Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer recently urged the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) to provide approximately $1 million over three years to continue senior transportation programs, allowing seniors use of taxi programs to go food shopping and attend nonemergency medical visits.
Created in 2009 for the town’s nearly 60,000 residents over 60, Project Independence assists aging residents in remaining in their own homes and familiar surroundings.
“Without that transportation option for seniors to go grocery shopping or to get a ride to the doctor, a senior’s whole quality of life can change,” said Bosworth. “It may force them to move from their home and to lose their independence. Imagine, something as simple as a ride to the supermarket meaning the difference between staying in your home and having to move to an assisted living facility. This funding will make such a difference in the quality of life for so many seniors and enable them to continue to be a part of our community, a community that they helped to build.”
The town’s innovative senior initiative, Project Independence (PI), reached a milestone last month as the 10,000th new member signed on to take advantage of the program’s comprehensive array of social services. Project Independence is one of the few programs of its kind in the entire nation, offering members social and recreational programs, community education, volunteer services and transportation for shopping and medical appointments.
For more information about Project Independence or any of its subsidiary programs, please call 311 or visit www.northhempsteadny.gov.
