Assisted living and affordable health insurance

Assisted living and affordable health insurance - these were the topics of the two presenters at the February 12 meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club. First up were Guillaume Roudil and Rasimon Thananchai. They are the co-owners of the newly opened Nursing Resort Pattaya. Guillaume grew up in France and initially came to Thailand to practice the art of Muay Thai boxing and to teach English. While he was teaching English at a health school, he met Rasimon, his future business partner. Rasimon has a nursing degree and has worked at both government and private hospitals the past 20 years.

Guillaume Roudil and Rasimon Thananchai, co-owners of the newly opened Nursing Resort Pattaya, introduce to PCEC members their resort, which is located in Huay Yai.

Rasimon came up with the idea of a nursing resort because she felt there was a need. While government hospitals are not expensive, they are lacking in quality service. On the other hand, private hospitals provide quality service and care, but they are expensive by Thai standards. Her idea was to have a place where people that really didn’t need to be in a hospital could get both quality care and good service at an affordable cost.

Together, they acquired and built their facility about 15 minutes from Pattaya in the Huay Yai area. Their facility is on about 8 rai of land and consists of 6 houses. Each house is about 140 square meters with air conditioning, fully equipped kitchen, and private bathroom. They have staff available 24/7 to meet the needs of their guests, including medical care and cooking (both Thai and western meals). They have the basic medical equipment needed, but no specialized equipment that you would only expect to find in a hospital.

Guillaume explained that they opened about 3 months ago, which was before they had planned to open because there was a need for assisted living care for people escaping the Bangkok flooding. Guillaume says he shares his time between his language school and the Nursing Resort. Rasimon manages the day to day operations at the Nursing Resort.

John Robert Manning, Sr., Investment Consultant with Siam Equity, spoke about the impact he thinks the US Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also known as “Obamacare”) will have in making health insurance for expats more affordable.

They wanted everyone to understand that at their facility, you not only get health care and assisted living, but will also have many activities you can participate in while enjoying the beautiful resort surroundings. Most of their services are included in the basic price; but if more is needed, arrangements can be made and the price negotiated.

They pointed out that their facility is not just for the elderly that need assisted living, but is also available for those that may need to recuperate from surgery, illness, or injury that requires some assistance. Their website www.nursingresortpattaya.com provides more information.

After Guillaume and Rasimon answered several questions, the second presenter, John Robert Manning, Sr., investment consultant with Siam Equity, spoke about the impact he thinks the US Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also known as “Obamacare”) will have in making health insurance for expats more affordable. John described some of the features of the Act, which are scheduled to be fully in place in 2014. He provided some statistics about the current number of insured in the USA and the rise in premiums in relation to health costs. He briefly discussed some of the Act’s provision to provide tax subsidies and rebates to lower income persons as a mechanism for those people to purchase health insurance.

PCEC Board Member Judith updates members on plans for the trip to Chiang Mai. Open Forum MC Roy Albiston looks on.

His opinion was that many smaller health insurance companies in the USA would not be able to compete because of the Act’s provision that health insurance cover pre-existing conditions. He felt they would move offshore. Further, the competition of these companies with existing international and Thai health insurers will result in better coverage at more affordable premiums for expats and others. As such, it was his opinion that better coverage at lower cost is on the horizon for expats.

John noted that his company is not an insurance broker, but in offering financial planning, they have surveyed the international market for health insurance and can offer suggestions to their clients on the best value available. John is available to provide more information by calling him at 038-300-075 or email him at [email protected].

After the presentations, Master of Ceremonies Richard Silverberg called on Roy Albiston to conduct the always informative and sometimes humorous open forum, where questions about living in Thailand and Pattaya in particular are asked and answered.

The Pattaya City Expats Club meets every Sunday at the Amari Orchid’s Tavern by the Sea Restaurant. Read more about the Club’s activities on their website at www. pattayacityexpatsclub.com.

Gay couple breaks kissing world record

(L to R) Thanakorn Siththiemthong and Nonthawat Charoenkasetsin pose with their plaque presented to them by Somporn Naksuetrong, general manager of Royal Garden Plaza.

Vittaya Yoondorn

A gay couple earned a large amount of cash and prizes, and a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, by staying lip-locked for over 2 days leading up to Valentine’s Day.

Nonthawat Charoenkasetsin, 24, who works on the psychiatric staff at Plaengyao Hospital in Chachoengsao, and Thanakorn Siththiemthong, 22, coffee shop owner, won the 2nd annual Kissing Marathon contest organized by Ripley’s Believe It or Not Pattaya and Pattaya City.

It was the second straight year a new record was set. Last year, Ekachai Teernarat and his wife Laksana set a new time of 46 hours, 24 minutes and 9 seconds, breaking the then record of 32 hours, 7 minutes and 14 seconds set in 2009 by a couple in Germany.

Nonthawat and Thanakorn kept their lips together for an amazing 50 hours, 25 minutes and 1 second. For their efforts, they won 100,000 baht in cash, a diamond ring from World James Collection, and a 200,000 baht voucher for stay at the Anatara Phuket.

Seven mostly Thai pairs entered the contest when it kicked off Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. Only one couple dropped out by Monday afternoon, saying the aches and pains were just too much to continue.

