by Dr. Iain
Corness
The
managing director of Baan Kamlangchay is a quietly spoken Swiss, Martin
Woodtli. He is a man who has known much personal sorrow in his life, and
yet that has not stopped him doing what he can for others. Those
‘others’ have incurable conditions, but they are still people who
cannot be ignored. Especially when one of them is your own mother.
Martin was an only son, born in Berne to a psychiatric
nurse father, and his mother stayed at home to raise and nurture him. A
simple housewife, but the noblest of all professions.
Every year, Martin’s father would take patients from
the mental hospital up into the Swiss mountains for a holiday, and as a
young boy, Martin would go with them. “I suppose that all my life I have
been exposed to people with problems,” he mused.
He progressed through school, heading towards
university. He excelled in sport and was the Swiss national team 1500
meters representative. Sport was so much of his life that he chose to
study commerce, because the hours fitted in with his athletics!
He received his degree in commerce, but an accident
changed his entire future direction. Though not life-threatening, he was
no longer able to compete at the highest level of athletics. “This made
me sit down and think about life a little more,” said Martin.
He could see a need, possibly fuelled by his father
being in one of the caring professions, and so he rejected the commercial
fields and spent the next four years studying to be a social worker and
educator.
He began work amongst those addicted to drugs and
alcohol in Zurich, whilst at the same time studying Gestalt Therapy in
Munich. This was also the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and in 1986,
Martin and other professional colleagues set up an AIDS foundation, with
Martin working for it full time. “I provided counselling for people with
HIV/AIDS.” This he did for five years. I asked him what was it that had
made him move into that field, especially as in 1986 AIDS was uniformly
fatal, being represented in many countries as the Grim Reaper. “I like
issues that can open up some of the taboos in society. It was a bit of a
challenge.” (And that last sentence is a masterpiece in understatement!)
After five years he needed a break. “An opportunity
came up to visit Bangkok to catch up with a journalist I knew who was
working there.” He spent two months in the nation’s capital, and
Thailand left an indelible mark.
He returned to Switzerland and joined the Medecins Sans
Frontiers international medical aid group who wanted to open an AIDS
community-based care program - in Thailand. He moved to Thailand and
worked here for two years setting up the ‘suburban’ centers, involved
in both treatment and preventive work. He extended this to four years, but
then felt he should return to Switzerland, and to his parents, who were
now getting older.
He returned and took a job in the refugee service
assisting people, who had been granted asylum, with integration. Having
been an alien in a foreign country himself no doubt made him understand
their problems even more acutely. He was to spend three years with the
refugee service, but the final 12 months was very difficult for him
personally.
His parents were always very close, so much so that
Martin described them as having a ‘symbiotic’ relationship. “My
father was becoming worried as my mother was becoming increasingly
forgetful,” and in retrospect it was becoming obvious that his mother
was developing Alzheimer’s Disease. Testing confirmed the awful
diagnosis.
Alzheimer’s Disease is one that we pray we do not
get. Not for ourselves, but for our loved ones. To watch a parent or
partner lose his or her faculties, so that they do not even know who you
are, is soul destroying. The person you know and love is still there
physically on the outside, but inside, all of the wonderful personality
quirks and memories that make the person special have gone. That person is
physically still there, but mentally has departed. It is a death without
being able to say ‘goodbye’. It was too much for Martin’s father,
who became depressed and eventually committed suicide.
Martin moved into his parent’s house and took over
her care. “I wanted to see what could be done, but I also knew I had to
do something for myself.” For a professional and a deep thinker like
Martin Woodtli, he knew that was necessary to avoid his father’s fate.
The answer appeared to be to move to Thailand, with his mother.
He brought her here for one month for evaluation.
“After one month it was clear - we would stay in Thailand.” Mother was
doing well, and Martin could see that somehow Thailand was good for his
mother.
However, Alzheimer’s patients need 24 hour care.
“They need personal assistance, love, tenderness, convivial atmosphere
and climate.” He found that the friendly nature of Thai people produced
excellent carers. He set up Baan Kamlangchay as an experiment, but after
12 months knew he was on the right track.
He offered the facilities as respite care for European
Alzheimer’s patients and the concept is being tried by others with
patients arriving at a facility which is probably unique. A facility
staffed by Thais who welcome and interact with whatever intellect is left
in these poor souls, backed with medical assistance from the local
hospital. It is heartbreaking, yet uplifting, all at the same time.
Martin Woodtli may have discovered, not the cure for
Alzheimer’s Disease, but perhaps the best therapy for everyone involved.
His mother now settled, Martin has too, getting married a few weeks
ago. “My life has changed, but my wife and I are developing a spa
concept for Alzheimer’s patients,” he said, breaking into a broad
grin. I think we all wish Martin, and his mother, the very best for the
future.
