Why Active Listening is Key in Senior Moves

Senior moves require attention to detail, tackling logistical challenges, and, most importantly, addressing all emotional and physical limitations for a move to be successful.

One of the best ways to achieve this is through active listening. Moving companies offering senior relocation services, like Interstate Moving and Storage, focus on active listening as they help clients navigate the moving process. Since each senior move has unique characteristics, using active listening as a tool in the preparation process fosters trust, helps tackle challenges, and ensures a positive transition for a senior resident

Before coordinating a move to a senior community, there is much to know, whether you are moving yourself or are a family member responsible for an older adult’s well-being. Hiring a moving company that understands the importance of active listening will make the process go much smoother.

What is a Senior Living Community?

To begin with, you must identify the type of senior living community that best fits your lifestyle and needs. Generally, one may choose from three different types of communities: active living, assisted living, or a skilled nursing facility. Each community has amenities to meet your medical, personal, and social needs. These amenities may vary from medication administration to communities focused on social engagement and convenience.  

1.    Active Living

Active living communities are made for independent aging adults. They come with lots of perks that promote socializing with minimal home maintenance. For example, some of these centers include additional amenities like dining options, art classes, beauty salons, fitness centers, and more. Active living communities even provide shuttle services to residents to quickly get to doctor’s appointments, go shopping, or get around town. Residents do not have to worry about mowing their lawns or repairs as these communities are typically low or no-maintenance living arrangements.

2.    Assisted Living

There are about 30,600 assisted living communities across the United States with over 1.1 million units housing senior residents. An assisted living facility is perfect for a fairly independent senior who requires some assistance with their daily needs. These tasks may include meal preparation, housekeeping, and personal care services, such as bathing and dressing.

In addition, these facilities help track, administer, and store medication. Many also provide memory care services for seniors diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease or Dementia.

3.    Skilled Nursing Facilities

For aging residents with chronic medical conditions, a skilled nursing facility might best fit their needs. Skilled nursing facilities offer 24-hour medical and nursing care for their residents. In many ways, a skilled nursing facility is similar to a hospital with round-the-clock care.

These facilities assist with medication administration and tracking, housekeeping, and personal care, like assisted living communities. Despite these similarities, their focus on personalized medical care and handling chronic medical conditions sets them apart from other senior communities.

How Active Listening Contributes to the Success of a Senior Move

Active listening is essential to make a move successful and stress-free. Clear communication with your moving consultant will help them understand your move’s unique physical, emotional, and logistical needs. Careful listening makes certain that everyone’s instructions, from family members to seniors, are understood and acted upon correctly.

Moving consultants focus on delivering services that align with your (or the family’s) concerns and expectations. They help preserve the sentimental value of the senior resident’s personal property, identify and address worries, and use all they learn to customize the moving process for each resident. The moving consultant proactively creates solutions by listening to potential concerns or logistical challenges, minimizing disruptions on your moving day.

Once your move consultant understands your unique circumstances, they will provide accommodations as needed. In addition, they will curate and present you with a plan incorporating all requests and concerns to ensure a smooth moving day. These plans may include mobility accommodations for packing and unpacking or allocating extra time for the sentimental and emotional process of going through personal effects.

Understanding and addressing senior needs leads to a more seamless, respectful, and satisfying relocation experience.

Watch our video to learn more about what you need to know about moving to senior living communities.

Moving Consultants Assist with Downsizing

Like a typical move, packing means deciding whether something is kept, donated, or discarded. In many cases, seniors are downsizing their residences, meaning that in the packing process, it is essential to go through all personal property and decide what will be brought to their new home. For many seniors, this tends to be the most challenging part of their move.

Moving consultants focus on these three areas to make the move a success:

• Help sort through the resident’s belongings
• Facilitate any donations and sales
• Create a comfortable space for the resident in the process

Moving consultants will take the time to listen to sentimental stories as they help sort through belongings to decide what to keep, donate, and discard. When items are finally sorted, they will coordinate selling and donating items as approved by the resident and their families, focusing on helping them navigate the emotional aspects of this transition.

In their new location, moving consultants will make sure that their new space resembles their previous residences, which will help them feel welcomed and familiar. For example, a moving consultant will display a family heirloom like it was in their previous home.

What Sets Interstate Moving and Storage Apart as a Moving Company?

Interstate Moving and Storage understands the impact of a move on senior adults. Our focus is solely on ensuring that senior residents and their families have all their needs met and that the moving process is seamless and memorable.

Our moving consultants accomplish this by curating personalized move plans that prioritize communication, special requests, and care. When an issue arises during a move, we stand ready to proactively address the issue quickly.

Ready to Schedule Your Senior Move?

With the right approach and the power of active listening, the moving process to a senior living community becomes a positive and empowering experience. Moving consultants will approach your move with empathy, consideration, and appropriate planning.

Moving an elderly family member—or even yourself can be much easier when you hire a company that knows about moving into a senior living community. At Interstate Moving and Storage, our moving consultants are dedicated to gathering all the details to make moves as stress-free as possible.

Let Interstate Moving and Storage help you with your moving needs. Call 800.745.6683 to learn more about our senior moving services.