County transportation gets a boost
By Christina Beam


Judith Connick of Lake Delton may be a senior citizen by menu or Medicare standards, but she's not about to give up her independence. So when consecutive knee replacements put her out of service in 2005 and 2006, she turned to the Sauk County Commission on Aging for wheels to doctor appointments in Madison and rehab sessions in Baraboo.

Volunteer drivers picked Connick up at home and dropped her off at the doctor's door. She paid 20 cents a mile for each trip — a fraction of what taxi fare would be, she said — and the round-trip, pleasant conversation came at no added cost.

"Public transportation if you're able-bodied isn't affordable, because that's cabs," Connick said. "And it's not like we can go out and catch a bus."

Connick enjoyed and appreciated the trips so much that once her knees recovered and she could get behind the wheel again she became a volunteer driver herself, motoring other Sauk County seniors around in her mid-size SUV.

"I thought it was a good day every time I rode down with somebody," she said. "(The drivers) were pleasant people to be with, and I thought, 'I can fit into that.'"

The model the Commission on Aging uses — with on-demand trips to medical appointments as well as organized group excursions to grocery stores or shopping malls, utilizing volunteer vehicles as well as wheelchair-accessible county buses and vans — is a solid one, said Director Trish Vandre.

But other groups in the county, including the Department of Human Services, Veterans Services, the Healthcare Center and non-profit and volunteer networks, also provide transportation to the elderly and disabled.

Coordinating services is the next step to reaching more rural seniors, Vandre said, a process that will be aided by a $20,000 planning grant awarded by the Department of Transportation last week. County Board members will likely approve a project position to inventory transportation services currently available and come up with a plan to improve them, Vandre said.

"We're hoping that any plan that is developed will help us to stretch resources and service more people, as well as increasing additional services where they're needed," she said.

Currently disabled residents and people age 60 and older can request a ride from home to a destination and back for 20 cents per mile or take an excursion trip to a shopping center or recreational site for a $5 flat fee. The excursion trips always have a cancellation list, Vandre said, and overall use of the transportation program saw a 66 percent increase from 2005 to 2006.

"From what I hear, the services that we have available in Sauk County are unlike any other," said Program Assistant Mary Jane Percy. "To be going for a medical appointment and to be able to take that pressure off of them, I think is the beauty of this program. It's also happening more and more that families are not always in one town, so that alleviates some of the stress for them as well."

James Hedemann of Baraboo, who used the service for medical appointments in Madison and Baraboo before recovering enough to drive himself, said he wouldn't change a thing about the commission's transportation services.

"It's a very necessary service. They try to do everything possible to help you out," he said. "I wouldn't have been able to progress like I have without their service."