Where’s all the gun fire the press Is reporting?  American expats, snowbirds and RVers scratch their head over all the bad press Mexico’s getting. 

What the news media is portraying is ignoring the experience of the majority of American expats, snowbirds, and travelers who report such a different picture as to make them question whether there’s a political agenda behind the reporting, and they’d like it if the media dogs were called off.  How would you like it if the only news broadcast about your favorite places focused on national police blotter coverage? 

U.S. patients are saving 30 to 70% off the cost of medical procedures in the States by crossing the Canadian border to The False Creek Surgical Centre in Vancouver, B.C

For example, the same knee surgery involving an anterior cruciate ligament costing over $10,000 in the States will cost $5,500 in Canadian dollars, according to Centre founder and Clinic Director, Dr. Mark Godley, MB ChB, FRCPC.

U.S. citizens skiing at Whistler in January 2009, faced what we all dread; having a bad accident far from your home in another country. 

Larry & Shelia Hakim, a Detroit couple in their early 50’s were enjoying a skiing holiday when the worst happened – from the standpoint of ruining a vacation.  The fourth day into their vacation on January 27th, Larry had a skiing accident that resulted in an emergency surgery situation.

Podcast is their 1st hand medical experience with a private pay hospital in Vancouver, B.C. 

To read more in depth and review recorded interview w/the founder of the private pay hospital - how US patients can expect to save 30-70% on surgical procedures, review related article "A Better Deal For US Patients In Canada" on www.traveling4health.com.

Listen to recorded interview with Healthcare Professional David Printy as he shares how U.S. physicians,  medical
institutions and insurance companies are building global healthcare networks.

Read the article.  To research more options for living abroad and global healthcare, visit Travelingforhealth.com.

"You're going to die within two years or possibly 10 years".   That was the best case and worst case prognosis Gary Walton was given by his urologist upon being diagnosed in 2004 with an aggressive prostate cancer.  

Walton, a resident of Rodeo, California, was 64 years old at the time of his diagnosis.  Since then he has rebounded from that dismal prognosis and is retaining the richness of his life with alternative treatments that offer far less negative side effects than any of the treatments recommended by his U.S. doctors.

"It was devastating to get that diagnosis," said Walton, "It was presented by the doctor like a death sentence.  We asked him what kind of negatives would introduce at that time, and his response was, 'there's a lot of things that can happen, but you just have to understand that this is the only way that you can go.' 

All the doctor wanted to do was to surgically take out my prostate.  It was pretty much a given that after surgery I was going to be incontinent and impotent." 

"Prostate cancer is devastating to a male because it attacks the male testosterone and the male physiology and consequently that's all devastating mentally as well as the physical problems," said Walton, "Men in their late 70's and 80's may have only slight sexual urges.  But when you're in your 50's and 60's and still virile, it's absolutely devastating."

The Walton's researched alternative treatments, insisting on referrals to physicians specializing in Brachytherapy seed implantation and radiation.  "Because of my Gleason number, I was told I was not a candidate for seed implantation" so I started radiation treatments.   At no time did any of the doctors we saw give us any indication that there were other alternative treatments," said Walton. 

I was prescribed Lupron for about four months and the side effects were just horrendous.  "Lupron has tremendously negative side effects for men.  The side effects are that you lose bone mass, you lose muscle mass, you lose hair.  You get heavy in the hips, your breasts enlarge.  Your whole physiology changes from masculine to feminine.  It is medical castration.

I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror.  I couldn't even recognize myself.  I was also fainting so I couldn't even trust myself to drive.  I lost all kinds of energy.  It was just totally devastating.   "I joked with my wife, I said, honey "don't throw any dresses away, because you married a man but you're going to end up with a sister."

After my 40 radiation treatments my PSA had gone down and it stayed stabilized for about a year, year and a half, but then it started doubling.  We were very concerned that the cancer was returning with a vengeance.  

I woke up one morning after a sleepless night and I told my wife, "you know this is a big wide world.  In Europe, in Asia, in South America and in Canada, there must be some research going on that maybe we don't know about here in the U.S., so one of the first places we went to was WHO, The World Health Organization.  They suggested HIFU and Dendritic treatments.   

That's when the Waltons chose to travel outside the U.S. for the treatments they required.  "I could have gone to Canada, but because it was February, we chose Mexico."  Their research started by contacting HIFU in Charlotte, North Carolina.

HIFU has a contract with San Javier Hospital, Puerto Vallarta, for Dr. Morales at The IIB Clinic for Dendritic and for the HIFU procedures.  Robert Johnson, VP of Operations for HIFU, arranged everything for us including air and hotel accommodations and no-cost shuttle service daily from hotel to San Javier Hospital. 

Between my first and second trip to Mexico for Dendritic treatments I had not taken any additional medications or treatments suggested by my doctors in California.  I knew that since my PSA had been level for almost a year that it had to be due to the Dendritic treatment. 

Walton said there are clinical trials of Dendritic treatments going on in the U.S.  "I sought the opinion of Dr. Lawrence Fong, University of California San Francisco Medical Center.  He is a specialist in the Dendritic area and feels there were worthwhile clinical trials going on showing positive proof that Dendritic treatments would be a good treatment procedure for all kinds of cancer. 

Walton has made three trips to Puerto Vallarta for treatment.  Based on the predictable results, the Waltons anticipate maintaining his PSA level by making annual trips to Puerto Vallarta for the treatment.  Each trip takes about week.  The treatment procedure at IIB consists of four sessions that Walton describes in detail in a separate recorded interview. 

