Chicago Tribune, March 2007

Talk about stressful. Rita Stevens had to move on short notice to Westminster Place, a retirement community in Evanston. Her husband had a serious neurological disorder and couldn’t help. She didn’t feel up to the task herself because of the exhausting job of caring for her husband. But the building offered a resource, Gero Solutions, a Palatine-based company that moves seniors and helps with the transition.

Gero Solutions provided a floor plan of the new apartment, so Stevens knew how much furniture she could take. then it packed the couple’s belongings and moved them into the new place. Everything was unpacked. the bed was made, the pictures hung and the coffeemaker plugged in. Gero Solutions donated unwanted items to charity and sold some valuables on eBay.

“They gave me a list of what had been sold along with a check,” said Stevens. “They did everything.”

After her husband died and Stevens moved to another unit, she called the service again.

Every move should be so easy. Recognizing that a move can be especially difficult for a senior, an industry has sprouted that caters to the older set. About five years ago, companies that move only those 55 and older formed a trade association, the National Association of Senior Move Managers.

The companies organized because they aren’t quite like other movers; older people sometimes have very specific needs. Some seniors have lots of possessions that can’t fit in a new place, so the things have to be disposed of or given away. Also, a move, which can unsettle anyone, can be especially stressful for an older person who may feel a great sense of loss at giving up a longtime home and beloved possessions.

“there are a lot of emotional triggers in a relocation,” said Nan Hayes, director of Senior Stages, a division of Stagedhomes.com, a Chicago-based training firm. Nationwide, Hayes figures about 175 companies or individuals, not all certified, move seniors. This growing network allows movers to refer business to each other in cases where a senior is moving out of state.

A certified specialist should be able to meet a senior’s needs, Hayes said. The specialist should be aware of the emotional issues involved in moving a senior, as well as having many good sources for movers and other vendors such as companies that can modify homes. Certified specialists also undergo a criminal background check, are insured and have agreed to follow applicable local and state regulations.

Most specialists will come in and provide a free estimate for the job. Costs can vary widely, depending on the scope of the work. For instance, a move only will cost less than disposing of many items and packing.

The building to which the senior is moving will sometimes pay the specialist’s fee. Buildings often use these services to ease the older person’s transition. So ask whether the building you’re considering provides the service.

A computer-generated space plan is one of the most often requested services from Gero Solutions, according to company owner Mary Jo Zeller.

Private Duty Insider, December 2006

Here’s a weird but effective idea: Try marketing to your local moving company.

Sure, it’s outside of the box, but that’s exactly why it works so well for Patricia Menoni, administrator of Partners in Senior Care. She gets one referral a month from a senior relocation company. And it’s meant 25 referrals per year for Shelly Sun’s private duty agency, BrightStar Healthcare in Chicago.

Growing in popularity, senior relocation companies support older adults and their families with the physical and emotional aspects of moving, says Mary Jo Zeller, co-founder of Gero Solutions, a senior relocation company with offices in Palatine and St. Charles, Ill. “We case manage the move process, taking care of all the details.”

Zeller’s company focuses on helping seniors downsize, such as moving from their home to a condominium, or relocate across the continuum of care, such as moving from their home to a retirement community, assisted living facility or nursing home, Zeller says. The company does everything associated with the moving the client from packing and presorting to the physical moving and transporting.

But many times seniors need additional services the company can’t provide, “and then we look to make a referral to a home care company,” says Zeller.

Typically, she seeks private duty agencies that offer geriatric care manager or nursing services, says Zeller. Many times when older adults are going through a life transition, such as moving to a nursing home, they also have other needs that must be attended to, and a GCM can manage that care, says Zeller.

These relocation companies are working with seniors who many need private duty services while they’re in transition, says Menoni. For example, clients who are moving from their home to a nursing home may need a caregiver to assist them while they’re waiting for their home to sell, especially if their adult children don’t live in the area. Also, caregivers can provide support and assistance while clients adjust to their new environment, Menoni says.

Also Menoni’s Grayslake, Ill.-based agency offers geriatric care manager services, which many of these clients need during this time, she says. For example, many facilities require that a senior have a physical exam and a tuberculosis shot prior to entering the facility. A GCM can assist clients through this process by making all the necessary appointments, accompanying clients to appointments and ensuring that all the paperwork is in order, says Menoni.

Menoni admits that she hasn’t pursued senior relocation specialists as aggressively as she should. “This is an area we all should be marketing to better,” she says. Although she doesn’t track how much revenue each referral from the senior relocation company generates because it varies depending on the services each client needs, “it’s certainly enough to maintain a good contact with the company,” she says.

