Older adults have been sheltering at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, but are still in need of access to medical appointments, pharmacies and grocery stores, as well as rides to vaccination sites.
Senior Ride Nashville is actively recruiting volunteer drivers who want to help provide transportation to these valuable members of the community.
Older adults have been sheltering at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, but are still in need of access to medical appointments, pharmacies and grocery stores, as well as rides to vaccination sites.
Senior Ride Nashville is actively recruiting volunteer drivers who want to help provide transportation to these valuable members of the community.
By Alexandra Koehn via New Channel 5
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — More volunteers are desperately needed to drive home-bound seniors around Nashville.
Senior Ride Nashville provides rides to older adults in West Nashville, Madison, Donelson, Hermitage, Old Hickory, and East Nashville. They hope to expand to all of Davidson County. We did a story with the nonprofit in 2018 where rider 'Molly' said the program was life-changing.
With 10,000 people turning 65 every day in the United States, Senior Ride Nashville is doing everything they can to increase volunteer capacity to keep up with demand
Currently, Senior Ride Nashville has 15-20 seniors on the wait list and more are enrolling every month
Elderly folks generally need rides to medical appointments and grocery stores
The program helps reduce social isolation
By Mary McWIlliams via the Tennessee Register
A lift to a doctor’s appointment becomes more than a ride from point A to point B when it fires interest in neighbors, develops relationships, and offers an often-neglected part of the community a chance to feel independent.
Senior Ride Nashville, a non-profit launched in 2017 in Bellevue, has an immediate purpose of providing low cost rides, provided by volunteer drivers, to seniors in Davidson County. But the by-products have been friendships and freedom.
FERRIER FILES: Senior Ride Nashville gives elders who gave up driving a new alternative
By Dennis Ferrier via Fox 17 Nashville
John Hutcheson is constantly driving Jo Lemaire to run errands.
On Monday, it was the doctor. Tuesday, it’s the beauty shop and Kroger.
One might guess John is Jo's son. The ages are right and the relationship is personal right down to doctor's visits.
Senior Ride Nashville Prevents Isolation, Connects Riders & Drivers
By Melanie Kilgore-Hill via Nashville Medical News
Social isolation is an increasingly common challenge for seniors nationwide. Getting to doctor's appointments, accessing nutritious foods and simply engaging with others is particularly difficult for those who no longer drive or who do not have easy access to transportation.
By Joseph Coughlin via Forbes
Last month Britain's Prince Philip collided his Land Rover with another vehicle resulting in a rollover. The accident produced at least two surprises. The first was that the 97-year old Royal was not injured and, second, that he was at the wheel at all.
While there is no clear scientific evidence that reveals how old is too old to drive, 97-years old is old enough to stimulate a public discussion about hanging up the keys. And, indeed, three weeks after the accident, Prince Philip surrendered his driver’s license.
By Janet Morrissey via the New York Times
As America’s baby boomers are hitting 65 at a rate of 10,000 a day, and healthier lifestyles are keeping them in their homes longer, demand is escalating for a little talked-about — yet critical — health care-related job: Transporting people to and from nonemergency medical appointments.
“It’s going to become a massive phenomena,” said Ken Dychtwald, founder and chief executive of Age Wave, a consulting firm specializing in age-related issues. “This is an unmet need that’s going to be in the tens of millions of people.”
By Metro for Transit & Motorcoach Business
A new national poll finds older adults and people with disabilities feel there is a lack of accessible and reliable transportation alternatives, which prevents them from doing the things they need and want to do, which leaves them feeling frustrated, isolated, and trapped.
By Dylan Aycock via The Rover
Senior Ride Nashville is a non-profit organization launched in November 2017 to improve the quality of lives within the city’s aging community.
Within one year, the volunteer-powered transportation service has grown from its Bellevue roots to include all of West Nashville, Donelson, Old Hickory, Hermitage, and, beginning this month, East Nashville.
Via The Green Hills News
While Tennessee residents aged 65 years and older account for nearly 20 percent of the voting-eligible population in the state, it is difficult for many older residents to vote in elections—for the simple fact that they are unable to drive themselves to their polling locations. One non-profit organization is here to help. Senior Ride Nashville, a new community program that pairs older adults who no longer drive with volunteers who do, finds it important that their riders are able to vote on Election Day or vote early if they so choose.
By Carrie Brumfield via The Tennessean
Imagine for a moment that you are now unable to drive after a lifetime of independence. How might you feel if you could no longer go to the places you want or need and see the people you want?
As you may have found in this thought experiment, not being able to drive is not just a logistical problem—it can negatively impact a person’s health and happiness. When combined with the necessity of depending on others, our aging population must endure negative repercussions to their everyday lives and to their psychological health.
By Joe Morris via Nashville Ledger
There’s no getting around the fact that Tennessee’s senior citizens are having trouble getting around.
Not simply in terms of physical mobility; a decrease in that happens to most everyone as they age. The problem facing Tennessee, especially in its rural communities, is a lack of transportation options for the aging and elderly, especially those who live alone.
By Sarah McCarthy via NewsChannel5
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A new nonprofit organization is implementing a creative solution to help a select population get around in a city that has yet to agree on a mass transit plan.
Senior Ride Nashville launched in November to connect volunteer drivers with elderly people who no longer drive.
"It's a blessing from heaven that I have this service from people who care about people like me," said rider and Madison resident Celia Bolarte.
Though Senior Ride Nashville (SRN), a local nonprofit dedicated to providing affordable and assisted transportation to older adults in the Nashville community, has only two and a half full time staff members, the team becomes much larger when considering the Belmont students who have become actively engaged in the organization’s mission. Launched just six months ago in late 2017, SRN has provided more than 800 trips for nearly 90 riders throughout the West Nashville and Madison communities. Looking forward, the team plans to be county-wide by 2020.
By Linda Bryant via The Nashville Ledger
Consider it a warning sign: By the year 2031, the number of elderly drivers – persons 70 and over – is predicted to triple in the United States, according to the consumer website www.SmartMotorist.com. It means there’s going to be a large increase of older drivers on the road.
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