Elder care for parents flying across the country

[Anonymous]

There's also Perq Soliel. I see the service a few airports in California.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lots of places will do this.
transport4elders.com [phone]
I see like 5-10 companies I see who do this driving around NOVA all day but that's the only one I can remember the name on the vans. Tons in annandale va. I'll post back if I see/remember more company names.

I think you are having in mind medical transport companies (of which there are many like H&M, Lifecare, EasyMed, etc., and you can hire these companies to get them door to door, but not typically for transport all the way through security ti the gate, and definitely not accompanying on the flight.

You could try a Life Care Management company that is based in LA, but again the sticking point would be what do you do with the person who accompanies them? Does he/she stay in a hotel? Are they responsible for your parents the whole time they are visiting? Do they rent a car that you also pay for?

I think you can probably speak with someone at the airline about what elder services they offer for the flight sort of like an unaccompanied minor. Maybe they have an unaccompanied senior services?
But this just seems like a lot, OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's also Perq Soliel. I see the service a few airports in California.

https://www.mikeswashingtonwatch.com/2023/11/perq-soleil-a-premium-meet-assist-airport-concierge-service

[Anonymous]

Don't. Once someone needs this level of assistance to take a plane, you have to do a rigorous cost-benefit analysis, and commencement won't make the cut.

1. You're taking people whose functioning is on the bubble in a familiar environment and putting them through the unpredictability of airline travel so that they can spend a few days in an unfamiliar setting where they will be surrounded by noise and distracted loved ones. Not worth it.

2. They will almost certainly get dehydrated because that's what air travel does to us, plus they will probably restrict fluid intake so they don't have to use an unfamiliar bathroom (at the airport) or an awkward unfamiliar bathroom (in flight). And if it's the latter, they'll have to negotiate the aisle with turbulence.

3. Dehydration will leave them dizzy and disoriented.

4. No matter how carefully you plan and explain logistics, they will likely forget. My mother flew an hour for my brother's wedding, and she had gotten loads of travel tips from her also-elderly friends. The wheelchair to take her from place to place worked great. The part where she wanted me to meet her at baggage claim didn't, because somehow she forgot that I'd agreed to do that. It was not a great start to the weekend.

And at that point, my mom was fully mobile, driving, handling her own finances, etc. But that was the last overnight trip she took.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is where a little white lie would come in handy- tell them the school is limiting the number of tickets it’s giving each graduate to parents only and that you’ll bring your graduate out to visit them at a later time. Don’t have them make the trip.

+1. Just decide this for them and tell them tickets aren’t available. Don’t screw up your kids big day managing elderly parents.

[Anonymous]

Stream it and have them watch it IRT. My husband’s grandmother lived to be 95 and was VERY involved with our children but she became too fragile to travel in her late 80s (even if my husband flew to her and escorted her here and back). So he bought her an iPad and showed her how to FaceTime.

So when the kids had events, from school graduation to soccer games to plays, etc., she would know the time in advance and would be waiting for our FaceTime call. We would FaceTime her and she’d watch the event in her iPad. Worked very well. Super easy.

[Anonymous]

Something else to bear in mind- disruption. We ehave been sitting on the tarmac for four hours with no end in sight. Things can and do go wrong, and this can really throw a spanned in the works.