Short-term cases turn into long-term PD care

Although the majority of clients that senior relocation companies refer to private duty are short-term cases, there is potential for them to become long-term clients, says private duty president Sun. The majority of the 25 clients Sun receives from local senior relocation companies annually require home care while they’re waiting to get into a skilled nursing facility (many of these facilities have a 4- to 6-month waiting list to get a bed), she says. But about half of those clients ultimately decide to remain at home and continue receiving private duty services from Sun’s company rather than go into the facility.

“It’s only natural. When given the choice, they would prefer to stay home for as long as possible,” she says.

Not surprisingly, the senior relocation companies aren’t too happy about losing clients to Sun’s agency and as a result are considering charging the private duty company a fee – $100 to $250 – for each referral it sends her way, she says. If that happens, Sun may consider ending the relationship.

Kiplingers, September 2006

A year and a half ago, when Anita and Robert Summers planned to move from their family home in Merion Station, Pa., to a nearby retirement community, they were daunted by the thought of sorting more than four decades worth’of stuff. So they turned to Moving Solutions, a Wynnewood, Pa.-based company specializing in “senior move management.” For $2,800, the consultant helped the two retired professors decide what to take with them and what to give away.

The couple says the personal touches took the stress out of their transition. The evening of the move, Robert, 84, recalls, “a team of six came to our new place, made our bed, put the photos on our bedside table in the same place, laid out our toothbrushes and set up the coffeepot for the next morning.” At 9 A.M. the next day, the team returned to empty the boxes. “The last time I moved, 43 years before, it took weeks to unpack,” says Anita, 81. “There was no mess or clutter when they left. The physical move was a cinch, although emotionally it was tough.”

The growth in retirement communities and the scattering of adult children have created this niche service. Typically, the move manager draws a floor plan of the new place, so you can see which furniture will fit. As you sort through a lifetime of belongings, the move manager helps you decide which treasures to keep. The managers arrange for consignment, donations and gifts. They oversee movers and plan for storage. They set up the new household and see that your old house is cleaned. Some managers have experience moving frail seniors into nursing homes.

But leaving behind a memory-laden house, as well as choosing among your treasures, can be difficult. Often the move has been precipitated by a crisis-an illness or death of a spouse. So beyond organizational skills, a move manager can become a sort of grief – - counselor as homeowners say goodbye. Indeed, many managers hold degrees in social work or psychology.

Susan Danick, who runs Transitional Assistance and Design (www.helpseniorsmove.com; 240-403-0177), in Gaithersburg, Md., notes that some anxious clients will call her several times a day for weeks. “The emo- tional part of moving is very tricky,” says Danick, a former nurse who began her business after moving her grandmother into an assisted living center.

A No-Hassle Move

Hiring a professional can help you avoid tangles with relatives. “There are a lot of family dynamics involved with moving, which is why sometimes a stranger can be more effective than relatives,” says Margit Nomk, who runs Moving Solutions (www.movingsolutions.com; 610-853-4300).

Mary Jo Zeller, a founder of Gero Solutions (www.gerosolutionsinc.com; 847-705-2123), which serves the Chicago area, says a client will often take her advice about what to toss, aker rejecting the same advice from an adult child. “The children can offer emotional support by taking the parents out to lunch, instead of having their head in a packing box,” Zeller says.

Costs vary, but most jobs that involve a move from a house to an apartment range from $1,200 to $2,500, not including the cost of movers. “The price was very. reasonable,” says James Hecker, who in Feb- ruary left a three-bedroom house for a two-bedroom apartment in Chevy Chase, Md. A former Marine who has moved 26 times, he and his wife, both in their eighties, found it too taxing to do all the work themselves. They paid $2,000 to Danick’s company. He says they discarded about one-third of their pos- sessions in “a no-hassle move.”

To find a move manager, check with the 88-member National Association of Senior Move Managers (www.nasmrn.com). Ask for references from clients and from retirement communities where clients have moved. Find out how many moves the firm has managed for seniors, and get a written list of services and fees. And make sure the firm is hsured and bonded.

Assisted Living Executive, November/December 2005

When Shirlee Williams of Peoria, Illinois, made the major life decision to move from her home of 11 years to a new continuing care retirement community eight miles away, she got a lot of help. A full-service moving assistance company found her a Realtor she liked, offered downsizing assistance, checked on her regularly, packed her belongings, and moved her in.

“I try to make my own decisions and not rely on my famii too much: says Williams. Using a relocation company “just took [away] a lot of worry for me.”

In Williams’ case, the relocation organizers were hired not by Williams or by her adult children, but by the retirement community she was moving into. In a step that goes well beyond making a simple referral, Lutheran Hillside Village (LHV) partnered with a professional relocation firm so that Williams-and scorn of other new residents-truly received ‘executive’ treatment.

