ABSTRACT
Older adults in rural areas often lack access to transportation available in cities, suburbs, and large towns. Distances between destinations, like hospitals and shopping centers, may be 50 or 100 miles away. The consolidation of consumer goods and social services to distant and urban communities makes accessing health-care services, medications, healthy food, and other necessities more time-consuming and expensive for rural populations. Volunteerism is one solution to transportation-related employment challenges; volunteer transportation programs can help close the gap by transporting older adults who can no longer drive, at the same time that they offer meaningful volunteer opportunities for those who can drive safely. Agencies like Envida in Colorado take this a step further by combining transportation with home care and hiring drivers who “do more than drive” by assisting people inside their homes. Although sometimes overlooked, older adults themselves should be included in transportation planning; they often provide the best first-hand insight into what is truly needed.