According to the rules, the lovebirds’ lips cannot part at any time. Only after the first six hours of nothing but kissing, are contestants allowed to drink things like water, coffee, milk or juice - but only through straws while continuing to kiss. They also have to remain embraced during bathroom breaks possible every three hours - accompanied by contest monitors. The harshest rule: no sitting or sleeping.

Slowly, couple after couple dropped out, leaving just the final two pairs. By 7 p.m. Feb. 14, last year’s record breaking couple Ekachai and Laksana Teernarat began to feel that this year’s contest was slipping away. Ekachai wrote on a piece of paper the message, “Win or Lose, She is the prize”. Laksana responded with, “You said that we will kiss till my birthday, after tonight I will not budge,” followed by an extra passionate kiss before the couple gave up on Valentine’s Day.

All that was left then was to determine the final time, and it wasn’t until the mark of 50 hours, 25 minutes and 1 second was set that Nonthawat and Thanakorn ended their record breaking kiss.

Central Beach event raises over 6500 baht for Uttaradit landslide victims

The winning bidder for one of the auction items poses with the celebrity emcees of the charity event.

Vittaya Yoondorn

A pair of celebrities gathered at Central Festival Pattaya Beach to help raise funds for flood landslide in Uttaradit province.

6,750 baht was raised a Feb. 12 auction emceed by comedian Toffie from Ching Roi Ching Laan and actress Khwankhao Kanpitcha. On auction were celebrity belongings, such as a signed shirt from Pancake Khemnij, a wallet donated by Boy Pakorn, a dress from Four-Mod, a cap from Thailand national football team’s Leesaw, a white mask and comic drawings from Ping Lamprapueng.

Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome also donated belongings to the auction.

All proceeds were donated to the Supamit Foundation of Thailand and were designated to help victims of the recent landslide in Pard district of Uttaradit.

Gala dinner gets the ball rolling for Lighthouse Club Pattaya

A cash amount of baht 300,000 was given to the Lighthouse Club by Cees Cuijpers (2nd left), organizer of Movers & Shakers. Also shown (left to right) are Tracy Cosgrove, (Cees Cuijpers), Irina Breslavtseva, marketing manager for Heights Holdings, Stuart Maxwell Foulkes, LHC treasurer and Neo Lothongkum, LHC PR & Media.

Paul Strachan

The Lighthouse Club of Pattaya had their first event of the year on Friday the 11th of February, and this time it differed from the usual networking as they decided to get the year started with a gala dinner.

The venue was the ever popular Centara Grand Mirage and the sponsor was Atlantis Condominium Resort.

The night started at 6 p.m. with beer and wine being served, which gave people a chance to do a bit of networking. Then the doors opened to the main ballroom and the 180 or so people were seated.

Tracy Cosgrove from the Melissa Cosgrove Children’s Foundation gave a short speech outlining what challenges and achievements she has had in the last year.

(L to R) Paulo De Matos, executive assistant manager for rooms of Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort Pattaya welcomes everyone to the Mirage Ballroom, joined by the LHC committee, Stuart Maxwell Foulkes, Tracy Cosgrove, Neo Lothongkum and Cees Cuijpers.

After her speech, a short video was shown in which Tracy showed the new nursery and explained how she applies for the funds from the Lighthouse Club committee. This was followed by Colin Bartlett from the Sutlet Group who explained that his company takes care of the accounting for the MCCF. Neil Smith from Business Class Asia, who takes care of the accounting for Lighthouse Club Pattaya, followed.

Finally, the chairman of Lighthouse Club, Cees Cuijpers from Town & Country Property, gave a brief message, thanking the guests for their support over the last year.

Charlie Warner updates the status of the Atlantis Condominium Resort.

A magnificent buffet was opened that featured Thai and European food and this was accompanied with red or white wine, or beer if you so preferred.

As the meal was coming to a close there was a brief presentation about Atlantis, which is a project by Blue Sky developments and one that was launched in October last year. In a little over 3 months they have sold 860 of their 1000 units. This is a great achievement and demonstrates how the perception of Pattaya is changing for foreign and Thai investors.

Cees Cuijpers, who is the founder of Movers and Shakers (which was held at the end of 2011), then made a presentation to Tracy Cosgrove of a check for 300,000 baht which will help pay for the wages at the new nursery.

MC Paul Strachan.

At this point a gentleman from the audience came up to the stage and said he would add another 100,000 baht; a wonderful gesture and illustrates the effect Lighthouse Club and Tracy have on people in our community.

The whole evening had a different feel to a normal Lighthouse event but it was one that certainly gave some messages across regarding how the Lighthouse Club works and how they assist the Melissa Cosgrove Children’s Foundation.

The next regular lighthouse networking will be at Dusit D2 on Friday the 2nd of March.

Herman Van Gucht and Dr. William van Ewijk.

Kasina Lee and Thawatchai Chawala.

Sylvie Schaffer and Oliver Libutzki

Clarke McKeown, Bea Grunwell, Kay McKeown and Joe Grunwell.

Guests were shown a video presentation outlining the Lighthouse Club Pattaya’s work.

These beauties help getting the ball rolling for Lighthouse Club Pattaya.