Volunteer Ride Programs for Older Adults

Learn how innovative programs are partnering with a variety of organizations to provide older adults with rides, conversations and kindness! Featuring team members from NV Rides, Village Rides, and Neighbor Ride and referencing The National Volunteer Transportation Center and ITN America. 

Questions Answered in Discussion:

• Could each presenter address how volunteer drivers are vetted. Thanks.
• Do your affiliate organizations offer door through door help or just drop off/pick up service?
• do you serve Prince William County
• do you only offer dr. appointments or grocery store visits or do assist in getting to other quality of life programs ?
• Many Villages have a fee to join.  I work with low income clients who cannot always afford the membership.  Are there scholarships or waived fees for those who cannot afford it?
• Age requirements for your programs? Is there an application process and if so can a third party apply for the client?
• Do the volunteers drive their own cars? If so do you have car standards and how about liability in those cases?
• What lead time do you request/require for the ride request?  We ask for two business days notification.
• Can your volunteers accommodate the frequency of dialysis or chemo/radiation appointments?  How about patients who are wheelchair bound?
• This is great! Could you expand upon what you said about donating car when you no longer drive for health reasons or other reasons, seems you said you give credits for donated cars? Does the organization then do the up keep of the car for rides?
• Remember the Movie Driving Miss Daisey with Morgan Freeman? Do some drivers find themselves in situations where they are offered employment for pay and compensation on a more continuing basis as a driver for the senior or disabled?
• How about wheelchair accessibility?
• Are there programs like this in greater Philladelphia or Baltimore areas?

Chat Transcript: 

12:09:01     From  Wendy Kuhn : Hi Jeanne, can't figure out how to PM you...we are in the MoCo, Bethesda/Chevy Chase/Rockville/Potomac...

12:11:07     From  Jeanne Smith : Thank you Wendy

12:12:19     From  William Clements : Gaithersburg HELP, which I am the director of transportation for is on that map.

12:13:20     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Sourcebook : https://ctaa.org/nvtc-map/

12:14:42     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Sourcebook : https://www.itnamerica.org/about

12:18:54     From  Robyn Hall : Good Afternoon Everyone.  Robyn Hall Service Coordinator with Fairfax County Housing and Community Development. I connect elderly and residents with disabilities and crisis situations under our housing programs to resources and case management.

12:19:07     From  Emily Braley   to   Hosts and panelists : info@nvrides.org

12:19:22     From  Joan Jarvis   to   Hosts and panelists : Are the volunteer drivers vetted?

12:20:36     From  Cele Garrett : Thanks for the shout-out about villages, Steve. We appreciate all that you do to help our movement.  (from Cele from At Home in Alexandria, the village serving the City of Alexandria.)

12:22:39     From  Lori Stahl : Such great information. Thank you. Emily can you please share how we can contact your organization

12:22:47     From  Emily Braley   to   Hosts and panelists : info@nvrides.org- Emily

12:23:08     From  Emily Braley   to   Hosts and panelists : and hi Cele! AHA (and other villages!) are NV Rides partners and provide an important service !

12:23:41     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Sourcebook : From Emily Braley to All Panelists 12:23 PM

info@nvrides.org- Emily

and hi Cele! AHA (and other villages!) are NV Rides partners and provide an important service !

12:24:01     From  Kim Karlinchak : Many Villages have a fee to join.  I work with low income clients who can not always afford the membership.  Are their scholarships or are fees waived for those that can't afford it?

12:24:02     From  Sara Fought : VillageRides supports villages as well as other community organizations that offer volunteer driver services like Help organizations in Montgomery County

12:25:06     From  Joan Jarvis : I am part of Davis Village Network in California…how can I connect with Rhetta & Christina

12:25:14     From  Wendy Kuhn : driving records in all 50 states or just state where they are currently licensed?  do you require copies of insurance, registration and DL?

12:25:25     From  martin Ma : Most medical facilities require a family member to pick someone up after a procedure. Do these ride share groups qualify to provide pickups in these situations

12:26:37     From  Rhetta Vinson   to   Hosts and panelists : If a member cannot afford the fee to join a village  but often there are waivers or scholarships available

12:26:52     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Sourcebook : From Rhetta Vinson to All Panelists 12:26 PM

If a member cannot afford the fee to join a village  but often there are waivers or scholarships available

12:27:47     From  Erin Pickrell : Hi everyone! This is Erin from Griswold Home Care in Bethesda, MD (also trained by Cristina as a Village Volunteer)!

