A Moving
Experience
Senior Move Management
By Mary Kay Buysse
A
TTORNEY Jane Miller Hodgson
is meeting with a client. She quickly glances at her BlackBerry and
notices her mom's number. At home later
that evening, she telephones her younger
brother and sister to tell them Mom's physician has "strongly recommended" Mom
move to an assisted living apartment - and
the sooner, the better. Violet Miller can no
longer live alone in her home of 44 years,
with two sets of narrow stairs to navigate
every day. It's just too much for her frail
82 year-old frame, especially after two
recent falls.
The three adult Miller children are
scattered across Canada. How can they
get this move done? Would they need to
spend a week's vacation from work just
sorting through roomfuls of closets and
drawers, the garage and the shed? Who
has the time? The family home is packed
with stuff - from attic to basement and
beyond. Jane's younger sister, Rose, mentions something to Jane and her brother,
Bill, about the possibility of looking into
a senior move manager to help them.
She read about it in the paper several
months ago.
Bill bluntly asks, "What exactly is a
senior move manager?"
Encouraged by the rising tide of retiring baby boomers and the desire of many
empty nesters to simplify their lives in
smaller spaces, moving coordinators for
the 55+ crowd have become part of an
emerging industry: senior move management (also known as senior relocation).
Anyone who has ever moved knows how
stressful the process can be.
Particularly challenged are older
adults and their families when it is time
to pack up a home of 30, 40, or 50 years.
Fortunately, local small businesses all over
Canada are helping with this transition. A
Senior Move Manager is a professional
who specializes in assisting older adults
and families with the emotional and physical aspects of relocation and/or "aging in
place."
A senior move manager moves people
- not boxes. Many senior move managers
have backgrounds in social work, health
care, nursing and psychology, while others
come to this industry from the corporate
world of project management, technology,
accounting or marketing. What all senior
move managers share, however, is a commitment to connecting with mid-life and
older adults and a desire to perform meaningful work. In fact, a national non-profit
association was created eight years ago to
support US and Canadian professionals in
the senior move/senior relocation industry
- the National Association of Senior Move
Managers (NASMM).
A small number of senior move managers are also actual moving companies.
The many senior move managers who
are not movers work closely with moving
companies to complete this critical aspect
of the job. Many of these same companies
have joined NASMM as affiliate members
or Industry Partners. They are NASMM's
trusted colleagues in the rapidly growing
area of senior relocation, transition and
downsizing. Moving companies are yalued
collaborators in helping NASMM shape
the bright future and integrity of senior
move management.
Senior move professionals guide clients through ajoumey that's often as much
about sorting through a lifetime's worth
of memories as it is about possessions.
They facilitate the decision regarding
what to take, what to leave, and how to
redirect it. They also set up and organize
continued on gage 10
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Fall 2010 • The Canadian Mover
EXPERIENCE from page 8
the new home. The growth in retirement
communities and the scattering of adult
children have created this niche service.
Two-income households leave adult children little time to help aging parents pack
and move. Other seniors, single or without
children, don't have much help of any
kind, and are too overwhelmed to tackle
the problem alone. Even when family
help is available, emotions can run high,
making the process thorny and upsetting
for everyone involved.
Typically, the move manager draws
a floor plan of the new setting, so the
client can visualize what furniture will
fit and where it will go. Transitioning to
smaller quarters often requires a creative
and insightful approach. As the client
sorts through generations of belongings, the move manager helps he or she
decide what constitutes "treasure" and
what is truly "trash." The move managers arrange for consignment, donations,
and gifts. SMMs will collaborate with
movers and plan for storage, set up the
new household, and see that the former
house is cleaned.
Although specific services vary, most
senior move managers can help with some
or all of the following:
• Developing an overall move or "age in
place" plan
• Organizing, sorting and downsizing
• Customized floor plans
• Arranging for the profitable disposal of
unwanted items through auction, estate
sale, buy-out, consignment, donation, or
a combination of the above
• Interviewing, scheduling and overseeing
movers
• Arranging shipments and storage
• Professional packing
• Unpacking and setting up the new
home
• Related services, such as cleaning,
waste removal, shopping, senior escort,
assisting with selection of a realtor and
helping prepare the home to be sold.
Some senior move managers provide
these services directly; others function
in more of an oversight or management
role. Senior move managers have extensive, practical knowledge about the costs,
quality, and availability of various local
community resources.
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Clients will often ask NASMM members to manage a move across the miles.
In this event, the NASMM member who
is directing the project where the older
adult currently is located will connect with
another NASMM member at the receiving
end. Together, they will ensure the older
adult's seamless transition from one setting to another.
Jane and her siblings decide to call a
senior move manager. They feel better
already, knowing a professional senior
move manager will handle the daunting
tasks associated with gently transitioning
their mom to a new (and safe) apartment.
Mary Kay Buysse, MS, has been the Executive Director of the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM)
since 2006. Mary Kay oversees membership recruitment, retention, education and
program development, and day-to-day
operations for NASMM. With a Master
of Science degree in Human Services and
Gerontology, Mary Kay has worked in the
non-profit, association sector of aging services for over a decade.
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