Working adults caring for sick or bedridden parents run out of sleep, leave days and money
A man living with parents aged 70 to 75 says they take turns falling sick almost every week, so he takes leave for hospital runs, wakes at night to mix medicine, and drives to the ER between midnight and 4 AM. He has microsleeps at the wheel and nearly crashed, but cannot quit because he is the only earner. Another poster describes an acquaintance who works, hires a day carer, picks up a primary-school child and nurses a mother who can't walk, and commenters say people hire two shifts of carers. A third poster says a bedridden brother's rehab center costs 20,000 to 30,000 baht a month and the siblings can't agree who pays.
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5 ways to tackle it
Hardware and sensors
Night Button: a big bedside button that tells the carer on duty and counts the nights
The parent presses a big button when they need help. An ESP32 sends an alert to whichever sibling or neighbor is on the rota and logs each night event, so three bad nights in a row triggers a message to swap shifts instead of the same son going alone.
Build with ESP32, arcade button, Wi-Fi, Telegram or SMS alert
Web portal
Care Rota: split the week between siblings, neighbors and a paid carer
The family drags names onto a weekly grid for nights, days and hospital runs. It shows what two paid shifts cost against a 20,000 to 30,000 baht rehab center and who owes what, so the 'who pays' argument is on one screen.
Build with Next.js, Supabase, drag-and-drop calendar
Voice and phone
Pill Caller: a phone call that reads the medicine list in Thai at the right hour
At set times the tool phones the parent's landline or basic mobile, reads out which pills to take in Thai, and asks them to press 1 when done. If nobody presses, it texts the son, so he stops waking at night to mix and check medicine.
Build with Twilio Voice or Asterisk, Thai text-to-speech, Google Sheets
Camera and vision
ER Sheet: photograph appointment slips, print one page to hand to the ER
The carer photographs appointment slips, lab results and pill bags. Claude vision pulls out dates, fasting rules, conditions, allergies and medicines into a calendar and a one-page sheet to tape to the fridge, so a sibling or neighbor can take a parent to the ER at 2 AM with the facts in hand.
Build with Claude vision, Google Calendar, PDF print
Automation and APIs
Leave Log: count the hours lost to hospital runs and draft the letter for the boss
The carer taps when a hospital run or night call happens. At month end the tool totals the hours, drafts a polite request for flexible hours or work-from-home days with the real numbers, and exports it to send to HR.
Build with Next.js, Claude API, PDF export
What people reported
Only son, parents 70-75 sick weekly; ER runs midnight to 4 AM; microsleep at wheel; cannot quit
pantip.comWorker with bedridden mother and primary-school child; commenters say hire two carer shifts
pantip.comSibling pays 20,000-30,000 baht/month rehab for bedridden brother; family can't agree who pays
pantip.com