As families are more and more spread out, long travel days during the holidays are more and more common. While travel can wear anybody out, navigating changing environments, routines, or time zones can be difficult for someone with chronic health issues or dementia. If you are planning a trip with an elderly loved one, here are simple packing, travel and arrival tips to make your journey as safe, comfortable, and smooth as possible. It is all about being organized, anticipating needs, and allowing plenty of extra time.
What to Bring When Traveling with a Senior
- A list of all medications and dosages, and prepare a Mediset to keep close
- Address Book with names of doctors, family members
- List of allergies
- Light snacks, especially if your loved one is diabetic
- Comfortable walking shoes are a must even if you plan to transport in a wheel chair
- Audio book, music, book of puzzles, or favorite entertainment
- Night light to illuminate important areas of destination
- Any mobility equipment such as a cane or walker and extra medical supplies
Engagement with life and community is one of the best ways to offset holiday blues, and it can make the difficulties of traveling with an elderly loved one well worth it. Make your loved one’s spirit bright this holiday season-if you live far away from your loved one, send a care package to give some long-distance love!
The holiday season is often a time when we visit family and capture memories with pictures. Each life has its own deep history, experiences, and connections. Capturing our family stories, whether writing them down, recording a voice, or taking a photograph, is a powerful tool in answering the questions of who we are and where we come from. This holiday time is all about ushering in the season, finding joy in our stories, and enhancing quality of life for seniors.
If you have questions about spending the holidays with an aging parent, or need assistance with issues that come up, we are here to help. At Complete Care Strategies we put that life at the heart of our mission to improve the lives we touch through the compassionate delivery of high quality family care. Call our certified geriatric care managers today!
About the Author
Lois Young-Tulin, PhD, is an Assistant Geriatric Care Manager at Complete Care Strategies
Complete Care Strategies consists of care managers, specialized human service professionals, who advocate and direct the care of seniors and others facing ongoing health challenges. Working with families, its expertise provides the answers at a time of uncertainty. Along with its licensed home care division, it can help clients safely remain at home under the watchful eye of skilled professionals. Families are afforded an integrated model of care that, with guidance and advocacy, lead them to the actions and decisions that ensure quality care and an optimal life for those they love