He moved to Thailand for his mother with Alzheimer's and built a care home

Martin Woodtli moved his mother, who had Alzheimer’s, from Switzerland to Chiang Mai in 2003 after years of caregiving strain. He had quit his job in social services to help as her condition worsened; his father initially took on care but fell into depression and later died by suicide, leaving Woodtli, an only child, to shoulder the responsibility.

Woodtli, now 65, had lived and worked in Chiang Mai in the 1990s and had noticed a strong cultural respect for older adults. He and his mother first lived in a house supported by a team of three caregivers on rotating shifts. The change in environment helped his mother grow more comfortable and to develop her own way of communicating.

Within a year Woodtli used money inherited from his father to start Baan Kamlangchay, a dementia care home just outside the city center; a Swiss documentary about their story brought inquiries from families in Switzerland and Germany.

Thailand, Chiang Mai

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