Accessible transportation services are vital for enabling older adults to live independently. The vast majority of older adults – nearly 90%, according to AARP – choose to age in place in their homes and communities.
Mystic Valley Elder Services (MVES) provides assistance through the TRIP Metro North program, a free program where seniors and adults living with disabilities can ride with friends, neighbors and certain relatives to wherever they need to go and MVES will provide mileage stipends to that driver. If you are 60 years or over, or an adult living with a disability, don’t drive, and can’t use or access public transportation, TRIP may help you get to stores, medical appointments and any social activities you enjoy. The program is about getting out, staying social and remaining independent.
“TRIP has given me a lot of freedom. It allows me to visit places I might normally have not been able to go,” said Paula of Chelsea. “I am a Jehovah’s Witness, and I’ve been able to get to assemblies in Natick and Lowell, which is important to me.
“This program has given me so much enjoyment to do recreational things, too,” she continues. “Last summer, for instance, my friend Christine and I went to Rockport, ate lobster, and shopped. And this past fall, I went apple picking in New Hampshire.”
For Carlyle, a decorated Vietnam veteran from Medford, enrollment in TRIP has meant getting the medical attention he has needed to deal with heart issues and a prosthetic with a problematic brace. “Sometimes I would need to be at the V.A. (U.S. Veterans’ Administration Medical facilities in West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain) for four hours, and it was critical I get there on time,” he said. Through the TRIP program, he was able to ride there with his neighbor Jim and get the help he needed.
Carlyle has also used TRIP to get to out-of-the-way destinations for shopping. In the warmer weather, he even went to a water park in central Massachusetts. “I needed to treat myself, to enjoy the fresh air and sun,” he said with a laugh. “TRIP is heaven-sent, a really wonderful program.”
The TRIP program’s coordinator, who works with people like Paula to enjoy her interests and Carlyle to make sure he is on time for his appointments, has the capability to work closely–one-on-one–with those who call for assistance setting them up with the right transportation resource.
Interested in learning more about making TRIP work for you? Call our TRIP program coordinator at 781-388-4819 or visit here.