Woman rolls business and ministry into service for seniors in Sun City Center
By LOIS KINDLE
Christina Cieslik, owner of NextStage Moving, has combined her entire life experience with a compassion for helping folks in Sun City Center with physical, cognitive and spiritual needs to start a company that offers start to finish transitional care for seniors. It’s more than a business, it’s a ministry, she said.
LOIS KINDLE PHOTO
Christina Cieslik’s mission is helping seniors in transition. Her business, NextStage Moving Services, offers expert move management to those in transition, whether they’re downsizing, relocating or resettling from an assisted living residence to a skilled nursing facility.
Beyond that, however, Cieslik provides compassionate care after the move by determining and then addressing their physical, cognitive and spiritual needs.
“I’m working with a client right now who I helped move three times in the past five weeks and provided advocacy for the services she needs, like helping pay her bills, addressing her after-care hospital equipment needs, working closely with her attorney and more,” Cieslik said. “I coordinate a client’s needs with family members, as needed. If there is no family, I help them realize they are not alone.”
Cieslik was trained by Teepa Snow, a 30-year specialist in occupational therapy who has taught both patients and caregivers throughout the country for Senior Helpers and the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM). She was a hospice volunteer for more than 20 years; provided prayer support as a member of the alternative medicine staff for the Center for Life Enhancement at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center; and worked 20-plus years as a human resources manager. She also takes care of her husband, Chic, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2002.
“I have a passion for people, and this company is really a culmination of my life experience and a desire to make a difference in people’s lives,” she said. “God opened a door for me, and I walked through.”
Cieslik said managing a move is like putting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. Her role is to make major transitions like a move “as safe, comfortable and stress-free as possible,” she said. Services range from sorting, organizing and categorizing furniture and determining where each item should go to interviewing and scheduling a mover, supervising each step in the move and everything in between. Taking things a step further, she also helps process a change in address and voter registration, transfers the phone and utilities, arranges pet care during the move and offers home-safety measures for those with health challenges.
NextStage Moving Services offers affordable pricing for jobs as little as a few hours to 40, based on a person’s needs and budget. The company carries a Florida license, is a member of the Sun City Center Area Chamber of Commerce and NASMM and is bonded and insured. Consultations are free
Cieslik also connects with a client’s family to have the ability to share how their loved one is doing. For example, she has a client who lives in a Sun City Center assisted living residence whose daughter lives across the country. She recently videotaped him playing the piano and sent the daughter a live link, so she could hear him play and see how well he was doing.
“No one case is the same,” Cieslik said. “I try to hear what the family desires and find creative ways for helping them keep important memories alive.”
For more information or a consultation, visit www.nextstagemoving.com, email christina@nextstagemoving.com or call 813-217-2644.
