Serenity-portugal Reviews

What every person needs

A service even the locals should consider

Save Yourself Frustration

As a retired American living in Portugal since 2021 I highly recommend Serenity-Portugal My first year I tried to navigate local healthcare options on my own which resulted in a lot of my time researching and often ending up with frustrating appointments Too often this had to do with the level of English spoken there not matching what had been claimed in my online research as I am working on learning Portuguese or unexpected costs not covered by my insurance Those frustrations went away when I joined Serenity with the Wonderful Marta as my case worker and the Amazing Est nio setting appointments for me They steered me thru a scary bout of chest pain linked me up with a pain specialist for chronic knee pain successfully handled with an MRI therapy and finally a custom shoe insole to reduce the difference in leg length thorough general physical exams including no fewer than four heart tests investigation of sleep apnea and even a prescription for some nasty eczema on a hand that was handled entirely online With the exception of the online eczema piece Marta found me medical professionals who spoke English took my insurance and were conveniently scheduled for both time and location The annual cost of the service is far less than I paid when I had attempted to find treatment myself going to internet rabbit-holes and too often finding frustration with both language and insurance coverage The funds I mis spent that first year would have easily covered the annual Serenity fee I am quite healthy and never have been one to rush to the medicos But I feel I have a good sense of when to turn to the professionals rather than doing things on my own Serenity-Portugal have been like professional locksmiths allowing me access to a system which is unfamiliar and too often frustrating for me I am now on my third year with them Initially I thought I would try just a year get established with local doctors and take it on my own from there Now I do not see that happening and plan to continue with them for the foreseeable future even when my language skills become more functional While Marta and I have successfully communicated generally by email it is reassuring to know they are also available by phone or WhatsApp I highly recommend Serenity-Portugal to anyone in a similar position as mine and look forward to continuing my involvement with them

Serenity was a perfect match for our health care needs

As pensioners we recently immigrated into Portugal under D-7 permanent resident visas Also as pensioners upon our arrival in Portugal accessing good health care services was a primary need for us and we found the health care landscape to be rather disorienting There are public health care services and private health care services and the first challenge we encountered was asking ourselves should we use just access one or the other or do we need both Come to find out we were na ve thinking that we would just go with private health care because if we are paying for that then clearly that is the better option Not so Fortunately from a posting I saw on the internet I discovered some very favourable comments about a health concierge service called Serenity located in Lisbon but serving all of Portugal We made contact with them and we were immediately impressed with Joana who is fondly referred to as the orchestra conductor for this very busy team She was very informative and within moments we knew this service was a match for our needs Importantly we considered the costs for Serenity services to also be very reasonable One of our very first needs was finding a private health care policy that made sense for our situation and needs These folks are expert in this regard and are connected with an amazing health care insurance broker who also provided us with stellar service As we learned not all private health care policies are alike and in fact most of them would have quickly proven to be a disappointment for our needs However we landed with what I am believing is the best of the best for private health care policies thanks to Serenity We have now been in Portugal for almost half of a year and we consider ourselves to have been very fortunate indeed to have found this service We have settled in Porto in the north of Portugal but this distance from Lisbon makes no difference for providing us with support This team is very knowledgeable about the health care landscape for the entire country Also in a very impressive reality this team is all nurses who have worked in both private health care as well as public health care settings and so they are intimately familiar with these services at a very first-hand level In addition the Case Manager we have been provided has truly been amazing in his support during our first few months although I quite suspect that all of the Case Managers are equally as impressive Now when we have a medical need we contact our Serenity Case Manager who locates the clinic or hospital as well as practitioner who best matches our need and our insurance Our Case Manager also arranges the appointment for us This process just couldn t be any more efficient In addition the Director of Serenity is an amazing physician who clearly has an impressive vision for this organization Also in the works is a health care concierge for veterinary services Our dog is a very important member of our family and we are ready to join that service once it becomes available As an impressive feature this team also provides occasional online information sessions at no cost which have proven to be very supportive There was a recent session on understanding your medical appointments and the do s and don ts We also benefitted from a session on emergency services and what happens when one calls 1-1-2 to include an explanation for the different types of ambulances that might respond So in reflection I don t know how well we would have settled into the health care landscape had we not had the close at hand support of our Serenity team Actually I do know we would have almost certainly been frustrated and going in circles I am not sure who came up with the name of Serenity for this health care concierge organization --- but it fits because our own personal health care landscape is now lovely calm and peaceful

