Moving can be a challenging and stressful experience for anyone, but it can be particularly overwhelming for elderly individuals. The physical demands and emotional attachments associated with relocation can create additional hurdles especially for movers for elderly people. Fortunately, there are specialised moving services designed to cater to the unique needs of elderly individuals.

In this blog, we will explore how movers for the elderly play a crucial role in ensuring a stress-free and smooth moving process.

1. Understanding the Unique Needs of Elderly Individuals:

Movers specialised in assisting elderly individuals understand that each move is unique and requires personalised attention. They take the time to understand the specific requirements, concerns, and limitations of their elderly clients.

By acknowledging and addressing these needs, movers create a more supportive and stress-free environment throughout the moving process.

2. Creating a Comprehensive Moving Plan:

To ensure a stress-free move, movers for elderly develop a detailed and customised moving plan. This plan takes into account factors such as the size of the residence, the number of belongings, and any special requirements.

By carefully organising the logistics, movers can efficiently execute the move, minimising disruptions and reducing the burden on elderly individuals and their families.

3. Handling Packing and Unpacking:

One of the most time-consuming and physically demanding aspects of moving is packing and unpacking belongings. Movers for the elderly offer professional packing services, ensuring that items are safely packed, labelled, and organised. 

This not only saves time and effort but also provides peace of mind to the elderly individuals. Upon arrival at the new residence, movers assist with unpacking, making the transition smoother and more comfortable.

4. Ensuring Safe and Secure Transportation:

Transporting belongings safely is a top priority during any move. Movers for the elderly have the expertise and experience to handle fragile items and furniture with care. They use appropriate packing materials, secure the items properly in the moving truck, and employ safe driving practices. 

Knowing that their belongings are in capable hands allows elderly individuals to focus on other aspects of the move.

5. Coordinating Services and Resources:

Movers for the elderly often have established connections with other service providers, such as real estate agents, utility companies, and storage facilities. They can assist in coordinating these services, ensuring a seamless transition from one location to another.

 This reduces the stress of managing multiple tasks and allows elderly individuals to rely on a trusted network of professionals.

6. Emotional Support and Compassion:

Moving can be an emotionally challenging experience, especially for elderly individuals who may be leaving a long-time home or familiar neighbourhood. Movers for the elderly provide emotional support and compassion throughout the moving process. 

They understand the sentimental value of certain items and take extra care in handling them. Their presence and empathetic approach help ease the emotional burden and create a supportive environment.

Conclusion:

Moving can be an overwhelming process, but with the assistance of movers specialised in serving elderly individuals, it can become a stress-free and smooth transition. These professionals understand the unique needs of the elderly and offer comprehensive movers for elderly services tailored to their requirements. 

From meticulous planning to safe transportation and emotional support, movers for the elderly play a vital role in ensuring a positive moving experience. By entrusting the move to these professionals, elderly individuals and their families can focus on embracing the new chapter of their lives with peace of mind.

Source URL: https://movingonnz.blogspot.com/2023/06/simplifying-transitions-how-movers-for.html

Ascertaining a senior’s ability to age safely in place is somewhat of a complex endeavour. Creating a customised solution to your needs can help a loved one, but that may require going through the residence together and assessing it on a room-by-room basis. Think about the potential hazards of the home that need to be addressed to make it safe, make a checklist and prepare ahead of time. You may need to do the following:

• Move furniture to set up paths clear of obstructions.

• Get your light switches prepared by making them accessible, no higher than about 48 inches from the floors, replacing toggle switches with rocker switches.

• Improve the overall quality of lighting in the home. There shouldn’t be any dark pathways or countertop areas that are not lit up as well. Task lights, night lights and rope lighting are all great alternatives to your regular switches.

• Adding grips to doorknobs or replacing them with levered handles and pulls.

• Marking and steps or changes in floor elevation with bright tape or paint in contrasting colours can help the visually impaired.

