Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Red Cross shuts down senior transport services
For 30 years, the American Red Cross of Loudoun County provided on-demand, door-to-door emergency transportation services for about 300 veterans and seniors. On June 30, however, the Red Cross had to shut its cars' doors.The organization stopped providing the service due to a budget that could not meet Loudoun's growing community and needs. Not wanting to leave seniors and veterans on the curb, the Red Cross is trying to help Leesburg-based Loudoun Volunteer Caregivers fill the gap.
“This chapter is trying to stabilize and rebuild,” said Christine Birkenstock, director of Loudoun's Red Cross chapter, based in Leesburg. “We've had to make some very difficult decisions. This is certainly one of the toughest.”
Lynn Reid, director of the county's Area Agency on Aging, said this means “one less resource for seniors. It's unfortunate. ... We're trying to come up with a strategy to deal with this.”
Loudoun's senior community centers offer transportation, and some provide door-to-door transport to adult day centers, shopping centers and grocery stores, but “it's not quite what the Red Cross [did],” said Carol Hough, a manager at the Carver Center in Purcellville.
The county also provides on-demand service for medical appointments, but riders must meet income criteria.
The Red Cross was the only transport service in Loudoun able to provide on-demand, curb-to-curb transportation for the elderly and veterans of all income levels.
Among other “quality of life services,” LVC, which serves the entire county, provides medical and non-medical transportation for receivers who are unable to use public transportation, regardless of income levels and age. Its same-day and next-day transportation services, however, are limited to medical emergencies.
Stephanie Foran, director of LVC, said the center already is receiving calls from seniors and doctors who think the organization can immediately take over for the Red Cross, which had paid senior transportation employees. But as a volunteer organization whose volunteers pay for their own gas and often have jobs, the LVC will need time to increase its volunteer base -- something it is already trying to do.
“We very much want to help as many [seniors] as we can ... but we will need to build our volunteer base dramatically,” said Paula Grant, volunteer coordinator at LVC.
The Red Cross is trying to reallocate $90,000 of the money it receives from the county to LVC to help it expand its volunteer base and train volunteers. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the request July 15.
You must be logged in to post a comment.