Trumbull sees rise in transport requests from disabled seniors

Two agencies discovered a higher-than-expected need for senior citizen rides.

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — Disabled senior citizens are requiring more transportation than predicted but not as many meals.

For that reason, the Trumbull County commissioners this week approved a transfer of about $100,000 in seniors levy money from one account within the Trumbull County Office of Elderly Affairs to another of the agency’s accounts.

Gary Engstrom, director of the Office of Elderly Affairs, said his agency predicted in early 2007 that senior citizens with disabilities, such as those in wheelchairs or using a cane, would use around 250 rides per month.

But nearly two years later, the office is providing closer to 700 per month.

Engstrom said the cost to the agency of providing the additional rides used up most of the $98,000 in contingency levy money the agency had to start the year.

One reason so many seniors chose the Office of Elderly Affairs rides was that gas prices skyrocketed for a time, Engstrom said. Even seniors with their own vehicles chose to take rides because of the cost of using their own vehicle, he said.

The price to seniors didn’t rise despite the increased fuel cost. The cost remained at $2 each way.

Engstrom said 92 percent of the rides were for medical appointments, pharmacy trips or groceries.

“As the population gets older, there will be more people who can’t drive or won’t drive or shouldn’t drive,” Engstrom said.

In contrast to the increase in rides, the agency predicted it would have a need for about 405 home-delivered meals per day, but the actual demand turned out to be around 225.

County commissioners also allocated about $39,000 more in senior citizens levy money for 2009 for the Trumbull Community Action Program to provide rides for out-of-county medical rides to senior citizens.

That agency determined that it had a need for about 250 such rides per month instead of the 142 it had estimated earlier.

Both funding adjustments were recommended by the Senior Services Advisory Council, one of the agencies that oversees spending for the $1.5 million per year raised by the 0.75-mill countywide levy approved by voters in November of 2005.