Dementia Care and Traveling

Dealing with Problem Behaviors Away from Home

I just returned from a 2-week vacation; it was glorious!  The upper  peninsula of Michigan is so beautiful in the fall.  But I never seem to get far from work.   While on the big steamship ferry, USS Badger, crossing Lake Michigan from Luddington, MI to Manitawoc, WI, I met an elderly couple as I was walking through the ship.  The man touched my shoulder and said, “Hello pretty lady.”  His wife, obviously embarrassed, hurried him off, and I overheard her say to him, “You can’t talk to people like that.”

I felt so bad for him.  I’m sure he suffered from dementia.  One loss that frequently occurs in the mid-stages of Alzheimer’s disease, is that people lose the ability to recognize the consequences of their behaviors and so often act in very uninhibited ways.   I also felt sorry for his wife.  One easy way to deal with this is to have some simple business cards printed that read, “My loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  His behavior is sometimes unpredictable.  Please excuse him and be understanding.”  The family member can discretely hand a card to a waiter, waitress of any other stranger that may be offended by the person’s behavior.

During the later stages of dementia, leaving the patient’s secure surroundings may be more difficult than pleasurable.  People with severe memory loss and the confusion and disorientation that accompanies it often prefer to remain in their familiar, secure surroundings. 

Families of nursing home patients often would feel so sad that mom or dad did not want to leave the facility to go home with family for a holiday celebration.  One solution is to simplify the celebration greatly and plan a toned-down version to be held right at the residence. 

So much of caring for people with dementia has to do with adapting activities to the person with the disease.  the further along they are in the process, the simpler things should be.