Moving Services Help The Elderly Ease Relocation

By VICTOR HULL Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: Jul 5, 2007

Relocating can be a physically draining and emotionally traumatic at any age, but Dorothy VanSteenburg, 86, has moved twice in two years, and she makes it sound easier than toasting bread.

When she moved from her home of 48 years to an apartment and then from the apartment to a smaller rental, VanSteenburg arrived to find her clothes put neatly in the closet, the bed made and pictures hung on the walls.

"I didn't have to do a thing," she said.

VanSteenburg, a retired schoolteacher, eased her transitions by hiring a professional service that handled every facet of the moves. Workers from Welcome Home Relocation in Clearwater not only packed and unpacked, they helped her sort through and downsize belongings, arrange a garage sale and donations to charity, utility disconnections and hookups and anything else she needed.

"They moved the cat toys; even the cats knew where what was," she said.

Welcome Home Relocation is part of a small but growing profession called "senior move management" that is tapping into the market of older people on the move.

Practically unheard of a decade ago, the senior move management business now includes several hundred companies nationwide. They are serving the swelling ranks of older people who, as they live longer than their predecessors, have a wider array of living options - and problems.

Instead of leaving their house for a nursing home, more older Americans are moving from longtime homes to an interim level of care - into independent living or assisted living complexes. Others opt to downsize, trading the big family house for a smaller apartment or condominium requiring less upkeep.

At the same time, the physical rigors of moving are daunting to these residents, in their 70s, 80s or even 90s. Family members often are far away, constrained by jobs or raising children and unable to take time to help.

Minimize Emotional Stress

Senior move managers say their expertise helps older people through what may be one of the most difficult periods of their lives. Moves involving older people are about more than boxing up belongings; typically, they mean sifting through a lifetime of memories.

It sometimes comes against a backdrop of diminished health or the loss of a spouse.

"They can't imagine how they're going to get from point A to point B," said Beth Warren, president and owner of the Clearwater-based Welcome Home Relocation. "I'm the tool. Every decision they have to make, we've thought about it. The emotional stress we take away is unbelievable."

Experts on aging and mental health say anything that reduces stress can help older people in a move. They cautioned that the stress from relocating does not end when the move is finished.

Vulnerable older people could be hurt by untrained or unscrupulous businesses, said Kathy Black, a sociologist and assistant professor at University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee.

"It's a very complex thing to transition to an alternative living arrangement," she said. "A lot of people aren't ready for it."

To help protect consumers, several senior move managers created a trade association, the National Association of Senior Move Managers, which has grown to 250 members in less than five years.

One of the leaders, Margit Novack, who owns a Pennsylvania company with franchises in other states, is working on an online training program to help workers understand the grief and stress that can accompany a move.

"This is the soul of what we do," Novack said. "We listen to people's stories."

Everything In Place

After VanSteenburg's husband and sister died, she shared her St. Petersburg home with her brother-in-law. When his health declined, the pair decided to move to Pinecrest Place, a Largo retirement facility, about two years ago.

VanSteenburg said she did not "even know where to begin" to prepare for the shift.

Pinecrest's manager told her about Welcome Home.

Warren, who has been in business nearly a decade, provided VanSteenburg an estimate of how much she could take from her house to Pinecrest, based on the dimensions of both places. A team of Welcome Home workers took pictures of how VanSteenburg had things arranged, marked the belongings she wanted to take and those she did not.

The staff guided decision-making but didn't tell her what to take. A typical question: "Do we need to find [an item] a home?"

Once her staff was finished, a moving company loaded the truck and hauled VanSteenburg's belongings to Pinecrest.

There, VanSteenburg watched television and toured Pinecrest while Welcome Home's team unpacked and set up house. A few hours after the move began, VanSteenburg walked into her new home.

"Everything was in place," she said.

After her brother-in-law died this year, VanSteenburg decided to move up one floor to a one-bedroom apartment.

"I just called Welcome Home and said, 'I need your help again,'" she said.

"They came and did it all."

Warren said the process usually takes a day to a day and a half. A move from a large home to smaller two-bedroom unit could range from $2,200 to $3,000, not counting the cost of loading and hauler, which is handled by a separate company.

She charges $35 an hour for staff time.

According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, about 4 percent of people 65 or older, or about 1.5 million people, moved in 2004 and 2005, the last year for which data are available. The percentage and number of movers has remained remarkably consistent for years, though it is expected to rise as the older population doubles by 2030.