With more and more of the Baby Boomer Generation providing senior home care for our aging parents, it stands to reason more of us are traveling together as well.

This can be very rewarding, however it can also add some challenges to our trip planning. Here are 12 tips to help:

1. Most hotels offer handicapped suites. Even if your senior parent is fairly spry, they may appreciate the extra room and the extra grab bars that are usually available with those. Not only that, if your elderly parent has hearing problems, some of the disability rooms even offer doorbells and telephones with a choice of ringers or lights to notify you of guests/phone calls.
2. This can also protect them from being inadvertently assigned a room on the upper floor with no elevator available. That happened to me two years ago and I did ok, but it would definitely have been hard on my senior mom.
3. Speaking of stairs, thanks to that incident, I now always ask if there are elevators and, if not, I make sure I request ground floor rooms even if they don’t have accessible rooms, at the same time I make the reservation. (I have to admit, it wasn’t that easy for me to lug the suitcases up and down those stairs!)
4. Check each hotel room over when you are getting your senior parent settled in. Look for anything that could cause a nasty slip and fall accident! Fall protection is always important, and even more so when traveling in strange surroundings.
5. If your senior parent has a disability parking permit, be sure to tuck it in your purse along with any card that may come with it. Even if they don’t use the placard all the time, traveling can be quite exhausting and your elderly parent may be extra glad to have it handy.
6. It’s important for us to realize that a senior parent often doesn’t have as much energy as us and plan for plenty of rest breaks for them. If it’s possible, you might want to consider separate rooms which can give them the option for cat naps while you work or visit with others.
7. If you do get separate rooms, be sure to request adjoining rooms, if those are available, and otherwise rooms that are across from each other or side by side. If you don’t make that request when you schedule the rooms, you might wind up quite a ways apart. An elderly parent who is exhausted can easily become disoriented in new surroundings. They’ll feel better, and so will you, if you’re close to each other.
8. Also, be sure to forewarn anyone you are visiting that your parent may need plenty of rest time. If they don’t need it, that’s wonderful. If they do need it, there’ll be less disappointment and frustration on both sides.
9. We try to always get hotel rooms with a refrigerator and microwave. That way, if your aging parent needs to stay in the room while you go out, or gets sick while traveling, you can stock their room with cup-a-soup, crackers, lunchmeat, bread, condiments, and sodas. Then they can eat foods they like even when you are not there.
10. Even if your senior parent doesn’t normally use a walking cane, it can be useful to pack one if they have it. Arthritis foot pain or knee pain flare-ups, tiredness, or just plain tripping can make it worth its weight in gold!
11. When traveling together regularly, make sure you sign up for the various hotels’ frequent traveler programs and put both rooms on one rewards card, even if you pay for the rooms separately. These are great ways to save money and by combining the trips on one card you’ll earn reward points faster which can lead to free rooms and other discounts. You can then share the expenses and the savings equally.
12. If an aging parent gets ill on the road, it can be a difficult experience for both of you. You probably already keep copies of their health insurance information in your wallet which will help make things a bit easier. If not, now’s a great time to start. You might also want to write down the phone number and address of the urgent care center and hospital closest to your hotel BEFORE you need it.

Traveling is never easy, and often, the older you get, the more challenging it can be. It’s still quite worthwhile but it definitely pays to go out of your way to make things as easy as possible for your elderly parents. They’ll get to enjoy the travel experience but will appreciate your thoughtfulness in making sure they also get plenty of rest and Tender Loving Senior Home Care, even when you are all away from home.

Are hammertoes causing sore feet for anyone in your family? It’s a painful condition that has definitely impacted people I care about, including two senior citizens as well as one 30-something. According to FootPhysician, “The most common cause of hammer toe is a muscle/tendon imbalance. This imbalance, which leads to a bending of the toe, results from mechanical (structural) changes in the foot that occur over time in some people….Occasionally, hammer toe is caused by some kind of trauma, such as a previously broken toe. In some people, hammertoes are inherited.” Whatever the cause, they definitely make for very sore feet! There are some treatments to help them, including foot surgery, which you would, of course, have to discuss with your doctor. There are, however, some non-medical options we’ve discovered that can help ease some of the discomfort they cause:

• Pointy shoes or too-small shoes are a major no-no for Hammer Toes, (not to mention arthritis foot pain which I have to deal with). No matter how pretty the shoes, the comfort of your feet need to be the top priority. My senior friend, Emma, loves tennis shoes with wide round toe areas, as do I. She especially likes the cloth tops in the summer to keep her feet cooler, switching to totally vinyl tennis shoes for cold and wet weather.
• Croc Shoes are also at the top of her list! Emma absolutely loves them and they are so much more comfortable for her hammer toes. She has traditional Crocs for summer, and loves the Mammoth style, with the fleece lining, for cold weather. She has to get a bit larger size in them because of the lining, but loves how they keep her feet nice and warm in the winter, while still protecting her toes. 
• Yoga toes. I am NOT a proponent of yoga but I do recommend these toe separators that massage and even, somehow, exercise the hammer toes. I spotted an ad for them in the back of a Prevention magazine and told Emma about them as her feet had been giving her some extra grief at the time. She ordered a set and LOVED them. I passed the info on to my 30-something friend who also gave them a try. She, too, gave them a thumbs-up! They really seem to make their sore feet a bit less sore and more comfortable. At the time, about three years ago, I think we paid $30 each by ordering through the magazine. Nowadays, Amazon carries a similar product, HealthyToes Toe Stretchers,  for only 21.71! What a great deal! If Emma ever loses hers, we’ll definitely try one of these out.
• Slippers with toe separators. While reading the Sunday paper, and going through the coupons, Emma spotted an interesting advertisement for memory foam slippers with toe separators and asked my opinion about them. For about $17 plus shipping, they were definitely worth a try. She ordered them, gave them a try, and loves them. My 30-something friend hasn’t yet tried them, but will soon.
• Comfy Foot Alignment Socks Emma gave these a try, as well, and likes them, although she commented the other day that they do keep coming off the toes. These seem to run true to her shoe size, while the slippers ran a bit small. But, of course, each store’s products could be different. She bought them elsewhere, but we just discovered that Amazon carries them as well. They do charge shipping so the price is about the same as what Emma paid through the catalog she ordered them from. Since she loves Amazon as much as me, she’ll probably order direct from them next time.
• Little elastic sleeves or tubes – This was suggested to Emma by her podiatrist. “How could a little round tube help with my toe pain?” she wondered, but she was pleasantly surprised to discover they did. You can often get these free from your podiatrist, who you should be going to for this problem. 

Well, there you have it. Our personal recommendations for easing the sore feet caused by a hammer toe condition as well as making them a wee bit more comfortable. Of course, always check with your doctor first before making any major changes. And if you have found any great options, please share them with us in the comments section. We’re always on the look out for more great ideas.

Kaye