By Moses Leos III.
With a lack of senior centric mobility options in Hays County, the struggle for Hays County senior citizens to find consistent transportation is real.
A solution to those problems may be on the way via the National Volunteer’s Caregiving Network (NVCN). But acquiring the funding to support what they propose presents some big hurdles.
Started in 1980 as the Faith in Action movement, the NVCN helps facilitate volunteer services among community and government entities.
According to NVCN Executive Director Rhonda Anderson, the primary focus is adequate transportation for seniors, though other services are included.
But securing funding to get the ball rolling is not cheap. According to Anderson, a starting base of $25,000 is the average, though not required.
“To get started, it’s not going to take a huge amount of money,” she said. “It’s going to take vision and heart, and a few fundraisers.”
NVCN reaches out to senior centers, hospitals, local governments and nonprofits to kick-start that fundraising.
The process involves an organization or company taking the initiative to form a leadership core. Next comes volunteer recruitment and training. Volunteers undergo background checks prior to doing any work.
Participating organizations then conduct home visits, inquiring and assessing each senior’s need for transportation help.
Anderson said it takes about a year to get the program up and running.
A pilot study, funded by the Mary Bonner Community Fund from the First Presbyterian Church of San Marcos, is underway.
The goal of the pilot is to secure a steering committee.
Dick Schneider, Onion Creek Senior Citizens Center board member, said transportation issues plague Hays County seniors, particularly since the Capital Area Rural Transportation Service (CARTS) discontinued Buda service in 2013. He said seniors struggle to find rides to the doctor or grocery store.
“It’s kind of a problem with CARTS being gone,” he said.
Gerald Hill, executive director of the Seton Hays Foundation in Kyle, also sees the problem. Seniors rely on family and friends, but cannot find transportation when those options are unavailable.
While Seton Hays has a voucher program, Hill said wait times for their contracted cab company exceed an hour, putting patients at risk.
“We have a number that come to us that have difficulty coming back [for follow-up appointments],” Hill said.
That, he said, could cause a relapse of whatever condition the senior had in the first place.
But the initiative goes beyond transportation. NVCN can expand to provide additional services, such as errands or housework.
Those expanded services also allow seniors to interact with others – something many don’t do regularly.
“Sometimes seniors are just lonely, and loneliness leads to suicide,” Anderson said. “When you’re there for an hour, it’s more than just a friendly visit.”
And while local and county officials are sympathetic to seniors and supportive of the idea, they realize funding options are limited.
Hays County Precinct No. 4 Commissioner Ray Whistenant acknowledged the need for senior centric transportation initiatives. However, Hays County is limited to pointing NVCN in the right direction to funding.
“There’s some opportunity to help on a minor basis,” Whisenant said.
Buda Mayor Todd Ruge also understands the need. However, city governments can only provide nonprofit funding to organizations servicing city residents.
As such, he would like to see a broad range of support from area leaders.
“We need to think not just Buda, not Kyle, but regionally on this,” Ruge said. “I don’t think one entity should be responsible. [NVCN is] going to serve the greater community.”
The prospect is exciting for Schneider.
“I think [it’s] great,” he said. “We recognized we have a need. Now we can start to address it.”
