Taxi Saver Program

Lee VonBerg with her 'Hot Wheels'

Recently I was away visiting a family friend who is in her 80’s living in a retirement village. This friend has mobility challenges that do not allow her to walk very far. As a result, she has a motorized scooter to enable her to get down to the dining room and participate in activities outside of her apartment. After a few days of observing her use of the scooter, I decided that it would be beneficial for me have some product knowledge and a test drive was in order. Test-driving which took on the form of me racing my dad down the hall brought the neighbors out to check out what all the ruckus was about. This experience not only showed me how the technology of motorized scooter can turn on a dime but how important it is to have a tool to assist in your mobility which opens your world to new experiences.

Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS) Volunteer Driving program under the umbrella of the existing program “Helping Hand” is a tool that can come in handy for many people in need of mobility support. The program offers individuals who are unable to get to appointments or do essential errands due to injury or limited mobility a door to door ride with a friendly volunteer. This is an excellent program that uses local resources to solve a big challenge for an individual who is unable to manage local transit due to mobility challenges. Unfortunately there are times that volunteer match cannot be made and that individual in need misses their appointment. After advocating to the RMOW to have a safety net in place to support the individuals that can’t be matched to volunteers due to scheduling conflicts, Emma DalSanto (RMOW) and myself (WCSS) were able to create a pilot project called “Taxi Saver Program”. This program will be co-funded as a pilot project for one year by WCSS and RMOW and the cost will be split 50/50. The Taxi Saver Program will be coordinated by WCSS in the following manner:

The individual will request a Helping Hand volunteer driver and the WCSS coordinator will put a call out to the Helping Hand volunteers. If the individual in need is unable to use the public transit and is financially restricted (their MSP is paid for) the coordinator will then contact Resort Cabs to set up a taxi to drive the individual to their appointment and back home. An example of a situation that would warrant accessing this support is during the winter an elderly person who uses a walker is unable to get to the bus stop six blocks from her door and therefore stops attending important medical appointments. After calling the Helping Hand Coordinator and going through a simple intake process, the coordinator discovers that the senior is financially restricted so paying a taxi fare is not an option. After putting out a request to the list of volunteers, the coordinator is unable to make a match. The alternative is to use the Taxi Saver Program and the senior is able to access a medical appointment. There are many other applicable situations and anyone interested in learning more is encouraged to contact Melissa Deller, 604-902-0865, helpinghand@mywcss.org. After coordinating the Helping Hand program for 6 years WCSS is proud to have an alternative option for individuals who risk missing important appointments due to lack of transportation and are thankful for the RMOW’s cooperation on the project.