• Remove any loose carpeting and mats or rugs. You should use secure area rugs with double-sided rug tape, minimising the risk of slipping. Focus on the edges and corners.

• Remove all cable and electric cords that go close to the walkways to prevent tripping hazards. Place all wiring behind the furniture or secure it neatly against the walls with cable staples, cord covers or clips.

• Ensuring all seating throughout the home is sturdy, as well as supportive to the arms and making sure sitting and standing are easier is a good way to approach difficulties with mobility.

• Get rid of clutter by disposing of items or donating them.

• The washing machine and dryer must be easy to access for everyone, on the main level of your home. If that’s not the case, consider repurposing a closet or another area on the ground floor and turning it into a laundry room. Replacing any top-loading machines with front-loading ones will make them much easier to use. If you have to, you can hire a laundry service to avoid the tasks made difficult, or a home care specialist.

• Clear a path from the driveway to the entry of your home.

• Inspect the walkways for cracks, loose stones or bricks and any uneven surfaces and repair them. Fixing the flaws will help provide a better walking surface.

• Removing or trimming the landscaping can help keep walking paths wide and clear for anyone using a walker or a wheelchair.

• If you have any entry steps, install handrails on both sides, using non-slip surfaces and making them deep enough to ensure the whole foot can be placed on every step.

• If you or your loved ones experience mobility challenges, you should evaluate rooms and think about installing a ramp. Stepless entries may make things easier and safer for entry, regardless of using a mobility aid like a walker or cane or being in a wheelchair.

• Evaluate the state of your front door, the sturdiness and ease of operation of the locks and the peephole or window panel.

• Replace the kitchen knobs on drawers and cabinets with pulls or levers for ease of access.

• Move the frequently used items from the higher shelves and under-the-counter cabinets to a more accessible location that doesn’t require bending over or reaching high up.

• Consider whether older appliances are still functional for your needs. Oven controls must be in the front of the range, so you can avoid reaching over stove burners. Label the knobs clearly for ease of use. A bit of paraffin wax or petroleum jelly can be rubbed around the gaskets on the fridge door to make it easier to open.

©Home Care Preferred Barnet

Getting injury on your feet, heels, or ankles can be painful as it may take some time to heal. That is why taking proper treatment from the very first moment is important. Especially elderly people, they might require some extra care for proper healing. Hence, the following are some of the basic foot care tips that may prevent further injuries, fungus, or infections.

Clean and Moisturize

A routine foot cleaning session is important for hygiene. As this routine is important to stop any fungal, viral, and bacterial infections, you might need to have this session outside of the bath and shower. You can have this wipe down session with warm water, soap, and a washcloth. With cleanliness and hygiene, it might relax and calm you down. After that, moisturize to prevent open foot sores, especially for older adults whose skin is drier. Afterwards, you can cover feet with a breathable cotton sock aid for comfort and warmth.

Trim the toenails

This may prevent fungus, or bacterial infections, several foot injuries, inward nail growth, and help you maintain your overall hygiene. However, due to flexibility issues, it may be a bit of struggle to reach toes for many elderly people. In this case, taking external help can be helpful. If anything looks wrong then you can get them trimmed by a qualified podiatrist rather than at a nail salon.

Pro Tip: Trim nails no shorter than the tips of the toes.

Ensure good circulation

You can include several things in your routine for better movement of your feet. Having occasional massage sessions may improve the overall blood circulation for better mobility. During the massage, keeping your feet propped up on the couch or a footstool may reduce the likelihood of swelling. In cases of sitting for a significant period of time, wiggling the toes, moving feet around can help the blood pass through the feet and toes. Including stretching in your daily routine may also boost the blood flow.

Prevent fungal infections

Constant moisture around the feet may invite fungal infections. Hence, it is important to change socks or stocks as often as necessary. You can search online bed socks for elderly to find the suitable one for your use. To prevent the foot moisture, using a good foot powder may also help in drying that up. In the cases of constant itching or burning, schedule a meeting with a podiatrist to have it checked before some infection develops.

