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Welcome to the August 2017 issue of MassMobility! Read on to learn about efforts to improve senior mobility in the Berkshires, a well-attended discussion about safe senior driving on the North Shore, upcoming events and opportunities, and more news about community transportation, human service transportation coordination, and mobility management in Massachusetts.
This newsletter is compiled by MassMobility, an initiative of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, with support from MassDOT.
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Save the date for next year's conference!
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In order to better integrate mobility management with other transportation initiatives, the 2018 Massachusetts Community Transportation Coordination Conference will be held in conjunction with the Innovation and Tech Transfer Conference, scheduled for April 10 and 11 at the DCU Center in Worcester. An entire track will be devoted to mobility management, with panels and breakout sessions on topics relevant to improving mobility and access for seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income commuters in Massachusetts. Attendees will also have access to many general conference sessions on emerging technologies and other innovations.
Check out materials from the 2017 conference to get a sense of what types of sessions we'll be offering, and let us know if you have suggestions for what you'd like to see on the 2018 agenda.
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Funding opportunity for healthcare transportation
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The National Center for Mobility Management (NCMM) is offering grants of up to $30,000 to teams to use a Design Thinking approach to plan or design impactful and sustainable solutions to healthcare challenges. NCMM is holding a webinar to provide more information on September 5, and applications are due October 5. Learn more.
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Berkshire County works to improve senior mobility
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MassDOT awards contract for travel training workshops
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MassDOT has awarded a contract to the
Kennedy Center of Connecticut to provide introductory and intermediate workshops on
travel training. The goal is to help transit authorities, human service agencies, and educators offer high-quality travel instruction to people with disabilities, seniors, and others across Massachusetts.
The Kennedy Center previously held the contract for these workshops. When the contract ended, MassDOT issued a call for proposals, and an evaluation committee selected the Kennedy Center's proposal.
Travel trainers who participate in the Massachusetts Travel Instruction Network (MATIN) provided the original inspiration for this workshop series.
Anyone who is interested in attending a workshop on how to provide travel training should contact us to join the MATIN email list for announcements of upcoming sessions.
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Driving retirement forum draws large crowd in Beverly
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On August 8, the Beverly Council on Aging hosted "Driving Decisions: Supporting Older Drivers and Their Families" delivered by Greater Lynn Senior Services (GLSS) as part of the "Conversations for Caring" workshop series. Ninety-seven individuals attended the training, representing a variety of service settings including health care, elder services, veterans' services, addiction counseling, housing, law enforcement, colleges/universities, and rehab services.
The day's presenters focused on the challenges that arise with older adults and driving, from the age-related impairments and medical conditions that can prevent one from being fit to drive, to the role that various entities can play in having the tough conversation about driving retirement. The first speaker was Michele Ellicks, Community Outreach Coordinator at the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV), who touched on the role that the RMV can play and resources available to the public.
Kathy Fabiszewski, PhD, RN, CS, Gerontological Nurse Practitioner with Atrius Care, and Deborah Shih, MD, Internal Medicine Chief at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, spoke next about medical conditions that impact one's driving ability, from impairments caused by medications or disease to those that result from the normal aging process. They also touched on the role of the health care provider when it comes to evaluating one's ability to drive from the perspectives of preventative care, risk stratification, and legal/ethical obligations.
The final speaker was Lissa Robins Kapust, MSW, LICSW, DriveWise Coordinator. DriveWise at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center offers an evaluation of driving performance for those with cognitive or motor impairments that could compromise driving ability. Because age in of itself does not predict one's driving ability, this tool can be utilized to objectively evaluate a family member or consumer's driving ability.
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Transportation helps seniors age in place in West Springfield
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The Rideshare Company of Bloomfield, CT gives people the transportation they need to stay home. The Rideshare Company's
easy fleet program is partnering with
Mercy LIFE, located in West Springfield, MA.
This Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is a Medicare model that provides everything a senior needs to stay living at home and avoid nursing home placement. This includes transportation for day center attendance and medical appointments with the help of easy fleet accessible vehicles.
Transportation is one of the program components most appreciated by these participants and their caregivers. One major reason is that Mercy LIFE employs their own drivers so the participants benefit from flexibility in their transportation schedules. Their drivers, who are familiar with each participant, give them the attention and patience they need and deserve. This includes door
-to
-door service, not just curb
-to
-curb rides.
This also provides security. If a scheduled participant is a "no show," the drivers alert the team of health care professionals for a quick response necessary to ensure the participant is safe at home and not in need of help. This coordinated approach
with reliable vehicles and drivers provides participants with exceptional care and understanding of their needs.
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Reader perspective: a picturesque region poses challenges for residents who cannot drive
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I live in North Central Massachusetts. For those readers trying to place our towns, we are beyond Metro West, even beyond the Central Massachusetts towns of Leominster and Fitchburg.