"The cost of the HIFU treatment was $25,000.00.  The first treatment of both HIFU and Dendritic in February 2007, cost $50,000.00.  The last two Dendritic treatments have each been approximately $13,000," said Walton.

 "At all times we were treated with the upmost respect and professionalism.  For a very difficult experience, in a strange country, everyone made us feel comfortable.  We had an English speaking interpreter with us at all times during the treatments and available 24/7 for our calls and questions" said Walton.

"I truly feel that a doctor who has signed the oath and knows that there are other treatments out there that could be extremely beneficial, and if they don't give you the information and allow you to know that and their patient dies, I think that is the most cruel thing that any doctor can do." said Walton.

For the last three years, 78 year old Walter White, an expatriate living in Antigua Guatemala, had been steadily losing his ability to walk as a result of Parkinson's disease.

In July 2008, White underwent stem cell therapy at the IIB Clinic in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  "I was headed for a wheel chair when I arrived in Mexico," said White.  "In order to walk I had to have a cane in one hand and a person on the other. 

White related that his father, who suffered from Parkinson's disease' had been in a wheel chair for a couple of years before he passed away, "and I didn't want that to happen to me so I took a chance on stem cell therapy.  It was kind of scary," he admits. 

According to White, the stem cell therapy consisted of taking bone marrow out of his legs for five days and then re-injecting marrow back into his body.  "They never used a knife," said White, "They used needles and I had local anesthesia for both operations.  I never felt a thing." 

"They kept me in intensive care for a day and a night just to be on the safe side," said White, "the whole treatment took about two weeks.

White said Dr. Raul Morales thoroughly explained everything about the procedure to him and to his wife.  "Dr. Morales had a team of four or five doctors, and they checked me out beforehand from head to toe, including my heart," said White.

After two weeks of stem cell therapy, White's leg bones were strong enough to walk on his own.  "Now I can walk without help and without a cane," said White.  The cost was $23,500.00

To research more options for living abroad and global healthcare options, visit Travelingforhealth.

Mexico Is Our India for Medical Tourism and A Strong Contender for Baby Boomer Retirement Destinations.

Mexican hospitals are equal in quality to the medical tourism hospitals in India, and Mexico has the advantage that it's closer to home which translates into less stress of travel for American medical tourists plus, overall, a more sustainable senior health care resource for baby-boomers considering the cost savings of retiring abroad.

Mexico has several hospitals staffed with American and American-trained physicians and surgeons as well as American owned and run hospitals, like the AmeriMed Hospital Group, as well as private medical clinics for urgent care that have sprouted up recently in many of the most popular Mexico coastal towns. 

So the big picture being painted here is that the same places you might go for surgery or a medical vacation in Mexico are popular retirement destinations for baby-boomers and for the same reasons; the health care experience and the feeling that you're on vacation.  Plus, there's an abundance of American communities; neighborhoods where you'll feel at home.

New neighborhood, same friends, is Mexico's allure for baby-boomers looking at retiring abroad for the obvious savings in cost of living and for the high standard of living and choice of locations that feature accessible health care in terms of hospitals, urgent care and alternative care.

After all, how many times a year do you go to the hospital compared to how many visits you make to the chiropractor, the dentist, and to your physicians for common ailments and to specialists for your individual health care needs?

I'm not minimizing how important it is to have a good hospital accessible, but it does mean accessibility to urgent care, family physicians, specialty physicians and alternative care is what's going to sell the homes for the community and resort developers in Mexico looking to incentivize American Baby-Boomers to retire abroad

So it's the sustainable medical care in general that allows seniors to maintain a high standard quality of life, and that's what matters most to retirees when picking a retirement destination.

More good news for seniors, is that American insurance companies offering expatriate medical insurance for American retirees are now facing stiff competition from private Mexican medical providers offering very affordable urgent care insurance to foreigners in popular Mexican coastal and resort destinations, and soon to offer full-coverage health care insurance for a fraction of the cost of a comparable insurance policy in the States. 

Competition between the U.S. and Mexico in the health care and medical insurance industries bodes well for baby-boomers looking to sustain their quality of life upon retirement without depleting their financial nest egg for medical care.

Check out an example of affordable urgent care insurance available to foreigners living in the popular Mexican resort town of Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point, Mexico), by visiting Mexican urgent care insurance at Travelingforhealth.

This interview is with BOOMER Carol Stanley, public speaker and author of a new book, being released Sept. 1^st, on the subject of creating new directions in your life as you approach your 60's. 

TravelForHealth interviewed Stanley so that people could hear her talk about her background, get a feel for the 'person behind the book', and learn how one BOOMER, working in retirement, turned her passion for building relationships into a global lifestyle business of writing and reaching out to others via her website and blogging.

In her book, entitled, "For Kids 59.99 and Over" available in stores and online, Stanley shares tips on how to evaluate your lifestyle, take stock of your eating habits, and what to do to make your life fun and exciting.

Listen to Stanley describe the ways to get a book published and learn what method she chose and why. 

In this interview, BOOMER Carol Stanley, author of Kids 59.99 and

Older shares how she got her book published.

TravelingForHealth is focused on connecting people with the idea of living wherever they want on the planet.  And many retirees are attracted to the idea of turning a passion into a revenue stream; a lifestyle business – like writing a book and getting it published. 

Listen to Stanley describe her BOOMER lifestyle and what prompted her to turn her passion for relationship building into a lifestyle business.