Traveling CareGivers

Posts Tagged ‘elderly travel’

A Travel Companion Recommends 7 Ideas For Senior Travelers

1. A Pre Trip Visit To The Doctor Is Important
It’s always a good idea for your parent to have a checkup before traveling. At the very least, let your parents’ doctor know airplane travel is in the works and ask if a checkup is advised. This may be a good time to re check prescriptions with the doctor before the trip and have arrangements to refill prescriptions along the way if necessary.

2. Packing The Right Way Can Save The Day
Flying is uncertain, with delays, cancellations, and lost luggage. All of your parents’ medications (prescription and over-the-counter) should be easily accessible, packed in a carry-on bag. Other helpful items for a carry-on include body lotion, a toothbrush, tissues, a small container of wipes, and favorite reading material or games, for the trip. Be sure to use the 3-1-1 rule for TSA security.

3. Calling Ahead To Request A Wheelchair Will Make Getting Through The Airport Much Easier
Even if your parent normally doesn’t use a wheelchair, a chair can be extremely helpful when navigating airports especially if your parent is elderly and you’re rushed or carrying luggage. Request a wheelchair when making the reservation for the arrival airport and any connection airports. If you forget, you can always order one at a service desk or ticket counter. Consider a walker or cane if you don’t use a wheelchair along the way. Packing a portable walker can make travel easier for the entire trip. These devices are sold at drugstores, medical supply stores, and online. You may also check the Good Will for a deal. Caution—some canes purchased used at a thrift store may have a hidden sword in it. This will get you busted for sure at the security checkpoint.

4. Wear Loose Clothing
It is important to be comfortable during the flight, but loose clothing also allows blood to circulate more easily during periods of inactivity. Sitting for long periods is associated with blood clots, especially for people with poor circulation. You may also want to check with the doctor about compression stockings, which can assist with lower leg circulation and may be helpful for some seniors. Avoid tight socks or stockings. Slip on shoes are important when going through the security screener. Shoes must be taken off and put on the X-ray belt so don’t use lace up shoes.

5. Move Around During The Flight Often
The inactivity of air travel can be tough on muscles and joints as well as circulation. One of the best remedies is to take mini exercise breaks by standing, walking the aisles, and stretching or moving your arms and legs. An exercise break is recommended every 30 minutes.

6. Drink Plenty Of Fluids
Airplanes are notoriously dehydrating due to their low humidity. The best defense against dehydration is to drink plenty of fluids before, after, and during a flight. Water is best. Caffeinated beverages (colas) and alcohol are dehydrating and should be avoided. Experienced flight crews start with a large bottle of water and make sure it is all gone by the end of a long flight. 8oz per hour is a good rule of thumb too.

7. Taking A Travel Companion Along
Traveling is both fun and sometimes necessary for everyone. People who have had a lifestyle that included traveling can continue to enjoy travel even when they need assistance. A Travel Companion can handle all arrangements, accompany you on a trip from door to door. Imagine a Personal Travel Assistant taking care of everything for you; baggage, airport check in, getting through security smoothly, on board attendant, and handling all details on arrival. A traveling CareGiver  can make elder travel smooth and easy.

For more information on Travel Companions visit CareToGoTravel.com

Care-To-Go Travel Companions are always on the lookout for interesting travel deals and ideas.  The following article for travel agents reveals Top 30 Themed Cruises for 2010.  Traveling Caregiver assistance can make a vacation for a senior an enjoyable and safe event.

Tapping into themed cruises that precisely match your client’s interest, hobby or passion is equivalent to adding a “must-have” ingredient to your recipe for sales success.

Themed cruises often include private onboard events or activities not open to regular cruise guests. So, “the cruise isn’t sold based on price, it’s sold on a specific experience,” stresses Susan Schaefer, independent affiliate of America’s Vacation Center, Brentwood, TN. “Your client isn’t looking for the lowest price, so you aren’t competing with pricing when selling a themed cruise.”

Read entire article

Care-To-Go Travel Companions can be reached at 800-818-0407 or on the web at www.CareToGoTravel.com

Care-To-Go Travel Companion reveals anti-theft tip for checked bags.

Checked bags for air travel must be available for inspection by TSA after you check them. Most bags are left unlocked per airline instructions.  This often results in valuable items being stolen between you checking them at departure and you retrieving them at your destination.

The following is an article from the TSA explaining locks that they can open with a master key.  Hopefully, all the other baggage handlers along the way will not have access to your bags. 

TSA screens every passenger’s baggage before it is placed on an airplane. While our technology allows us to electronically screen bags, there are times when we need to physically inspect a piece of luggage. TSA has worked with several companies to develop locks that can be opened by security officers using universal "master" keys so that the locks may not have to be cut. These locks are available at airports and travel stores nationwide. The packaging on the locks indicates whether they can be opened by TSA.

Care-To-Go Travel Companions can be reached at 800-818-0407 and on the web at www.CareToGoTravel.com

How a Travel Companion can assist with senior travel.  Travel Companions can travel with the elderly traveling by car, air, or on a cruise.

Memory loss is a major factor slowing elderly travel.  Aside from physical limitations, anxiety and memory loss are the main two factors stopping senior travel. 

Phoenix, Scottsdale, Caregiver reports that Blood pressure worry can be linked to dementia in the elderly.

HEALTHBEAT: Study will put to test growing evidence linking high blood pressure to dementia

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON January 25, 2010 (AP)

If the cardiologist’s warnings don’t scare you, consider this: Controlling blood pressure just might be the best protection yet known against dementia.

In a flurry of new research, scientists scanned people’s brains to show hypertension fuels a kind of scarring linked to later development of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Those scars can start building up in middle age, decades before memory problems will appear.

The evidence is strong enough that the National Institutes of Health soon will begin enrolling thousands of hypertension sufferers in a major study to see if aggressive treatment — pushing blood pressure lower than currently recommended — better protects not just their hearts but their brains.

"If you look … for things that we can prevent that lead to cognitive decline in the elderly, hypertension is at the top of the list," Dr. Walter Koroshetz, deputy director of NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told The Associated Press.

Age is the biggest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia that affect about one in eight people 65 or older.

Scientists have long noticed that some of the same triggers for heart disease — high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes — seem to increase the risk of dementia, too. But for years, they thought that link was with "vascular dementia," memory problems usually linked to small strokes, and not the scarier classic Alzheimer’s disease.

Now those lines are blurring as specialists realize that many if not most patients have a mix of the two dementias. Somehow, factors like hypertension — blood pressure readings of 140 over 90 or higher — that weaken arteries also seem to spur Alzheimer’s disease-like processes.

One suspect: Scarring known as white matter lesions. White matter acts as the brain’s telephone network, a system of axons, or nerve fibers, that allow brain cells to communicate with each other. Even slightly elevated blood pressure can damage the tiny blood vessels that nourish white matter, interrupting those signals.

Care-To-Go, Phoenix, Scottsdale, home care, caregivers can be reached at CareToGoTravel.com and 800-818-0407