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Ecuador Welcome Forum: Understanding Ecuador's Emergency Medical System:
Putting the pieces together...
http://www.tribelr.com/posts/understanding-ecuador-s-emergency-medical-services-ems
Ecuador Welcome Forum: Be prepared!:
If you're coming to Ecuador to live, or even if you're already here, you need to understand how emergency services works and what responsibility you must take to help their system help you to survive a medical catastrophe.
http://latinamericacurrentevents.com/emergency-medical-services-in-ecuador/34447/
Ecuador Welcome Forum: Health Care Coverage:
If the stage of your disease or recovery is at the place were you have the potential of suffering a life-threatening emergency, unless you find a home right next door to the best facility to treat your problems, and with readily available staffing and equipment, you're better off where you're at. Of course, you could get insurance at about $500 a month but you'd still be faced with the same problem.
Ecuador: Need medical recommendation:
medutch go on Facebook to Cotacachi Information or Cotacachi Expats, join up and ask around.
Ecuador: Living with the locals - when death visits:
What a strange thing; to participate in the lives and deaths of your neighbors. That almost takes commitment. It almost means that when their life ceases, yours does too for a while-- maybe even a bit longer than the time it takes to buy a nice, black-bordered card or worse, send a quick e-mail saying "Your loss is mine."
It's not. Such connection comes about through participation in the lives of others. We (dominant NA culture -- loosely termed) have lost the understanding that our lives are critically intertwined with our neighbors.
In that culture up there, people intersect. In this, our Host Culture, people connect.
Sure, there will be a surge of concern -- online from the expats -- but very soon the necessity of the preservation of their own lifestyles will come to the forefront and avoidance of the reality of death, suffering, and its effects will take precedence.
Such calamities do not pass in a week, month or even a year . The community pulls itself out of the abyss together and yes, it's slow and often painful but what we don't get is that all of this is shared..
Susan, you're a lucky gal to grok the differences and be willing to be a part of, rather than an insulated bystander.
I look forward to hearing more of what you're learning, and hope more people on this site will allow it to affect them. Thank you!
Ecuador Welcome Forum: Best Location for Medical Care:
All of this has to be framed by this information. About 49% of the population of Ecuador is under 19 years of age. Any extra resources they have are devoted to that demographic.
Point Two: Although there is a recent decided shift in the amount of life-style (nutrition, over-medication, diabetes, heart and stroke related illnesses) is on the rise, their occurrence has not increased to the extent that the medical system is either equipped or manned to handle them.
This means you must be prepared to do a whole lot of research BEFORE you move here to find an area where the odds of getting reasonable treatment for your (pardon me, but) Gringo illnesses are increased.
Example: a neighbor bgan suffering chest pains and shortness of breath. There was no facility equipped to handle him locally, nor was an ambulance available to bring him to Ibarra, forty minutes away.
The cab he took (non English speaking) had to go to THREE different emergency rooms before they found a doctor that could take and read an EKG!
Do you get the picture? Where there really ain't the need you will NOT find trained people who can treat you quickly...in the meantime, your chances of dying grow every minute!
.
Ecuador: APRIL FOOLED!!!:
As some of you may remember, I posted a little parody for April Fool’s day here and elsewhere.
It took off on Cuenca High Life’s gaffe when they printed a spurious article about expats being required to learn Spanish to stay in Ecuador PRIOR to the April Fool’s date. Basically, I profiled a guest population in turmoil and evacuating the country like someone flushed!
One of those submissions was to Gringo Tree. Here is, in part, the response of their editor, Maryanne Marble (cc to Gerente de Operaciones; Neil Mailer):
“Wow! That was hilarious. I shared it with most everybody here at the GringoTree office, and we were rolling. Thank you for that!
Unfortunately, we won’t be publishing it. It hits too close to home for too many people, and GringoTree is trying to stay out of the Cuenca HighLife controversy.”
So I wrote back to them:
“The way you worded it; that's a damn shame! I say this without rancor or resentment but look at what you said: Why would you possibly deprive your readership of a laugh as enjoyable as your office experienced?
It reeks of timidity and shows an unwillingness to allow your readership to laugh at themselves, implying distrust in their discernment.
Oh, maybe I'm just pissed off because a couple of times I've asked you how to write for you and/or what's going on with Gringo Tree in Quito and I've never been responded to.
Whatever, and respectfully,”
So this is what I got back, from the Jefe, Mr. Mailer himself!
“Thanks for the response. No need to discuss the article at this point since the opportunity is behind us now. That being said, I would love to talk to you more about the later half of your email regarding writing for us. I'm not sure where your previous emails were going when you sent the request but i got this one and you have my attention.
GringoTree is actively looking for writers from all areas of the country and we would love to have someone like yourself on our team. With the launch of our new webpage in the coming weeks we are making a huge push for original content so writers are extremely valuable to us at this point.
With your permission, I would like forward your contact info to our Editor Joanna Bender. She can outline some of our needs in greater detail and you can decide from there if it's a good fit for you.
Let me know how you would like me to proceed.”
So, I did and he didn’t and embarrassed to have been the butt of my own joke, I am leaving Ecuador forever, knowing that none of my insights are valued.
I do pride myself, however, on having forced Mr. Mailer to compose an all-purpose rejection letter that he can use whenever he desires to insult a writer.
Ecuador: medical costs:
It's easy to zero in on one aspect and point the finger.
How about all the expats living in Cotacachi were sought out by IESS and INVITED TO JOIN!