12:27:56     From  Rhetta Vinson   to   Hosts and panelists : For more info on VillageRides contact Rhetta.vinson@accessjca.org 240-290-3313

12:28:49     From  Victoria Hathaway : Victoria Hathaway, directing Bob Lucido Team of KWLA’s seniors real estate program nationally for almost a decade - been driving all the years for Neighbor Ride in Howard County and love it! Legacy to my dad, whose sentinel event was behind the wheel, and in acknowledgement of how important transportation is to our community’s older adults. 410-979-4284, Victoria@BobLucidoTeam.com

12:28:51     From  Jeanne Smith : I used Griswold Home Care West in VA for a ride to and from a medical procedure

12:29:06     From  Laura Voss-Allen   to   Hosts and panelists : How do you handle riders who need assistance getting in and out of the car?  Special training or must he rider be able to get in and out on their own?

12:30:16     From  Erin Pickrell : Amazing, Jeanne! We can of course provide those rides as well if you might need a bit more assurance that someone will be available. We recommend Village Rides all the time.

12:31:08     From  Victoria Hathaway   to   Hosts and panelists : I’m late from a prior meeting, but wish/wonder if there could be discussion about older driver safety, MVA does presentations for consumers, where to drop the flags and get unsafe drivers off the road but also served with these programs.  Huge problem, especially now with the horrific “pandemic” driving.  Bad enough out there that my mom and her BF both gave up driving last year, unsafe.

12:34:07     From  Jennifer Brown : Jennifer Brown - Seabury Care Management - 202-364-0020 - jmbrown@seaburyresources.org

12:35:58     From  Joy Loverde : Thank you. Great info. Sorry I have to leave.

12:37:06     From  Joan Jarvis : Since many volunteers are themselves aging, how do you insure that they are still capable of driving safely?

12:39:02     From  William Clements : I love VillageRides and everyone from JCA and my organization who is a non-profit partner but not a village and their system is a life saver. ]

12:39:42     From  Gregory Cardinal : Hi everyone, the rides program discussed are a wonderful resource  However, if you have clients that cannot get a ride for any reason I provide house call services for podiatry care for people of all ages. Podiatrist in Motion. Dr. Gregory Cardinal. www.podiatristinmotion.com. 703-879-5155!

12:47:42     From  Jennifer FitzGerald : Hi everyone. It is Jennifer from Georgetown Home Care. This is great info! Thanks.

12:49:10     From  Joan Jarvis : How do you recruit volunteer drivers?

12:49:42     From  Jessica Bittner : Jessica Bittner from Partners in Care that provides transportation for the older adults for Washington, Frederick , Anne Arundel and Montgomery Counties in MD.  jessicabittner@partnersincare.org

12:49:59     From  kurt Schneid   to   Hosts and panelists : Great information. Thank you everyone. Keep up the great work!

12:50:03     From  Owen Houghton : As a driver for the Community Volunteer Transportation Company in NH for past two years with passengers masked in the back seat, I am looking forward to return to having my rider up front!  Soon?

12:52:17     From  Shawn Brennan : Do any volunteers accompany riders on paratransit or accessible taxis?

12:53:04     From  Barbara Sperry : Are there programs like these being discussed in PA or MD?

12:55:03     From  Deb Merriner : Is anyone aware of a volunteer ride organization in Prince William County?  We often get requests at Buckley's for rides from this area and don't know any resources, volunteer or otherwise.

12:58:24     From  Laura Voss-Allen   to   Hosts and panelists : Please post in the chat the link for the driver training videos.

12:58:39     From  Laura Voss-Allen   to   Hosts and panelists : Thank you everyone.  This has been wonderful!

12:58:51     From  Emily Braley : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNzPTxG2-SJCaPScxzFEF5w/videos

12:59:21     From  Joan Jarvis : Will you provide a list of contact info for all of the panel members?

12:59:22     From  Rhetta Vinson   to   Hosts and panelists : Videos are at: https://accessjca.org/transportation/villagerides

12:59:31     From  Suzanne Brooks : thanks so much

12:59:39     From  Victoria Hathaway : Wonderful presentation, thanks Steve and panel!!  PLEASE forge ahead into driver safety…

12:59:57     From  Suzanne Brooks : this was vry helpful

12:59:58     From  Laura Voss-Allen   to   Hosts and panelists : Thank you so much!

13:00:01     From  Jeanne Smith : Thanks for the info

13:00:01     From  Frances Brock   to   Hosts and panelists : Can you provide a transcript of program