SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS: Organize Senior Moves helps with downsizing during COVID-19

COVID-19 has made moving seniors a greater challenge than before, but Organize Senior Moves has risen to the challenge.

Since family members aren’t allowed to be inside assisted living facilities or nursing homes during the pandemic, Organize Senior Moves has used technology to allow them to see what they are doing during the moving process. They take photos and send videos of their work in progress, and they call or videochat with family members to discuss what to do with items that won’t fit into their loved ones’ rooms or apartments.

Former Capital Region resident Donna Wright recently went through the process twice when her uncle was moved into an assisted living facility and then a nursing home before passing away recently. Because of the pandemic, Wright had to remain in North Carolina and communicate remotely with the Organize Senior Moves team to determine what should be done with her uncle’s belongings.

“They have been wonderful. From the beginning and now just as we are getting to the end, they have been wonderful to me,” said Wright. “My biggest challenge is not being able to get there. They have been pretty much my eyes and ears on the ground in Albany.”

Prior to the pandemic, Organize Senior Moves would meet with the families in person to discuss what their loved ones wanted to have transported to their new homes and what the layout should be. Then on the day of the move, the families would take their loved ones out for the day while the movers boxed up belongings, transport them to the new living space and set up the apartment. When the crew finished at the new apartment, the families would bring their loved ones to their new living space, where everything would be in place.

Since families aren’t allowed to be there for the final step, seniors are moving into their new spaces with only the moving crew there to guide them. However, Organize Senior Moves president Michelle Kavanaugh and her crew do what they can to keep the families involved.

“We did have the opportunity to do video calls, and they were very good about going through the house and showing me what they were doing,” said Wright. “We talked throughout the whole process. I just can’t thank them enough. They have been very nice and professional. They were very easy to talk to during a difficult time.”