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Working as a long-term care nurse for more than 35 years, Liz Norton has first-hand experience with the practical challenges and emotional stress that senior citizens and adults with chronic health limitations face when they move into smaller, less-demanding housing. Norton's answer is Liz Simple, Assisted Moving Services.

Fully insured, Liz Simple provides hands-on help for moving arrangements, packing and storage, maximizing the value of unwanted items through sale or donation, and when needed, communication and emotional support for the person who is moving and their family or caregivers.

Owner Liz Norton is a registered nurse who worked for 24 years in the home care division of the Tompkins County Health Department, and supervised both long-term care services and adult protective services for the Tompkins County Department of Social Services. Prior to that, Norton was employed an R.N. at the Tompkins County Hospital and also worked at area nursing homes.

Norton says what she saw and observed in the social services and skilled-care arenas, combined with an aging and growing population, convinced her of the need for a professional assisted moving service. She says, "Seniors and adults with health limitations are less likely to move from house to house than the rest of the population. After 30 or 40 years in same place, they've accumulated a lot of belongings. Suddenly, they're faced with not only the practical challenge of downsizing and deciding what they truly need, but the emotional challenge of letting go of the home they spent most of their lives in, and many of the possessions in it.

"This is stressful for both the person who's moving and his or her caregivers, who also find the process difficult and emotionally challenging, especially if they don't live close by," Norton says. "Our role as an assisted moving service is as much about helping them over the emotional hurdles as it is about helping them with the practicalities of moving and getting settled into a new home."

According to the US Census bureau, the population of Americans age 65 and older is projected to increase by 60% between 2010 and 2025. In New York State, the Census Bureau projects the number of people age 65 and older will increase by 60% between 2000 and 2030. These expected increases will create a corresponding demand for more assisted-living facilities and smaller housing that better accommodates their needs.

Advances in health care and medicine also mean that people are living longer. Liz Simple Assisted Moving Services routinely works with clients in their 80's and 90's.

Liz Simple Assisted Moving Services does not offer pre-packaged services. It creates individualized plans for each client, and tailors them to meet the specific needs of the client and his or her family. Factors such as the amount of possessions a client owns, where he or she is moving to, what belongings they'll need or may want, how and where their other belongings will be stored or disposed of, and the availability and proximity of other family members, are different for each client and addressed in every plan Liz Simple develops.

According to Norton, it typically takes one to two weeks to complete a downsizing project. Emphasis is placed on first helping clients get emotionally and physically settled into their new homes, prioritizing the possessions to be moved, then making arrangements to sell, donate and dispose of what remains. In addition to arranging shipping and storage, Liz Simple's other services may include contacting utilities such as the power and cable companies to disconnect or start new service, acting as a client's point-of-contact with an assisted living facility or new landlord, arranging for an estate to be auctioned or sold, and whenever possible, recycling or in some way reusing those belongings a client may no longer want or need.

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