Heading to the beach is a fantastic activity for your summertime home care. The beach stimulates your parent’s mind, encourages physical activity, and can be an ideal chance to enjoy quality time, conversation, and memories with your aging loved one. Whether your parent is taking their beach trip with you or as a special outing with their in home health care services provider, an important part of making the most of this visit is preparation. Planning ahead and having a well-packed beach bag on hand can help to reduce stress, manage little issues as they arise, and ensure that your parent can get the most benefit from their experience.

Some things that you may want to consider packing for a day at the beach with your senior include:

• Fitted sheet. Spreading a large blanket out on the sand creates a space to settle onto and relax while controlling contact with the sand. Wind and movement, however, can disrupt the blanket and even cause more sand to get onto it. Instead, opt for a fitted sheet. Lay your regular blanket down first to offer padding and then turn the fitted sheet over so that the elastic is facing up. Use items that you have brought along such as a stack of shoes, your cooler, a gallon jug of water, and the beach bag itself to prop up the corners. This will create small “walls” that will prevent the sheet from moving and will keep the sand to a minimum.
• Sunscreen. Everyone involved in the beach trip should apply sunscreen with a minimum sun protection factor of 30 at least half an hour before heading out into the sun. You should also bring along the sunscreen, however, so that you can reapply after two hours in the sun, sweating, swimming, or toweling off. This keeps the protection consistent and helps to prevent burns and skin damage.
• Instant cold packs. Heat exhaustion is a serious risk for elderly adults out in the higher temperatures. If you start to notice signs of being overheated, it is important that you cool your parent off as quickly as possible. Instant cold packs do not require refrigeration. Instead, you squeeze the pack to break the chemical components inside, which immediately causes them to cool. You can then use the pack to bring down your parent’s body temperature.
• Baby powder. Even if your visit to the beach is just you or your parent’s in home health care services provider and your parent, make sure that you slip a bottle of pure cornstarch baby powder into your bag. This simple product works wonders to remove sand from skin when you are ready to leave the beach, making you much more comfortable for your ride home or your next adventure on the boardwalk. Simply sprinkle it over the damp sand, let it sit for a few seconds, and then wipe it off. This does not have to specifically be baby powder. There are adult versions as well. Just be sure that you choose a product that is pure cornstarch rather than talc as this product has been linked to higher risk of ovarian and other cancers.