New Salem’s Med-Ride program is a shining example of neighbors helping neighbors with the aid of tax dollars.
The program offers free transportation to medical and dental appointments for eligible elderly residents of the town. The drivers are local volunteers who use their own vehicles and get some mileage reimbursement through the local Council on Aging from the state government.
“The Med-Ride program is designed to promote the health and well-being of our community by providing transportation to medical and dental appointments for New Salem residents age 55 and older who are unable to drive or have no means of transportation,” according the New Salem Council on Aging, which facilitates the new program.
The service isn’t a free taxi service for everyone. There are guidelines for eligibility and the extent of service the drivers will provide. Riders must be ambulatory, for example, but may have an assistant, friend or person of their choice ride with them, if they would rather not go alone.
Volunteers, screened and scheduled by the Council on Aging, are matched with riders, and use their personal vehicles to pick up riders at home, bring them to appointments, wait during the appointment, and drive them home — unless prior arrangements are made.
The program — funded by the state Executive Office of Elder Affairs — is strictly for medical and dental appointments, but drivers may stop at pharmacies to allow riders to purchase prescriptions after their appointments.
Transportation to appointments is provided to Amherst, Athol, Gardner, Greenfield, Northampton, Springfield and Worcester.
Those interested in receiving transportation through Med-Ride contact the Council on Aging two weeks in advance. While the Council on Aging promises to make every effort to fulfill requests, matches cannot be guaranteed.
A countywide Med-Ride program for residents over 60 needing to leave Franklin County for medical appointments also exists through the Franklin Regional Transit Authority. But the Med-Ride program sounds like a much more economical use of tax dollars to provide this service to our senior citizens. For New Salem’s elders, the new program is likely to be a great relief and time saver as they try to get to appointments outside of their town, and the system is more closely tailored to their personal needs.
If this service works as envisioned, perhaps other towns in the region could provide the same help to the many seniors in their communities who otherwise would find it difficult and expensive to get where they need to be.