Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand April / May 2017: Health & Wellness Issue | Page 22

LONG-DISTANCE
CAREGIVING
When a parent or grandparent falls ill during your time as an
expat — especially when the diagnosis is one of dementia —
it can be difficult to know what to do. But even when
you’re far from home, there are ways you can help.
by ANNALIESE WATKINS
W
hen Dr. Lily Chaisompong
at Bumrungrad
International Hospital
meets the family members of a pa-
tient with dementia for the first
time, she knows that they are con-
cerned with what the future holds.
There are usually many questions to
address: Is independent living pos-
sible? Who will take care? What can I
do to help?
For expats, whose loved ones are
experiencing mental decline perhaps
thousands of miles away, these con-
cerns may be even more heightened.
22 WANDERLUST
They may be feeling scared, guilty,
and sometimes helpless.
Care for elderly people with de-
mentia often means moving into a
nursing home or with an adult son
or daughter. Dr. Lily has seen some
instances of expat families going a
step further, though, with handful of
expats bringing their loved ones to
Thailand.
The notion of relocating a relative
with dementia to Thailand was an
idea that, at first, Dr. Lily considered
unwise. She was not sure if a demen-
tia patient would “cope well” with a
big move overseas. But she is now of
a different mind: “I have seen some
expat families — with the means to
do it — actually bring their parents
here, and it has often been quite suc-
cessful for them,” says Dr. Lily.
For example, Dr. Lily has a demen-
tia patient from Germany, whose son
brought him to Thailand after his
wife passed away. Though in the ear-
ly stages of dementia, his son soon
realized that his father could not live
on his own.
“Coming over here has meant
that he is able to be near his son and
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