While retirement communities benefit vicariously from community services that help new residents make a happier transition from their former home, retirement communities such as LHV that have formally aligned with a senior relocation provider are reporting direct advantages to the company’s bottom line, from making sales to improving entry fee revenues.

“Instead of trying to find a move-in coordinator, which is mostly a short-term need, this worked so much better,” says Rita Vicary (ritav@LSMpeoria.org), marketing director for LHV. From opening day on Oct. 7,2002, to the end of that same year, 97 units were occupied, according to Vicary. “I was told the industry standard was nine a week, and we moved nine a day” she says.

GRASSROOTS AND GROWING

The senior relocation assistance industry, up to now a cottage industry serving local markets, is starting to show signs of coming into its own. While most senior relocation companies are still small, localized operations,
often initiated by a care-giving adult child or a former senior housing professional with a passion to make such moves less traumatic, the industry is expanding. At least one relocator specializing in corporate and military clients, Chicago-based Moving-Station, now offers relocation services for seniors through its Moving Made Easy line.

“In our area, when we started providing the service, we were just about the only ones. Today, there are over 100,” says Genevieve Auguste, president of the Washington, D.C., area’s Art of Moving. As the industry grows, some businesses are offering more sophisticated services such as Realtor referrals, cross-country relocations-and partnerships with retirement communities.

“One of the things we hear all the time is ‘I didn’t know a company like yours existed; and yet we’re not movers and listed in the yellow pages under that. It’s very much a local, grassroots movement: says
Mary Jo Zeller, owner of Gem Solutions Inc. in Chicago and co-founder of the three year-old National Association of Senior Move Managers. “It’s kind of one of those light-bulb moment. There’s a definite need
for it.”

Retirement communities view relocation assistance as a value-added benefit that gives them a competitive edge as well as an efficient way to move in a number of new residents more quickly.

SMOOTHER SALES, AND SAILING

Partnering with a senior move manager can eliminate a key sales obstacle, according to several communities who have used such services. “Especially when you are just building, you have a couple years. You have to work hard to keep those sales” says Vicary. The counselors at MovingStation who worked in diict contact
with residents-to-be such as Williams, Vicary says,”saved a number of sales for us-people who were overwhelmed and were beginning to get cold feet.”

As for communities no longer in fill-up mode, the ongoing use of a relocation service can offer a marketing edge over competitors. very much is a sales feature,” says Ucary. “If we can say we make your move easy, it really helps it along.”

Handing over new residents to personal relocation consultants months before the move-in also Frees up a community’s sales staff.” They can spend more time working with new prospective residents,” says Rick Hunsicker (rhunsicker@greystonecommunities.com), corporate vice president of marketing for Greystone Communities of Irving,Texas, which also uses MovlngStation.” Think about it-why do national corporations use relocation companies when they move people? It’s because that’s not what they do well.”

While the relocation company can focus on helping residents overcome point-of-origin hurdlers such as the sale of a house or the distribution of possessions, the community’s move-in coordinator can facilitate what happens at the destination. “It is still good to have someone if the move-in coordinator role, even if it’s not full time, to make sure everything’s ready when the resident moves in,” says Hunsicker.

The use of a relocation service for a new community also can make of a mass move-in more efficient. The recent opening of a Greystone community in Phoenix offers a case in point. At the end of the first four months, about 90 of 125 units were occupied,or about 73 percent. “We had lots of presales and they all started to move in right away because most of the planning and organizing, as well as the sale of the
house was already taken care of,” says Hunsicker. “That has generated nearly an additional $1 million in unbudgeted revenue.”

CREATING A RIPPLE EFFECT

Research suggests that use of relocation services may greatly reduce transition trauma few older adults by moving them in more smoothly, thereby reducing anxiety and giving them the services they need sooner, according to Zeller.The bottom line is that the more people put this move off, the more it affects their health, and the shorter their retention can be,” she says.

It also can make for a better beginning fix a whole community, according to Deidre Shwartz (dschwartz@hyattclassic.com), manager of interior design and relocation services for Chicago-based Classic Residence by Hyatt, whkh supplements its own move-in services with Moving Made Easy. Schwartz cites a new community in Palo Alto, California, that has benefited from coordinates, early move-ins. “By the end of five months, we’re projecting it will be 80 percent occupied.” It’s wonderful. It makes for a more vibrant community, more activity, more resident participating” she says. Reviewing floor plans to organize a new apartment in advance is among the relocation services that is most appreciated by new residents at Classic Residence by Hyatt, says Schwartz. The more planning and organizing that residents do up front, the quicker they’re settled and out playing bridge or swimming in the pool.”