This is a great company

This is a great company extremely hard working i really enjoyed the service

Serenity Just DO IT

I remember when we were first researching Portugal as a place to retire my husband heard about a company called SERENITY and he was super intrigued fast forward we took the leap to live in Portugal permanently - and landed in the beautiful southern coast The Algarve It was such an enormous leap for us to leave our lives in the United States We had to navigate everything new and we didn t know a word of Portuguese except please and thank you One of the first things we had to do was get new private health insurance so we decided to also take a chance and join Serenity to help us navigate the health system here The Portuguese health system is massively different from the American health system and while many Portuguese staff speak English there are a lot that don t When we first got Serenity I thought wow this is so VIP luxurious - possibly financially unnecessary An online nurse concierge service BUT BUT BUT little did we know how invaluable they would turn out to be Early in our new life here in Portugal Europe I came down with food poisoning on a trip to Amsterdam and my husband was able to talk to our dedicated nurse immediately to help advise via phone and text Then later that summer unfortunately my husband developed a terrible bacterial infection and it led to a terrifying incident where I had to call an ambulance in the middle of the night Our amazing Serenity nurse Tiago located in Lisbon was there on the phone with me the whole time advising on what to do After finding that my husband had waited through 8 hours in the public hospital Tiago immediately advised and coached me through getting him transferred to a private hospital via another ambulance and it was a crucial maneuver He was quickly admitted at the private hospital with what turned out to be a very serious illness - he ended up having to stay in isolation for over a week So when we look back and wonder whether it was worth the extra money to spend on SERENITY the answer is YES YES YES They are a very special company that really cares and really serves a necessary purpose in helping newcomers navigate the Portuguese health system Also just being there for you within hours - sometimes minutes - of calling them Advice on how to get prescriptions tests doctors to recommend -holding your hand through a nasty cold We were lucky enough to meet our nurse Tiago in person at a SERENITY gathering this spring We are so grateful to him and the SERENITY team I want to say - if you re new to Portugal and navigating everything you really can t afford NOT to get SERENITY as an extra health care holding hand assist We are fans and highly recommend SERENITY

Serenity - An Amazing Experience

My husband and I established residency in Portugal and signed up for an annual service with Serenity We were helped with obtaining our national healthcare registration shopping for private insurance searching for healthcare providers getting priority care when urgently needed scheduling rescheduling appointments and answering questions about billing and claims We appreciated the promptness in responsiveness to our requests the friendliness of the team shout outs to Rafaela Estenio who are awesome overall great customer service and ease of use The CEO Michael Averbukh has created a trusted resource and provided us with personal guidance when we first signed up If you are relocating to Portugal mainland or Madeira Island this service will provide you with peace of mind while navigating the healthcare system and extensive network of doctors Highly recommend

Serenity is the best investment you can

Serenity is the best investment you can make in your transition to using healthcare in Portugal Worth every euro m

A superb service and wonderful support

We moved to Portugal just before Christmas 2021 We joined Serenity and they and Michael Averbukh have been a huge help to us Lisa my wife was suffering increasing sciatic nerve pain So we contacted Serenity and within hours she had a scheduled online appointment with a pain specialist who helped her through the initial stages of reducing her pain Unfortunately the pain got progressively worse so then Michael recommended a wonderful neurosurgeon close to where we were living She had an immediate MRI scan after which the outcome was surgery which took place within a few days We were reassured by the fact that the surgeon Micheal had recommended was very professional caring and spoke excellent English which was important as we had only been in Portugal a few weeks Throughout her experience and post-op Serenity have been very supportive and kept in contact with her every step of the way The service they provide is invaluable and we will continue to use their services for any health problems we may have in the future and for general advice on the Portuguese health service We would have no hesitation in recommending Serenity to anyone who wants to navigate the health service in Portugal and needs to find doctors surgeons or health professionals who excel in their field