For seniors, transportation means more than just a ride. It is an invaluable tool for independence. That’s especially true for seniors who live alone, no longer drive or experience mobility challenges. As one senior, Laurel, describes, “You kind of become a little kid again. You can’t go anywhere unless someone takes you.”
Independence is essential to our health and well-being as we age. That’s why Meals on Wheels provides group and individual transportation services. We help make it possible for seniors to go to the grocery store, attend meals and social activities at area senior centers, attend doctor’s appointments and receive medical treatment.
Services are uniquely designed to support a variety of seniors’ needs. A full-time dispatch team manages calls and logistics, arranging routes and tracking vehicles on the road in real time. Drivers are trained to provide door-through-door service with physical assistance, use specialized lift features on vehicles for seniors with wheelchairs and walkers, and provide other accommodations that prioritize safety and comfort. One-hundred percent of the transportation fleet is wheelchair accessible and it includes 12 buses and six minivans.
Mary, a transportation client, has benefitted from these services for the past year. She lives in an apartment building for older adults, and she and her neighbors look out for one another on a daily basis. Many of them do not drive anymore, making transportation so crucial. They take group trips to Kroger together which are facilitated by Meals on Wheels buses. For Mary, there's a social component of these group trips that she appreciates. They keep her connected with her friends and fellow residents—something that's uniquely important for seniors living alone.
Whether it's individual or group transportation, Mary says she appreciates the way Meals on Wheels offers an alternative manner of transport. She has had difficulties relying on cab services, citing a time when the driver left shortly after arriving outside her residence because she didn’t get through the entrance quickly enough. Public transit poses its own challenges, too.
“Catching a bus, you’re with four or five different kinds of people," Mary explains. "With Meals on Wheels, you’re only with people in your age bracket. You all can communicate together and nobody’s looking down their nose because I’ve got the wheelchair or I’m walking with a cane.”
She cites how essential the door-through-door service is for seniors, too. "Meals on Wheels will come to your door and when you walk out, they assist you onto the bus, make sure you're fastened in, and then they ask you how you're doing," Mary says, before emphasizing, "This is important."
Mary receives individual transportation service to and from medical appointments. She sees seven doctors regularly, and Meals on Wheels ensures she can see her cardiologist, nephrologist and sleep analysis specialist—what she calls “the biggies.”
She says the medical transit service allows her to attend appointments without straining her friends’ and family’s schedules. “Most of the seniors do not drive. My son works and cannot just be taking off. My sister works at the school with children. So, we need the medical van. I think it’s a Godsend.”
Learn more about Meals on Wheels' transportation services and connect with our team here.