By Kristin Sullivan

When seniors prepare to move into an assisted living facility or a nursing home, one of the biggest tasks they face is packing up the lives they’ve built in their own homes and downsizing to a smaller living space. Thirteen years ago, Margit Novack founded Moving Solutions, a company that specializes in senior moves, and then in 2002, she formed the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM), an organization that is now 500 members strong.

“I started the organization because I knew I was at the forefront of a new industry,” Novack explains. “Moving Solutions had been named 1999 Business of the Year by the American Society on Aging (ASA). The ASA recognized that Moving Solutions was addressing a huge, unmet need. I received considerable press coverage from the ASA award and I was contacted by dozens of people around the country interested in becoming Senior Move Managers.”

Now, seniors can find a move manager through NASMM’s locator at www.nasmm.org. Not only do senior move managers help seniors with the physical aspects of a move, but they also alleviate much of the stress associate with a move to senior care. In fact, Relocation Stress Syndrome is a formal nursing diagnosis in many seniors who are going through a housing transition, Novack says. Symptons include exhaustion, sleep disturbances, anxiety, grief, loss, depression and disorientation. Hiring a move manager can help avoid that.

“Senior move managers help older adults and their families overcome the physical and emotional aspects of moving,” Novack says.

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