Having dementia doesn’t mean any more vacations or travels or trips. It just means you may have to plan more carefully ahead of time to ensure the comfort and safety of everyone in your group.
I was accompanying a client with dementia on a weekend trip and thought I was prepared for every possible situation – until we got to security at the airport. Our wheelchair escort had been ready for us at the airport door, zipped us onto the elevators, zipped us past the long line at security, zipped us up to the checkpoint. It all seemed too easy to be t
rue. Things fell apart when the escort zipped my client through one security checkpoint and left me to go through another, where as luck would have it I was pulled aside for an additional scan. My client was 50 feet away beginning to get agitated and I discovered that trying to explain to the TSA agent while she was doing the extra scanning was the wrong time to be talking. She wanted me to stand still and be quiet. Fortunately, I had nothing hidden on me and it didn’t take long before I was able to rescue my client from his agitation.
That was the one possible situation I hadn’t planned for. My takeaway lesson was not so much that I should have anticipated this possibility but more that I should have found ways to slow things down to a manageable speed. Even in the rush at security, I should have slowed our zippy escort and taken the minute to explain to the agents our situation. A few minutes of their time would have done wonders for us all.
Our trip turned out well and our airport experience on the way home was smooth, in large part because of lessons learned. And my constant reminder to myself to think ahead and exude calmness.
If you’re considering a vacation, weigh the pros and cons of the trip before you decide to go. Even though it sounds like a great idea at first, it may be too much for the person with dementia and a fun vacation could become a long disaster.
Take the time to think through all the details and plan for all sorts of contingencies. The extra effort upfront pays off when your trip goes smoothly with no hiccups. Here’s a great Travel Tip Sheet from the Alzheimer’s Association. In addition to being the beginning of vacation season, June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month.
