is about 50% the cost of comparable services in California, but with the distinctive warm hospitality of Mexico.

Jim and Mayuree Wheelock, a couple from Cape Coral, Florida, are now enjoying their stay at Casa Harmony, in Rosarito. Jim, who is 92, had hip surgery before the move and was transported by air ambulance to the Tijuana international Airport. On their arrival an ambulance picked them up and took them to Casa Harmony, where a doctor was waiting for them. The next day medical specialists (a Geriatrician, an Urologist and an Orthopedist) went to the home to checkup on him. Mayuree said, “we would have never gotten this level of service in Florida…I feel like a Queen here”. Jim is now visiting the many beach resorts in the area that are just minutes away, and Mayuree has made new friends from the retiree community, and frequently visits local and San Diego shopping centers.

Anyone interested in visiting the facility can request a tour directly at the Serena offices. To get more information, call (661) 612 9090 in Rosarito or toll free from the U.S. at (877) 606 0022, You may also visit their website at www.serenaseniorcare.com.

Rethinking Baja tourism

By Vince Vasquez ,
Wednesday, June 3, 2009

This past Saturday, downtown San Diego played host to an unusual international culinary convention, as Mexican elected officials joined restaurateurs and business owners to present the finest flavors and tastes from Baja. More out-of-the-box thinking will be required if our southern neighbor is to emerge in a new era of border relations.
Entitled “Baja by the Sea,” the free event at the Embarcadero Marina Park North brought out thousands of San Diegans interested in wine tastings, dishes and business ventures hailing from the coastal region. For many, it was an opportunity to be reintroduced to the culturally rich nation at our doorstep, and savor the traditional tastes of Mexican cuisine that are too often found homogenized and diluted for the Western palate in the United States. Though Mexican cities have been avid promoters of their local events and festivals, this new approach of bringing the best of Baja to San Diego was a successful outreach effort to prospective tourists and customers that haven’t crossed the border in some time. Praise is deserving of Baja California Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán and Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos, who were on hand with the mayors of Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada and Tecate to showcase and support their region, and to the Port of San Diego and Baja tourism boards who sponsored the occasion.
Baja by the Sea was a bright spot for a region that has been unfairly swamped by negative news headlines, evoking fear and hysteria from the international community. The recent dramatic drug-related violence has been largely a response to the successful efforts of Mexican law enforcement officials to crack down on the illegal drug trade and capture key cartel leaders over the last decade, spurring volatility and brutal power grabs among the criminal hierarchy. Frenzied media reports over the “swine flu” and its supposed Mexican origins were proven to be overblown this year, as the 117 confirmed global deaths to date failed to produce the speculated worldwide pandemic, and pale in comparison to the fact that the regular seasonal flu kills up to half a million people each year. But the subsiding of the health hysteria did not come before Chinese government officials indiscriminately detained and quarantined Mexican nationals this spring, and one San Diego congressman calling for the White House to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border to protect Americans from the “serious threat” of swine flu. Few have come forward to reproach these damaging public overreactions that have had a powerful psychological effect on whether tourists visit Mexico, which in the Baja region has seen a decline of American visitors for years.
According to statistics from the Tijuana Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, the total number of estimated Americans crossing the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa Ports of Entry (including U.S. citizens living in Baja and working in San Diego) in 2008 was 42 percent below 2004 figures. More recently, the total American border crossings in the first three months of 2009 are fewer than at the same time last year. This bleak trend may be compounded by new U.S. border crossing requirements beginning this week for passports and new identification cards to be used by visitors to Mexico and Canada in order to re-enter the country. Whether these new security demands will negatively impact tourism remains to be seen, but they should give urgency to Mexican officials to adopt innovative strategies to marketing tourism and foreign investment opportunities to their U.S. neighbors.
With Baja by the Sea the first attempt at a new annual event, Baja promoters should weigh the merits of establishing a permanent showroom in San Diego for residents to experience and learn about regional fare and visitor destinations. Consider the success of the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center, established in 2005 to present the “bounty of the county,” highlighting the many boutique wineries and agricultural products that are grown regionally and too often, unknowingly. Nestled across the San Diego Convention Center, the Culinary Center doubled in size in 2007, and continues to host fun and educational gastronomic events for tourists and locals alike in a wine tasting room environment. A downtown Baja Wine & Culinary Center could showcase the dozens of vineyards that thrive in a rich, Mediterranean-like climate along a charming countryside that evokes memories of Napa County before its mass commercialization. Most Baja wineries are small, family-owned operations that produce 5,000 or less cases per year, and could benefit from the exposure, especially to those who have been hesitant of visiting the Baja region. Michelle Martain, whose family owns the outstanding Cavas Valmar Winery in Ensenada, favored the idea of a full-time tasting room in San Diego. “We try to promote our products through events, but if there was an opportunity for something like the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center, it would be wonderful; there is so much to proudly offer,” said Martain.
Though the San Diego-Baja economy is trudging through tough economic times, our outlook is stronger from changing perceptions and adopting innovative approaches to bi-national tourism. Martain is optimistic about the future of the Baja region, as “there is a lot to discover in Baja, sometimes the news dramatizes what is