On the other side though, if you reach Greenfield you have gone too far. We are not part of the West or the East, we are somewhere in the middle, a bunch of exits which people often pass on the way to Greenfield, North Adams, or even the Berkshires.
If you do take a detour off of one of those exits, you will find the friendly bustling cities of Gardner, Athol, and Orange. In between these places reside the smallest of small villages often housing a population of no more of several thousand residents. These beautiful small-town New England villages have sprawling green commons and long winding country roads framed by bucolic beauty on either side.
These geographically sprawling country towns also face unique challenges that the casual observer might not take note of. Challenges for both cash strapped towns and the elderly and disabled unable to drive.
These tiny towns are the very picture postcards of New England, yet unless it is pointed out a person may not notice, that there are no malls, grocery stores, or medical facilities there. These services are available in nearby city or towns, but to access them, you have to be able to get there.
There are also no large employers in these little boroughs. Thus these towns do not have a large business tax base that the towns east or west of them have. Priorities are carefully weighed as each tax dollar spent, to provide the most basic of services, is precious.
Those beautiful winding country roads that visitors enjoy seeing, do not have sidewalks and often sprawl for multiple miles before a bus stop appears. In the winter these same pathways become narrower and even more difficult to walk.
As beautiful as our towns are the reality of our situation requires residents to travel east or west. Even children raised here often follow employment to other parts of the state or country, leaving a number of citizens who continue to stay in town, aging without access to transportation.
Here, when the possibility of not being able to drive raises its head, it is balanced with the practicality of how does a person get to the store, medical appointments, and a hundred other places they need to get to.
I
f we are serious about safe driving, for the elderly and disabled, we need to give those who willingly pull themselves off the road, and the towns they live in, no matter their size, a fiscally practical public transportation option. Not just for the elderly and disabled but for every citizen of the state.
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COA conference offers transportation sessions
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The agenda for this year's Massachusetts Association of Councils on Aging (MCOA) Conference - to be held October 18-20 in Danvers - includes many transportation-related sessions. Over the course of the three days, MassDOT, MassMobility, TRIPPS, Uber, and AAA will be offering workshops on various aspects of transportation.
The conference also offers some sessions related to vehicles. On October 18, Seon will offer a video surveillance workshop, and Q'Straint/Sure-Lok will offer a workshop on wheelchair securement. Shepard Brothers, which offers training on paratransit vehicles, will be exhibiting on October 19.
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Study senior transportation
Promote environmentally-conscious transportation
Celebrate
National Drive Electric Week
from September 9 to 17.
Find events
near you.
Barnstable
and
Natick
are using electric vehicles as part of their Council on Aging transportation services. Do you have a story about how electric vehicles are helping transport seniors, people with disabilities, or low-income commuters in your city or town?
Let us know
!
One week later on September 22, we celebrate
World Car-Free Day - or more locally, the Massachusetts Clean Commute Challenge. Employers that partner with MassRIDES can sign up to participate in the challenge, and whichever employers record the highest percentages of employees taking transit, carpooling or vanpooling, telecommuting, walking, or biking to work on September 22 can win prizes. Visit
MassRIDES for more information on the Clean Commute Challenge. And as a reminder, anyone who lives or works in Massachusetts can always record trips on
NuRide for a chance to win coupons and discounts.
The annual
Moving Together conference is coming up September 28. Join MassDOT for a day of healthy transportation, full of information about walking, biking, and transit.
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Enter a contest - or two!
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MassDOT's annual Safe Streets, Smart Trips contest is now open! Massachusetts high school students have until September 22 to submit one-minute video clips promoting safety for bicyclists and pedestrians. Check out the
contest guidelines and
view past winning videos. Winners will be featured at this year's
Moving Together conference on September 28.
The Northeast Arc
and the
John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
want your ideas to identify innovative concepts to help positively disrupt the system to improve the lives of persons with intellectual disabilities and/or autism and their families. Entries can be related to transportation or any other issue affecting people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism. Apply by September 29 for a chance to win up to $200,000. Check out the details and apply.
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Follow us on Twitter
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| Are you on Twitter? If so, follow us @MassMobility for links to community transportation resources relevant to organizations and agencies here in Massachusetts. If you aren't on Twitter, you can still see our posts online at twitter.com/MassMobility/. |
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We want to know your stories
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| If you have suggestions for news items or topics to cover in future newsletters, please contact us or submit a guest article. Comments, questions, and feedback are also welcome. |
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Please share this newsletter
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| Please forward this newsletter widely to others who are interested in mobility management, community transportation, or related topics and encourage them to subscribe to receive future newsletters and publications. You can also read past issues of all MassMobility newsletters. |
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