Life's Holiday

An intimate portrait of European dementia patients whose care has been “subcontracted” to nursing homes in Thailand. We hear from inside a home in a suburb of Chiang Mai where Thai staff care for patients from Switzerland and Germany. It costs perhaps between a third and a half of equivalent, or arguably better, care in the patients’ home countries. We hear the funny and warm interactions between the two very different cultures – and the astonishment of the Thai staff at the way that Europe treats its senior citizens.

Open Ear features documentaries from producers across the world being rebroadcast by the BBC World Service. This programme originally aired in German on ORF in Austria.

Author/Producer: Franziska Dorau
Sound Design: Christian Gortz
Special sounds: Stefan Weber
Commissioning Editor: Monika Kalcsics
English-language presenter: Sheila Cook
English-language producer: Arlene Gregorius

Image: Resident Elizabeth and her carer Wikanda. Photo Credit/ORF