Buy quality footwear

Equipping yourself with quality and good fittings shoes, socks are important. With loose footwear, you may develop blisters that can worsen because of shoes sliding around your feet as you move. And wearing tight shoes can cause circulation problems. In cases of mobility issues, investing in a sock aid may come of great help. That compensates for Limited Range of Motion. Patients having arthritis experience difficulty bending and reaching their feet and a sock aid can allow them to independently put on their socks.

It is a flexible or semi-flexible material attached with two long handles. You can buy bed socks for elderly online and attach the sock on it and then place your foot inside the slope of the aid. Then you can pull it with the rope to wear your sock.

Avoid Bare Feet

For elderly people, it is preferable to wear shoes even when indoors to prevent cuts, scrapes, or some heavy object falling on the feet. Especially when using the toilet, there is always the risk of bacterial and fungal infections. Slippers would act as a protective barrier against nasty foot infections such as toenail fungus and athlete's foot.

Visit your Podiatrist Regularly

Even if your feet are perfectly fine, visiting your doctor once a year will make sure that nothing severe is developing. This can be a preventive step to prevent all kinds of early-stage foot issues. Being a little active will make sure that warts, hammertoes, bunions, bone spurs, and neuromas, never get the chance to blow up into major problems that may require serious treatment.

This is a delightfully mischievous read, especially at Christmas, when one of the stories is set.

In Maud, Helene Tursten has produced as an intriguing villain: an old lady, happily solitary and financially secure, for whom other people are not entirely real, except in so far as they help or hinder her in taking care of herself. When people become problems, that is they pose a threat to her or those she cares for or disturb her peace or attempt to steal from her, Maud is happy to solve the problem permanently with a little bit of well-managed violence that results in a death the either looks accidental or cannot be reasonably attributed to Maud herself.

I can see that Maud's actions show her to be a psychopath but I still found myself cheering for her. The people she killed seemed to me to deserve killing. I'd certainly have thought of doing what Maud did but I wouldn't have had the nerve or the emotional distance to act on my impulse. I'm hoping that my admiration for Maud is a sign of the power of Tursten's writing and not my own incipient psychopathy.

I admired the way Maud could, when it served her purpose, turn herself into the not-quite-all-there, harmless-old-dear that people expect to see. She uses the way the young see the old as both camouflage and as a weapon. I'm more than twenty years younger than Maud but I can already see how my perceived age changes how I'm treated unless I act against type and I can imagine the glee of being a predator disguised as someone seen as so low threat that they're almost invisible.

The book contains five stories:

• An elderly lady has accommodation problems 
• An elderly lady on her travels
• An elderly lady seeks peace at Christmas time 
• The antique dealer's death 
• An elderly lady is faced with a difficult dilemma

With each story, we learn a little bit more about how Maud came to her present circumstances. We don't get an explanation as to why she is as she is, rather we get a picture that her circumstances rather than he character have changed She now has the independence and the protective camouflage available to her to be herself and get away with it.

The last two stories are two different perspectives on the investigation into the death of an antique dealer. Tursten uses the antiques dealer's death to bring Maud to the attention of both of the detectives she's currently writing series about: Irene Huss, with ten novels in a series that started in 1998, and Embla Nyström, Huss's protegé with two revels in a series that started in 2014.

I tried "Inspector Huss" the first book in the series a while ago and abandoned it. My encounter with Maud was much more fun. The difference may be down to the twenty extra years that Tursten had practised her craft between the two books but I suspect that it's also to do with a change of translators and to listening to the audiobook version. So, I've decided to try the second Inspector Huss book, "Night Rounds" as an audiobook, in the hope of finding another series to read.

It's Christmas morning and I've just read the first story about Maud, a woman in her eighties, who discovers that she can get away with murder. I was cheering her on, which isn't quite in the spirit of good will to all men but what can i say, the person she killed deserved it.

Thanks to Kaethe for the recommendation.

Merry Murderous Christmas everyone.