75 showed up at a meeting and I was one of the ones who chose to join up.
Looks like the only thing I took advantage of was an offer.
Ecuador: DATELINE APRIL 1, 2015:
DATELINE: April 1, 2015
A big mistake was made by the editors of Cuenca High Life, and reportedly, it has saved the country of Ecuador from what has turned out to be a hitherto unrecognized covert invasion by North American interests. It appears that under the pressure of a recent, supposed, Government decree, the invaders have given up the ghost and headed for the hills of their Fatherlands!
Cuenca High Life, an on-line magazine geared toward expats who have moved to Ecuador and others who aspire to do so, printed a fictitious article on March 28th that was intended as an April Fools submission. The editors, taking it seriously, ran it alongside an article about expat’s relationship with the Spanish Language “Acquiring Second Languages; How We Learn.” The article stated that from now on, the Ecuadorian Government has decreed that a minimum requirement for anyone attempting to gain residency in the country would be to become fluent in Spanish.
The spurious article defined a series of tests that existing expats would have to take which would establish their proficiency level. Each year thereafter, in order to retain their residency, they would have to show evidence of improvement. It also defined the legal and potential deportation consequences of not adopting to the language of their Host Country.
The word was out, even if it was a gag; adapt or leave.
“I never saw so many Gringos fill the airport so fast in my life. Most of them were carrying six and seven overweight bags which is great for our airlines but the poor Customs guys are going nuts!” said Jaime Rodondo, a twenty year veteran of the airport in Guayaquil (Spanish translations by Google.). “Just because their (censored) fit in a container coming down does NOT mean it can be crammed into a suitcase going back!”
A spokesperson for LAN estimated that reservations for one-way returns to the U.S. alone have increased 489% and continues, “We’ve had to add on two flights each day since this article came out and by the second week of April, will have to have another 5 added flights each day until May.”
A Spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy said, “Florida has been notified. They are converting Sun Life Stadium in Miami into a holding facility. Apparently at least one-half of the 1,500 people who have already left from the Cuenca area could not afford airfare any further than Miami. It’s like someone just flushed!”
Alex Jones, an Alternative news reporter and Conspiracy Theorist commented on his show: “The last place I expected the New World Order to begin their campaign of imprisoning American citizens was through Ecuador, but here it is.”
“Isn’t it obvious to you,” he continued, “that this huge influx of aging and healthless individuals into the already bursting-at-the-seams aged population of Florida alone will cause a tremendous crisis that will literally tip the scales enough to cause a backlash that will allow the NWO to imprison ALL of the aged in the State? You thought Ferguson was a mess, just watch this!” he fumed, “The imbalance of the U.S, having to reabsorb the ungrateful of the country is exactly what is needed to instigate fascism taking root here. Social Services will be crippled, dragging all of the poor into fertile fields for rioting. If Obama thought he’d get away with the illegal Mexican population coming in just wait and see what a mess this one causes!”
Senator Ted Kennedy, speaking from the grave, said, “The liberal standards of this country must be preserved and we are obligated to take pains to re-absorb our Prodigal Sons no less than we were obligated to absorb my booze-running, Irish ancestors.”
Hilary Clinton said, “Their orders were to not assimilate too much. We were afraid they would put Ecuador’s interests above that of their Homeland. Okay, so it backfired; so did the Bay of Pigs!”
Ecuadorian Presidente, Rafael Correa lamented “If they only could have understood my Saturday broadcasts they would have known the decree wouldn’t last.”
An expat whom we collared at the airport gruffly reported, “Just last week I found out no more Skippy or Miracle Whip due to the new import regulations. This was just the icing on the cake for me; I had one foot out the door already!”
A spokeswoman for “International Living” a magazine that has rated Ecuador as the #1 Retirement Destination in the World since 1957 said, “There’s really no reason for them to fear, for $99.00 we have an on-line course on ‘How to convince Immigration you’re deaf.’ “When reminded that the report was false, she said, “We’re here to provide tools, our readers must decide if and when to use them.”
Nicholas Crowder, a writer who follows Ecuador closely to warn aspiring expats of its dangers commented, “I’m not sure what this all means, but I’ll be sure to include it in my next book, “¡Bienvenidos a Ecuador! Now Go Home.”
The Dali Lama, having just been informed while leaving for a Conference for World Peace in the Ukraine remarked, “This funny to me. I don’t speak Chinese” while Buddy Winston, former Chief Comedy Writer for Jay leno, a contributor to Cuenca High Life and a non-Spanish speaking expat living in Cuenca simply said; “I just don’t see the humor.”
The Editor responsible for the gaffe that has reduced his readership by half in just a few days confessed; “Look, we’ve all been afraid of something like this happening so when I saw the article, of course I believed it; here’s the proof!”
He showed us a print-out of his one-way e-ticket back to Minneapolis.
Peru: Customs ?:
Hola, mis amigos, it's Rodreego from the Ecuador Forum!
I arranged to have a couple friends bring down some of my personal items in storage in the States when they come down for a visit to me here, in Ecuador.
I just found out they're flying into Lima first and then (after picking up their own luggage) transferring to a flight to Quito.
My question is will they have to go through Lima Customs before transferring or, since they are making the transfer within the airport to a connecting flight, will they only have to go through Customs in Quito, their destination?
Appreciate any info you may have; like I'm having them bring me down a small, electric room heater, we have no trouble getting them into Ecuador but will that raise eyebrows there for Goodness knows whatever reason? Stuff like that.
Gracias!
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