Sunday, May 12, 2024

Hello to everyone within the great and growing Million Dollar Transportation Community!  I hope this message finds you all doing well, in good health, and that business is booming!

So why am I writing to you today?  To share with you a great article that is headline news in our local paper (The Press & Sun-Bulletin) today.  The article is on the front page, top billing, with the second half of the article posted a few pages in.  I went online to www.pressconnect.com to download the article, but for some reason I can only download half the article. 

Regardless, I'm sure you'll get the gist and you'll also agree that the title alone sums up everything a transportation entrepreneur wants to hear.  The title is "Seniors face mounting transportation woes."  Now you just can't beat a top billing like that to support the need for your medical transportation business!

I share this article with you because if you're community is anything like ours, I guarantee that you too have great money-making opportunities right in your own back yard!  You can also download save the article for future reference directly from www.pressconnects.com. 

And if you don't believe me, that this is a serious money-making industry, just ask Carlos Banks from North Carolina.

Carlos purchased the Million Dollar ecourse, the Million Dollar DVD Series, Dispatching Made Easy, and is a contributing member of MDTVIP.com.  I just got off the phone with him this past week and he personally gave me permission to tell all of you that if you don't think this information is for real, then just call him and he'll set you straight!

To date, Carlos has been in business for nine months and he's already generated in excess of $130,000 in sales - almost all of it by himself!  Carlos left his job at UPS to start his own medical transportation company and not only is he too busy to talk long, but he's already in the processes of signing an exclusive transportation contract with a local nursing facility.

Like many others, Carlos is listed on our MDTVIP.com Business Network. 

So as you read the enclosed article I encourage you to think of where Carlos was nine months ago and then consider his growing success now.  This article is just one of many indicators that illustrate that there is a lasting and growing need for our industry.

Life's short. Live Free!

See you at the Top!
Joel E. Davis
(607) 343-3690

www.milliondollartransportation.com
www.mdtvip.com
www.dispatchingmadeeasy.com
www.mdtseminar.com

Seniors face mounting transportation woes
Report recommends more funding to provide services
By Tom Wilber
Press & Sun-Bulletin

Eighty years old and widowed, Willie Callan was abruptly cut off from the world she loved when she lost her license due to failing vision.

With treatment for related clinical depression, and help from her family, church and agencies to get around, Callan is adjusting to a new life as a dependent person.

"It's losing your independence. I don't think there is anything worse than that," said Callan, a Binghamton resident, now 84.

As hard as it is for Callan, others lacking a support group suffer even more when age-related infirmity --dementia, failing senses or frailty -- robs them of the fundamental freedom to go where they want when they want to.

A recent report from the Aging Futures Partnership -- a privately funded planning project -- states the problem is getting too little attention, and recommends more funding and education to address it.

"We do not plan for this change or acknowledge the cost involved with supporting other transportation options," stated a summary of the report by Aging Futures staff.

According to the report:

* Women, on average, live 10 years longer than they are able to drive. Men typically live eight years after they lose their license.

* Reduced mobility increases a person's likelihood of poor health, isolation, loneliness and depression.

* A large percentage of seniors -- some instances more than half of survey respondents -- are unaware of services available to help them. They also are less likely to adapt to other forms of public transportation if they haven't regularly used them before they stopped driving.

Figures are not available to pinpoint how many people in the Southern Tier are affected by the problem, but it extends well beyond those who can't drive. Working family members shoulder additional stress when they suddenly become responsible for getting dependent relatives to and from appointments, adult day care, social engagements and shopping.

The report recommends finding dedicated funding sources for senior transportation, encouraging health care providers to take more ownership in the problem, and educating the general public about available services.

Joan Sprague, a project assistant with Aging Futures, said there is "no easy fix." But solutions begin with awareness and education, and a cultural shift that embraces mass transit. "Let's start thinking about it now," she said. "We've got to begin educating ourselves, especially those of us who are baby boomers."

As medical advances continue to extend life expectancy, the problem is likely to get more pronounced, especially in the Southern Tier. As of 2000, 16.4 percent of Broome County's population was older than 65. That compares to 12.9 percent for the state and 12.4 percent for the nation.

Various programs offered by agencies, care providers and volunteers offer some help, but not enough to go around, according to advocates and agency officials.

Four days a week, Callan -- who lives alone -- takes a bus provided by the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program from the Binghamton senior center, where she has lunch and sees friends. She relies on family members to help her shop and get to appointments, and church volunteers to get to church.

In recent years, RSVP has added a second bus and expanded its service to five days a week to help meet demand, said Tammy Hodges, director of the federally funded agency sponsored by Catholic Charities.

But the service, which operates door-to-door service to adult day care and senior centers, does not operate outside of the core urban areas. Other providers help fill some of the need, Hodges said, but unlike RSVP, they do not all offer door-to-door service.

"The needs are not being met by us or volunteers," Hodges said. "For many of these people, (including those who suffer from dementia) it's unsafe for them to get to the curb, if they can get to the curb."