Help with moves, travel companions, adopt a pet, more

You can make your life a lot easier when you take advantage of the many unique privileges and services designed especially to help seniors. Many organizations and businesses today recognize the potential of marketing to this huge segment of the population and have come up with ways to serve you. Some especially useful ones…

MAKING A MOVE

Moving from one home to another, maybe downsizing to a condo or an apartment, is a huge job that can be physically and emotionally draining. Senior move managers, organizers who specialize in assisting older people with the problems of relocating, can minimize the stress of this major transition by doing most of the work for you. They can help you pare down your belongings, decide what to take and what to dispose of, recommend charities for donations and help sell unwanted items. They also get estimates from moving companies, oversee the movers, arrange the move date, supervise the packing and unpacking, have the house cleaned — just about anything that you need related to your move. In most cases, you can decide on a package price that includes many services or choose only those that you need and pay by the hour.

Typical package cost: $3,000 to $5,000.

Information: National Association of Senior Move Managers (877-606-2766, www.nasmm.org).

TRAVEL COMPANIONS

If you can’t or don’t want to travel alone, Flying Companions will provide an experienced and insured air traveler who has passed a background check to accompany and assist you when flying anywhere in the world, making the trip as comfortable and hassle-free as possible. The escort does whatever is needed from start to finish, including making reservations, picking you up at home or meeting you at the airport, handling airport check-in, getting both of you through security, handling the baggage, helping with meals and bathroom trips if necessary and delivering you to a pre-arranged destination, whether it’s an airport, a hotel or a residence. The escort will even stay with you, if you like, for an entire vacation, so that you and your family can relax. Meanwhile, family or friends will be kept informed by phone or e-mail along the way.

Costs vary depending on a trip’s complexity and include round-trip airfare and expenses (such as meals and hotels) for your companion. For example, escorting one person from Ft. Lauderdale to Chicago one-way costs $1,300 to $1,700, which includes two airfares (for you and your travel companion), expenses and the service fee.

Information: Flying Companions (888-350-8886, www.flyingcompanions.com).

PET ADOPTIONS

Having a dog or a cat is remarkably good for emotional and physical health, according to many studies, but especially for older people who could use companionship, not to mention unconditional love. Some organizations work hard to match seniors up with just the right pets, preferably older animals that are not only hard to place and in dire need of rescue but are already trained and easy to care for. The Purina Pets for Seniors program, for example, covers $50 of the cost of adoption for applicants over age 60 at shelters across the country.

Information: Purina Pets for Seniors (877-737-7757).

Pets for the Elderly, a nonprofit organization that works with a different list of shelters, also pays $50 toward the cost of adoption (adoption fee, neutering/spaying and medical costs) for age-60-plus applicants.

Information: Pets for the Elderly (440-347-9710, www.petsfortheelderly.org/).

In addition, animal-rescue centers all over the US often have “senior-to-senior” programs that include discounted or free adoptions and discounted rates for vaccinations and neutering. The Rutland County Humane Society in Pittsford, Vermont (802-483-9171, www.rchsvt.org), for example, charges no fee at all for people age 55 and older who adopt older animals (age five and older).

You are especially fortunate if you live near Port Washington, New York, where the North Shore Animal League (516-883-7575, www.nsalamerica.org) waives the adoption fees for people age 60 and older when they adopt a dog or a cat that is at least one year old. They also provide two free groomings a year, free annual vaccinations and flea preventives, free wellness examinations twice a year and discounts on diagnostic testing and pet supplies, among other things.

Check with your local animal shelter or visit the Web site of the Humane Society of the US (www.hsus.org/pets) or Pets911 (www.pets911.com) for other shelters in your area.

FIND A LAWYER

If you’re looking for an attorney with a specific area of expertise — real estate, estate planning, bankruptcy, etc. — and you’re a member of AARP, you’ve got easy access to a large directory of qualified attorneys who will give you a free consultation for up to 45 minutes on the telephone or in person. In addition to dispensing advice and helping determine your best course of action, these attorneys have agreed to provide basic services for members, such as preparing simple wills, powers of attorney and living wills for low flat fees and, except in a few states, give a 20% discount on their customary rates for other legal work.

Information: AARP Legal Services Network directory (866-330-0753, www.aarp.org/lsn).

GRAVESITE MAINTENANCE

If you are unable to care for the gravesite of a loved one because you live far away or have trouble getting around, check out the services of a company called Gravescape. It will tend a grave in a cemetery anywhere in the continental US — cleaning and landscaping, placing flowers on memorials and sending before-and-after photos or videos to document the results. Costs start at $60 per visit, and the job will be done within a week. You may choose a onetime visit to clean up or deliver flowers, for example, or the option of deliveries or cleanups on a regular schedule. The most popular choice, a vase of silk flowers, costs about $90, and includes photos and a written report.

More information: Gravescape (419-877-5640, www.gravescape.com).

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