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How To Help Seniors Moving In Chicago

June 21, 2017

We’ve covered moving with pets and moving with kids and both present their fair share of challenges. And when it comes to seniors, there is one thing that all three groups share: they can get quite stressed out during a move.

And while you can put your dog or cat in a kennel and leave a toddler with a babysitter, moving with seniors is a bit more involved. Older persons over the age 50 account for 52% of moves and that number is going to only increase as those of the baby boomer generation move from their longstanding homes to a retirement community or a different assisted living situation.

Either way, whether you’re moving with a senior citizen, helping some older friends or grandparents to move, or you’re preparing for the next stage in life for yourself and your partner, here are some key tips to keep in mind to make moving seniors as stress-free as possible.

Table of Contents

4 Tips for Seniors Moving in Chicago

1. Keep an Open Dialogue

Whether you’re simply helping your parents or grandparents to plan for the next stage in their lives or you are taking care of an older family member yourself, making sure to talk with older adults about the move well before even deciding on where they move will help them to start preparing mentally for what can be a major change of pace.

For instance, if you’re helping them to move into assisted living, this can be fraught with resistance, fighting, and many other unpleasant aspects. There is a reason why most experts advise that when to help seniors moving into a new situation, make them as involved as they want to be. Some individuals want to feel like an active participant in each stage of the move while others are happy to let someone else take the wheel. But by opening up that dialogue sooner than later, you’re likely to help put them at ease and circumvent otherwise avoidable arguments.

2. Retain a Sense of Continuity

When helping an older adult move from one home to another, it’s extremely advisable to try and arrange their objects and furniture in as familiar way as possible in order to lessen the shock change.

Think about how you may react in their shoes and try to make them more comfortable by exercising patience and asking them regularly how they are doing and how you can help them reduce their stress level. If they’re leaving friends behind, perhaps help them to arrange Skype sessions to keep in touch.

3. Sort It Out

Like most home owners or renters, older adults and seniors tend to accrue a lot of items they don’t need. When it comes to helping a family member or older friend move, one of the best things you can do to help is to offer to sort through their many items for them.

Chances are you’ll end up with a solid donation pile as well as unearthing some lost treasures that they will likely be thrilled to see. Plus, all of this will cut down on how much you have to move.

4. Plan, Plan, Plan

As we’ve already discussed, keeping an open dialogue and trying to arrange an older adult’s belongings are two things to keep in mind early on, but there’s additional planning to be done outside of your dialogue. Try to take as many things off your senior’s shoulders, from hiring and scheduling the professional movers to obtaining a floor plan of their new home to get things set up in place quickly.

Additionally, if they require internet, call ahead to their service provider so that it gets set up shortly after their arrival. Furthermore, if they’re moving into an assisted living facility, make sure you coordinate with the employees so that if you have any special requirements or health issues they need to be aware of, they can plan accordingly. The same goes for your movers; let them know of anything to keep an eye out for in terms of health and safety issues.

Ultimately, how smoothly the transition goes varies from person to person, but by planning ahead and keeping an open dialogue you can significantly cut down on the stress levels for everyone involved.