At Fresh Start Transitions, there is one employee whose job it is to help clients sell their items on eBay. Both businesses will help with sorting and disposal of personal things.”

Source: Charlotte Observer

“We usually clear a house out by noon or 1 — that includes refrigerator contents,” she says. “And it’s a point of pride that we can get the new place set up by dinner time.”

Rough moves quickly, and often. But she’s not a gypsy or a fugitive. As the proprietor of Carefree Transitions, Rough works as a senior move manager, helping elderly clients make the jump into late-life homes.

Heavy lifting, little touches
A great demographic migration is taking place in our communities. Boomers and pre-boomers, yearning for simplicity or bowing to the restrictions of age, are leaving elaborate family homesteads for retirement or assisted living communities. Moves are exhausting in the best of times but can be especially hard on the elderly, who must dramatically trim their belongings and tend to countless details on the fly.

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Source: East Valley Tribune
by Michael Grady

Home Staging and Real Estate Professionals will meet in Chicago to discuss the exponential growth of the home staging business, industry trends and the state of the market at the fourth annual International Association of Home Staging Professionals (IAHSP) Symposium.

The IAHSP Symposium is held June 27-30 at Chicago’s Navy Pier, and considered the premier educational and networking event for the Home Staging Industry.

This year’s symposium includes a presentation by Jennifer Litomisky, Executive Director of Ronald McDonald Charities. The presentation will focus on how in the spirit of giving, StagedHomes.com and thousands of Accredited Staging Professionals (ASPs) will join together to “stage” Ronald McDonald Houses all over the world during the 2007 Worldwide Staging Service Week.

Keynote events of this year’s symposium will include a dynamic discussion on The Future of the Home Staging Industry by Barb Schwarz, creator of Home Staging and author of “Home Staging: The Winning Way to Sell Your Home for More Money,” “Building a Successful Home Staging Business” and “Speaking of Success,” with Ken Blanchard, Jack Canfield, and Stephen R. Covey.

Home Stagers and Real Estate Agents will receive a wealth of information through educational breakout sessions. Topics include national staging insurance programs, marketing strategy, business planning, team building and creative staging tips. Over 50 top staging professionals will also share ideas and inspiration in “Meet the Pros” round table discussions. Exhibitors are encouraged to attend the Home Staging Expo.

StagedHomes.com will announce their new training division, SeniorStages.com and the Certified Relocation and Transition Specialist (CRTS) education program. Realtors, Home Staging Professionals and Senior Relocation Specialists all come together under one umbrella in a team approach to address the needs of the growing senior housing market. CRTS is the first industry supported national certification course for senior move management.

About three weeks remain for seniors to choose their Medicare health programs for 2007, including a Part D prescription drug plan.

The deadline for open enrollment is Dec. 31, but federal officials recommend people sign up as early as possible to ensure coverage starts Jan. 1.

Last year for the first time, seniors received optional prescription drug coverage through Medicare. Millions of seniors signed up for the Part D coverage, and those who are satisfied can ignore the open enrollment period and continue their existing plan.

Those who were not satisfied or whose plan changed for 2007 must select a new plan by Dec. 31. They have 55 plans offered by private insurance companies from which to choose.

Officials recommend people choose a plan based on the drugs they currently take, their pharmacy and the premium they can afford.

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Jewish seniors in need of help preparing for a hurricane or dealing with the aftermath will be able to get assistance through a new program designed specifically for them.The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County and its network of affiliated agencies have created the Hurricane Action Network Delivery to Seniors (HANDS) of the Jewish Community.

Information packets are being mailed to about 5,000 Jewish seniors from Boynton Beach to Jupiter. The packets include: a hurricane planning guide, a door hanger to indicate whether assistance is needed after a storm, a magnet with a hurricane hot line phone number and a request for seniors to register for after-storm assistance.

Michelle Wasch, senior executive vice president of the Jewish Federation, urges Jewish seniors to sign up for the program now because communication may be difficult after a hurricane hits.

“They need to call now. Once there is an emergency situation, their needs are exponentially greater,” Wasch said. “The first thing is to make sure the seniors have the information they need.”

Source: Palm Beach Daily News

Aggressive efforts by insurance giant Humana (HUM ) to enroll seniors in its Medicare managed-care plans violate federal guidelines, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways & Means subcommittee on health has charged.

Representative Pete Stark (D-Calif.), in a Jan. 26 letter to top officials at the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), said Humana’s practice of paying higher commissions for Medicare Advantage plans “is violating CMS regulations.” Stark claims the agency’s marketing rules bar insurers from paying higher commissions for a more profitable product. Stark, who cited a BusinessWeek report in his letter, asked for an immediate investigation of his allegations. According to a Stark aide, other managed-care companies may also be engaging in the same practice.

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Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH) today announced that David Hegarty, president and chief operating officer, will be presenting at the 9th Annual Wachovia Real Estate Securities Conference in New York City on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 at 1:20 p.m. The presentation will be broadcast live over the Internet.

To access the live webcast and PowerPoint version of the SNH presentation, participants should visit the SNH web site at www.snhreit.com at least 15 minutes prior to the broadcast to ensure that all the necessary applications are downloaded and installed.

For those unable to participate live, SNH’s presentation will be archived on the company’s web site immediately following the presentation. The archived webcast will be available for replay on the SNH web site for about one week after the presentation.

Senior Housing Properties Trust is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, that owns 184 senior living properties located in 32 states. SNH is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.

A Maryland Real Estate Trust with transferable shares of beneficial interest listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

No shareholder, Trustee or officer is personally liable for any act or obligation of the Trust.

A study finds few U.S. companies plan to drop their retiree drug benefits immediately but many expect to do so in a few years.

The law creating Medicare prescription drug benefits created a subsidy for companies that offer retiree benefits at least as good as Medicare’s Part D.

The survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Hewitt Associates, a benefits consultant, also found that employers are continuing to drop retiree health benefits completely, the Washington Post reported. The percentage of companies with retiree health coverage dropped from 66 percent to 33 percent between 1988 and 2005, and slid 12 percent in the past year, with many companies cutting off new hires.

But the survey of 300 large employers found few plan to do away with prescription drug benefits.

“Most employers are accepting government subsidies and taking a wait-and-see attitude on the drug law,” said Drew E. Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

A new program could notify emergency personnel of every senior citizen’s vital health information as well as create a formal alliance among the police force, the elderly and the local businesses in an effort to fight crime.

A yellow decal placed on the rear windshield of a car would signify that medical information about the driver — who may be unable to communicate in the event of an accident — is printed on a yellow form in the glove compartment.

The Yellow Dot Program is offered by the National Association of Triads Inc., a nationwide effort that aims to create a partnership among the elderly, the police force and local businesses. Each Triad is governed by a volunteer board of directors, called a S.A.L.T. (Seniors And Law Enforcement Working Together), whose purpose is to develop, expand and implement effective crime prevention programs for seniors.

People’s Bank of Connecticut founded the program, in which 37 Connecticut towns and several states are now participating.

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