Senior Moving: Setting a Plan
Particularly for people who have mobility challenges or health issues and require special preparations, moving requires planning. Sean Joseph, CEO of Jordan River International Moving & Storage, joins Suzanne to talk how to plan for a move, especially if you’re downsizing or moving into a senior living community.
Sean says, “We will do the estimate, then help figure out the packing option, and then comes the move date. That’s 1-2-3, it’s planning, planning, planning. For the move that is the traditional move, let’s say the family member is in good health, we can move from point A to point B, loading the boxes first, wrapping or disassembling the furniture, and doing the reverse: unloading all the furniture, setting it up the way the customer wants and then unloading the boxes in the right location.
“For downsizing, let’s say from a house or an apartment to one room in a senior living, for example, at the time of the estimate, we will take the address of the destination. We will visit the destination, we will talk to the front desk to figure out what they need from certificate of insurance, to floor covering, to elevator reserve. We’ll try to see the room so we can create a floor plan. It’s very important when moving from a bigger place to a smaller place, we want to make sure [we know] what would be the best location for the furniture to give enough movement within the room.
“The other type of move, which is the most complicated, is usually when the senior has a medical issue like dementia, [or mobility or health challenges], we need sometimes to really copycat the one location, and that involves meticulous planning and moving. We had one customer that we had to make everything exactly the same. We needed to take pictures of all the cabinets before we packed them, and when we got to the destination, we put all the items back in exact the same order. Think about it – exactly the same order, because of the memory issues he had. And place medication exactly where it was before.”
Sean adds, “It’s important to pay attention to detail and listen, listen. Some moves like this will take a little bit more time. And I always tell the crew, please take your time. Slow down. Do not run, listen to the people. Sometimes they need more time. Slow down, constantly ask, what can I do for you?”
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Originally published February 20, 2024
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