Expert: Dementia Travel is Possible

Kathy Shoaf’s resume isn’t what you’d expect from a typical tour operator or travel professional. A registered nurse (RN), with a specialty in geriatrics and neurology, Shoaf also is an adaptive technology professional (ATP), who worked for years as an executive (often as director of nursing) and senior living executive with home healthcare firms and independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing facilities in numerous states across the country.

After many years of working with and counseling families with seniors, Shoaf decided that she wanted to create a way to enrich everyone’s life — both for seniors and their families. “I believe that just because a diagnosis exists, one should not have to miss out on living their life,” she says.

And so, in 2010, Shoaf entered the travel industry by opening Elite Cruises and Vacations, which specializes in travel for those diagnosed with dementia (even early onset dementia) and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as Parkinson’s and MS. In 2016, she committed to working in travel full time by purchasing a Cruise Planners/American Express agency. Since then, her agency has booked 34 group cruise events, including a recent roundtrip sailing out of San Diego to the Mexican Riviera.

“Our adult daycare programming allows our clients with cognitive challenges to have a wonderful and…