With the current crisis in U.S. healthcare, many adults are exploring alternatives to traditional longterm care, when staying at home or going to a nursing facility is out of the question. S. Herzfeld is a perfect example: an MBA grad management expert returned home in 2004 to care for his aging parents, who suffer from Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. After three years, the strain and expense of providing 24-hour care for both parents was overwhelming. Exploring nearby nursing homes was discouraging, as the monthly cost would quickly bankrupt his parents.
Mr. Herzfeld continued his research and in a turn of serendipitous events, he and his parents decided to move to India, ironically where Mr. Herzfeld once studied and later taught MBA classes. Why India? India reveres older persons, and the cost of living is significantly less than in the West. His parents are now cared for in the town of Pondicherry by a personal six-person staff, who provides them with daily massages, physical therapy, round-the-clock mobility assistance, customized healthy meals, and medicines that cost 20% less than in the States – all of this for approx. $15 per day. His parents are now able to save $1,000 from their monthly SS check, banking it for emergency events or plane tickets.
A former French colony, Pondicherry, India is a foreigner-friendly old town on the ocean, surrounded by bright orange blossom and coconut trees. Its weather is much like Florida, which is familiar to the Herzfeld family. For more info on this town, visit http://tourism.pondicherry.gov.in/intro.html
