SeniorCare is the Area Agency on Aging for nine towns north of Boston. With a combination of Title 3 funding and private donations, they operate a volunteer driver program for medical transportation, using AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP volunteers.
Recognizing that they would not be able to fill all trip requests with just their volunteer driver program, they also set out to become knowledgeable about other transportation options in the region, and to share that information with their riders. SeniorCare began by reaching out to area Councils on Aging and the local transit authority to learn about their transportation services. They compiled a town-by-town listing of transportation resources, posted on the SeniorCare website.
To keep the information up to date, SeniorCare does regular outreach. When a new caller requests a ride, SeniorCare’s Transportation Coordinator discusses all transportation options appropriate for them and mails them a welcome packet with that information.
Ruth Lindsay, RSVP Director at SeniorCare: “We never want to say we can’t help someone. If someone calls us needing to get to their chemotherapy appointments, we would have a difficult time doing that because we don’t have enough volunteers — so what we’ll do is we’ll identify another program that could work for them, tell them about that program, check with the consumer if they are interested in that option, and then we’ll assist by giving them either the phone number to call the program or we’ll offer to have the program call them to work it out.
SeniorCare Inc.: 1) Operates the volunteer driver program. 2) Developed and maintains the list of transportation resources. 3) Connects older adults to transportation services.
Franklin Regional Council of Governments: Coordinated the program and secured state legislative funding.
Local Health and Social Service Agencies: Partnered to identify client needs and facilitate ride scheduling.
Program contacts: Rachel Fichtenbaum, rachel.fichtenbaum@mass.gov; Ruth Lindsay, SeniorCare Inc., ruth.lindsay@seniorcareinc.org
Have more mobility news that we should be reading and sharing? Let us know! Reach out to Sage Kashner (kashner@ctaa.org).
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