Of course, getting off to a great start in a community can ultimately lead to more word-of-mouth referrals, says Michael Apa (mapa@montplace.com), executive director of Montgomery Hyde Park in Chicago, which uses Gero Solutions services under its own moniker, the Stressless Move-In Program. “lt’s important economically that your current residents are happy,” he says.

FOOTING THE BILL

The payment structure for these emerging alliances tends to vary. Montgomery Place will mostly foot the moving bill for new residents who use its relocation services with in 30 days under a three-tier incentive plan
tied to a timeline. Other communities offer to pay the bulk of the bill for services only when doing special promotions to fill communities.

Meanwhile, senior housing communities using MovinStation’s program typically pay an upfront fee to cover the planning and organizing services offed through Moving Made Easy, with residents paying for the actual move.

It all comes down to the marketing budget of the community, and the extent to which the relocation team is actively involved with helping the community and not just the resident. “Do you want someone to manage the relocation plans or just someone to refer people to?” poses Rob Adams, president of MovingStation. “We’re going to help communities sell and retain and fill fast.”

Gloria Bersani, Gero Solutions, is proud to be a Founding Member of the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM).

The mission of NASMM, a non-for-profit organization, is to facilitate the physical and emotional aspects of relocation for older adults to increase industry awareness, establish a national referral network, enhance the professional competencies of members, and to promote the delivery of services with compassion and integrity.

The field of Senior Move Management is growing and it is estimated that more than 125 companies exist across the country. The benefits of exclusively using this service is it focuses on the process of seniors living through the experience. They bring significant expertise in resources and approaches that save money, reduce stress, and produce quality results that will exceed the customer’s expectations.

NASMM has reviewed insurance and experience requirements for each of its members prior to acceptance. On-going educational requirements reflect the commitment to professionalism in working with older adults.

Kiplinger’s Retirement Report, April 2003

Most estate blueprints focus on savings taxes and dividing assets, but your plan can do much more.

Plan your estate to honor the goals of your heart, and cherish your family by letting them know what’s important to you. These two steps can prevent a lot of emotional pain for your family later on. I’ve seen fistfights over which funeral customs to observe, and couples of different faiths who leave their children with Solomon-like decisions about which religious rituals to follow.

If you try to align life with your religious or ethical beliefs or a particular philosophy, your medical decisions, funeral arrangements, will and gifts should reflect those values. Even if you aren’t religious, you may want to address religious considerations out of respect for a spouse or others. Traditional rituals performed by a priest, rabbi, imam or other religious figure can be of tremendous comfort to a grieving family.

And what if you are adamant about your lack of religious beliefs? When you make your plans, consider the possibility that you may feel differently later on. Near the end of their lives, many people find solace by reconnecting to a religious faith and wish to change the funeral plans they made previously. Unfortunately, they often don’t, leaving their survivors conflicted over how to handle their final arrangements.

Leave Your Loved Ones a Letter

The best way to begin addressing faith-based and ethical issues is to discuss them with a religious or other adviser. Then draft a letter of instruction in your own words to your loved ones expressing those feelings and stating your wishes. Include the type of funeral and mourning process you want and which religious customs, if any, should govern. If you specifically don’t want something, make that clear, too. While the letter isn’t legally binding, most people will respect the last wishes of a parent or spouse, even if they’ve vehemently disagreed with the deceased in the past.

Customize Your Health Care Proxy

Your religion and values should affect the wording of your health care power of attorney—the document used to designate someone to make health care decisions for you when you are unable to do so. No secular form begins to address religious or ethical concerns, and while the forms prepared by religious organizations often do an admirable job, they fall short on crucial legal formalities and details.

The best approach is to work with your lawyer and religious adviser to customize the document to your needs. For example, a Catholic may want to be as lucid as possible during her last days so that she can confess her sins and receive Holy Communion. If her health care agent is aware of this, the attending doctors can be alerted and prepared to respect the patient’s wishes.

Use Your Will and Durable Power of Attorney

Each of us approaches creating a will differently depending on our circumstances, faith and aspirations. You may make a charitable bequest because giving back to society is important to you. A Muslim may rely on the tenets of the Quran to dispose of his property.

If your religion has special burial or other customs that are expensive, authorizing them in your will assures that your executor has the legal authority to pay for them without arguments from dissenting heirs. A Hindu may want her ashes spread over the Ganges River; a Jew may wish to be buried in Israel.

A durable power of attorney can be invaluable if charitable giving is an important component of your faith. With it you can enable an agent to make charitable bequests on your behalf. This can be particularly important if you later develop Alzheimer’s disease and are unable to manage your finances. You can also instruct your agent to pay for a grandchild’s religious education if you become incapacitated.