ON THE MOVE – Mary Kay Buysse MS

Mary Kay Buysse, MS  is the Executive Director of the National Association of Senior Move Managers.

By now, we all know that the first Baby Boomers turn 60 this year, and innovative entrepreneurs are serving the 77 million Boomer market in a big way. Aging organizations have traditionally focused on helping elders remain in their homes through home assessments, home-based services, assistive devices, and support for caregivers.  A Senior Move Manager, however, is a professional who specializes in assisting older adults and families with the emotional and physical aspects of relocation, including downsizing, moving, and leaving the family home.  Services include assistance with sorting, planning, and preparing for the move; developing a floor plan; scheduling elevators; arranging long-term storage; hiring movers; packing and unpacking; resettling in the new home; and arranging for the sale of unneeded items.
What drives the demand for senior move management services?  It’s simple: the changing demographics of a rapidly increasing aging population and the unmet demand for lifestyle enhancing services  With life expectancy at a historic high, businesses focusing on services to the over 50 market are meeting a growing need.  Why? The Boomers’ most valued commodity is also the most difficult to obtain: time! The Boomer in his 50’s or 60’s likely has parents in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. When these aging parents need help, and eventually most will, the responsibility will fall on their children.
Most older adults making this transition have not moved in decades, and they need to downsize considerably. The strategic organizational and daunting physical challenges associated with planning and implementing such a move are overwhelming. Boomers will likely purchase senior move services to make their own overextended lives a bit easier and less stressed. In short, the Senior Move Manager is the "project manager" for the entire transition process!
Family and friends often want to help, but “emotional baggage” can exist that causes the profoundly personal aspects of this kind of assistance to be truly painful for everyone. Adult children are also often sandwiched between parents, careers and their own family obligations. For long distance caregivers, the hurdle can be simple geography. If illness or death precipitates the move, the family is generally already emotionally and physically exhausted. The adult child may have just run out of personal time at work. Senior Move Managers have emerged to fill these (and so many other) gaps to ease the transition for everyone.  

Senior Move Managers can be contacted by any one of various sources: older adults themselves, friends and family members, pastors and other clergy, banks and trust officers, geriatric care managers, attorneys, senior living communities, and realtors.  It’s a profession that’s clearly on the move! Who knows? A senior move manager may be in your future.
NASMM (the National Association of Senior Move Managers) is a non-profit, professional association of organizations dedicated to helping older adults and their families with the physical and emotional aspects of moving.  NASMM members are committed to maximizing the dignity and autonomy of older adults as they transition from one living environment to another. Please visit the www.nasmm.org web site for more information.

A news article was produced by NPR Radio regarding Senior Move Managers. Click here to listen to that article.