Ron Raposa
Cell: (619)948-3740
ronraposa@hotmail.com

U.S. Mailing Address:
2751 Lincoln Court
National City, CA 91950

Both Karla Kirkwood and Mary Mcgrath were retired American ladies living in Rosarito. Both had terminal diseases and both lived alone. They never met each other, but the way their mortal remains were dealt with should be a lesson for any foreigner living in Mexico.

Karla Kirkwood was a resident of the Medio Camino (Half Way) community. She had been ill and asked the Red Cross to help her cross the Border for a checkup in her hospital in California. She knew her end was coming, and, when it happened, she wanted to be in her beloved Baja, and to have her ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean. That is why she returned to Medio Camino. Three weeks later, on December 16th of last year, she passed away.

Because she didn’t have a family doctor in Mexico to sign her death certificate, her body was, by law, sent to the Public Coroner’s Office. Her neighbors, who had become her family, wanted to say good-bye the right way and fulfill her wish of scattering her ashes at the Medio Camino shores. The day after her death, they went to the Coroner’s office to claim her body, but their request was denied because they had no proof or documentation of her wishes and no doctor’s death certificate. Mexican law requires an autopsy to determine the cause of her death if there is no death certificate.

The following day, Don Morgan, a neighbor representing a group of residents of Medio Camino, headed to the American Consulate in Tijuana, to get their help. After several days, the neighbors received the authority to claim Karla’s body, so Don and his friends went back to the Coroner’s office, but they were sent to the Assistant DA’s office. Once there and after speaking with several different officials, filling out a lot of paperwork and being told to come back the next day, they were finally authorized to claim Karla’s body.

At last they could fulfill Karla’s wish, but when they got back to the Coroner’s office, the officer in charge told him “Sorry, we sent 7 bodies to the common grave yesterday, and she was one of them”. So Don and his friends spent 17 painful days coming and going to Mexican DA’s Office, the Coroner’s and the US Consulate, but Karla never got her wish and ended up in a common grave.

Mary Mcgrath, on the other hand, had a Mexican medical doctor, based in Rosarito. Mary, , was aware of the need for planning and with the assistance of Serena Senior Care she had made preparations with a local mortuary, advising them what she wanted to happen with her remains. She wanted to be cremated, with half of her ashes spread in the Baja Ocean, and half to be given to her daughter, who lived in Washington.

When the time of her death arrived, her medical doctor signed the death certificate. There was no problem whatsoever; no authorities involved; no red tape; and her wishes were fulfilled up to the last detail. Within two days.

As Peter Fowler, author of “Good Info for Gringos Living in Baja” advises: “Choose a family doctor. Not just any doctor. You need a doctor who knows you and your medical history. He can sign the death certificate” and he recommends to fellow Americans living in Baja: “Serena Senior Care has a full assistance card to establish a medical record”.

The medical assistance component of the Serena Full Assistance Card is the key for its members’ peace of mind, starting with establishing a local medical record with a certified physician that includes basic blood tests and an interview with a doctor. Having a medical record in Mexico could be a life saver in case of emergency, as dispatchers can provide timely information to paramedics or ambulance operators. Medical records will be available online through secure access, which would be extremely helpful for designated loved ones that can make decisions for card members and facilitate making any arrangements or dealing with authorities in the case of a fatality.

Additionally the program includes substantial savings and special packages with the best doctors, hospitals and clinics in the region, including the state-of-the-art facilities of Angeles Hospital in Tijuana or the convenience of service at Bonanova Hospital in Rosarito. Physicians in the network include Dr. Clemente Zuñiga, considered one of Mexico’s top Geriatricians; Cardiologist Lorenzo Arce, Urologist Jorge Baylon; Dr. Eduardo Guadiana specialist in Orthopedics and Traumatology; as well as Dr. Jose Luis Ruink, PM&R (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation).
Beyond having peace of mind, this program is about enjoying life in Baja. The Serena Full Assistance Card includes discounts in some of the most prestigious shops, restaurants, spas and hotels. More information on the Full Assistance Card can be found on www.serenaseniorcare.com/card.
The Serena Full Assistance Card is being developed by Serena Senior Care, an In-Home Assisted Living and Property Care corporation established in Rosarito. The offices are located in Arco Plaza, next to the Arch Exit on the Tijuana-Ensenada toll road and can be reached at (661) 612 9090, or info@serenaseniorcare.com

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