Our Story
We are two doctors who started DooLaeDee.com as medical students at Ramathibodi Hospital. The idea grew from a simple but heartbreaking reality we saw again and again in our wards and home visits: families who loved their parents deeply, but who were suddenly overwhelmed when it came to caring for them after a serious illness.
A father recovering from a stroke, a grandmother with a hip fracture, a patient discharged after heart failure—each case ended with the same painful moment. After hospital treatment, families were told it was time to take their loved one home, but they weren’t ready. Many had full-time jobs that kept food on the table, yet their parents now needed round-the-clock care. Sometimes, we even saw a sick elderly person struggling to care for an even sicker spouse. The weight on these families was immense—emotional, financial, and physical all at once.
The burden of care was simply too great for families without medical training or the right facilities.
The Pain Point We Couldn’t Ignore
When asked what to do, the advice after discharge was often to consider a care home or senior care facility. But then came more questions:
Which care home is right? Where do we even begin looking? Can I trust it? Will my mother be cared for with dignity? Can we even afford it?
The truth was that even doctors and nurses rarely knew more than one or two care homes they had simply heard of. Families were left calling homes one by one, unsure about quality, availability, pricing, or even whether the facility was still open.
Some calls went unanswered. Some homes were full. Some lacked the proper equipment or trained staff. What should have been a decision made with confidence and compassion often became a desperate, energy-draining search.
This wasn’t just an inconvenience. It was people’s lives and dignity on the line. And for us, as medical students who had the privilege of seeing behind the curtain, it was impossible to ignore.
The Spark That Changed Everything
As our idea began to take shape, we were fortunate to have two trusted mentors step in and help turn possibility into a clearer plan. The first was Dr. Natthakorn Pongsettakul, a faculty member and specialist physician in Family Medicine and Palliative Care at Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University. Her years of experience guiding families through the most difficult transitions gave our idea much-needed clinical insight. Her years of experience guiding families through the most difficult transitions gave our idea much-needed clinical grounding: she validated what we were seeing in the wards, sharpened our questions, and pushed us to design a solution that honored both medical safety and human dignity. Her voice gave the project credibility and helped us see how a small, focused platform could truly ease suffering at scale.
Alongside her practical mentorship was the quiet, relentless compassion of Mrs. Pornpimol Ocharoen, RN, a Family Medicine nurse in Ramathibodi Hospital, who had been the on-the-ground bridge between families and care homes for years. She became the main consultant for patients who needed to find care homes in Ramathibodi Hospital. Because so many families asked her for help, she compiled a simple PDF list of care homes and contact details that she would send out again and again. That modest PDF—handmade, honest, and used in moments of crisis—acted like a lifeline. It saved families hours of calls and confusion; it gave them one small thread of order in a chaotic moment. Seeing how much relief that single document brought convinced us this work mattered—and showed us exactly what practical help could look like.
That small PDF list, born out of necessity, was the seed of DooLaeDee.com. (The original PDF can be seen below. Visitors can see the source of our first step and feel the same authenticity we did.) Seeing how much it helped, we felt a burning conviction: with the right vision and technology, we could expand this into something that truly transformed elderly care in Thailand.
Why We Care So Deeply
What began as a passion project in medical school has become our mission as doctors. We carry with us every patient’s story, every family’s anxious question, every elder’s silent dignity. These are not abstract problems to us—they are faces we have seen, hands we have held, and voices we have listened to.
We are doctors first, and Doolaedee is simply our way of extending care beyond hospital walls. It is about solving a problem that is personal, urgent, and close to our hearts. It is about ensuring that no family in Thailand has to feel lost or alone when searching for care.
Our Mission
From the very beginning, our mission has been clear:
to make elderly care in Thailand accessible, trustworthy, and compassionate.
Through doolaedee.com, we strive to:
Make care easier to find – a platform where families can search for verified care homes, assisted living centers, and care services in one place.
Build trust – every care home listed is verified by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), giving families confidence in their choices.
Support families with clarity – providing transparent information about availability, services, and user reviews.
We are driven by the belief that aging with dignity should not be a privilege, but a right for every Thai elder and their family.
The Bigger Picture
As doctors, we cannot ignore the reality that Thailand is becoming one of the world’s fastest aging societies.Today, more than 20% of Thais are over 60, and by 2035 nearly one in three will be elderly (NESDC, 2024 report). Families, communities, and healthcare systems will all be tested by this change.
But we believe it is also an opportunity. An opportunity to reshape how our society cares for its elders—to ensure they live their later years not in fear or neglect, but in dignity, comfort, and respect.
Looking Forward
Thailand’s aging society is not just a statistic. It is our parents, our grandparents, our neighbours, and one day, ourselves.
For us, Doolaedee is a promise. A promise that no family has to walk this journey alone. A promise that our elders, who have given so much to their families and to Thailand, will be cared for with compassion.
We started with the stories of our patients. Now, our mission is to extend that care to families across Thailand. This is only the beginning—and we are committed to giving our very best for the society we love.
Where it all started:
