Panel seeks help for Trumbull seniors
Concerns about liability have risen from groups that used to provide rides.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CHAMPION -- Kathryn Barreca doesn't get around much.
"The only place I go is to the doctors," said the 96-year-old from her room at Clearview Lantern Suites, an assisted-living facility on West Champion Avenue off state Route 45.
Although she has hearing loss and arthritis, Barreca said she would be helped by dependable transportation at a reasonable fee. Her daughter, in her 70s, has difficulty transporting her.
Their dilemma highlights the need for senior transportation in Trumbull County.
Elissa Sandberg, Clearview administrator, understands the problem. Many of her 56 residents' friends and family who could provide rides spend half of their time in Florida and are not available. The average age of her residents is 82.
Transportation for this population, Sandberg said, "is important. There is a need."
What's needed
Although a physician regularly visits Clearview, rides are needed if its residents must go to the hospital, have blood or dental work, receive eye care or go to a Veterans Administration facility.
Like Barreca's daughter, many times people can't get their parents into a car because of the physical limitations of both, Sandberg explained.
She used to provide free transportation, but cost became a factor; she now charges 9 for a two-way ride. The price of gasoline has increased, and a man she has driving residents is not always available. She noted nursing aides charge 14 to 17 for a two-way ride with a two-to-four-hour minimum, plus mileage.
Since passage in November 2005 of a county senior citizens levy, members of the Trumbull County Senior Services Advisory Council's transportation committee have been working on the issue. The committee is soliciting proposals to provide countywide service.
One of those who will most likely make a proposal is the Niles-Trumbull Transit System operated by the city of Niles. Communities that are part of the system are Niles, Liberty, Cortland, Howland and McDonald. They had been paying 1 per resident to Niles-Trumbull Transit.
Niles-Trumbull Transit provides one-way rides to seniors in those communities for 2 for curb-to-curb service to other member communities; 4 for those in a participating community to a nonparticipating community; and 8 per for those living in a nonmember community to anywhere in the county.
Intending to join
To encourage other communities to join, Niles-Trumbull Transit has offered to drop its membership fee from 1 to 50 cents per resident. Because of this, Warren, Girard, Lordstown, Bazetta, Newton Falls and Weathersfield have given their intent to join, explained Mark Hess, Niles development coordinator who runs the transit system.
Hess said if Niles-Trumbull Transit doesn't get the countywide contract, the communities participating in membership will revert to 1.
The problem is that the county wants to provide seniors with one-way rides to any part of the county for a 2 fare.
Hess said the Niles system is studying if the 2 fare for on-demand curb-to-curb service to those over age 60 is feasible. The amount of federal funds for transportation that Niles-Trumbull Transit will receive is another factor.
The Niles-Trumbull system, Hess explained, is a "turn-key operation," meaning it has a contract with Community Bus Services Inc. of Youngstown to provide the buses and operate them.
Tom Harwood, chairman of the advisory council's transportation committee, and Donald J. Medd, executive director of District XI Area Agency on Aging Inc., agree that politics is one reason there isn't a countywide demand-response system in operation although the senior levy was passed in 2005.
Medd explained that transportation providers caused much of the holdup early on because they didn't want to lose any of their customers, or revenue.
Concerned about liability
Harwood and Medd noted another issue creating a greater need for senior transportation is liability concerns of social services agencies and churches, who no longer offer rides because of the possibility of an accident.
Harwood pointed out that his committee did a lot of research to determine what other communities, including as far away as Arizona, had done -- adding to the lengthy process.
Helping to solve the transportation problem of the elderly "sets the stage" for service to younger residents with disabilities, Medd said.
"Transportation keeps people mobile," Harwood said, noting that those in need of rides who are under 60 and have disabilities won't be forgotten.
Harwood pointed out that although there is 460,000 available from the levy for transportation; another 150,000 made available from the county commissioners may continue to be allocated to take care of the needs for younger people with disabilities.
The transportation committee isn't concerned that there will be a lack of bids for transportation contracts, Harwood said, because the committee has met with six transportation providers and knows what they can offer.
yovich@vindy.com