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The Lowndes County Council on Aging is closing Friday after 54 years of operations. With it, the Dial-A-Bus free transportation service and home-delivered meal programs will also cease.
Dial-A-Bus offers free rides to seniors for their medical appointments and often allows riders to run personal errands. The Dial-A-Bus service has only five riders using the service, while the home-delivered meals program serves eight Lowndes County residents.
The decision to cease operations follows insufficient funding to afford a new location and salary for a new executive director.
What happens now for the few residents who depend on Dial-A-Bus and the home-delivered meal programs? Where can they seek medical transportation? How can they receive prepared meals? How can community members help?
What free medical transportation options are available?
Mississippi Department of Health offers free statewide transportation through the rideshare company Uber for people with an appointment at their county health department. MSDH will also offer free transportation for people to pick up pharmaceutical prescriptions prescribed by that clinic. Requests for rides can be made while scheduling an appointment with the Lowndes County Health Department, or individuals can request a ride up to 30 minutes before an appointment by calling (855) 767-0170.
What medical transportation options are backed by insurance?
Medical Transportation Management offers Non-Emergency Medical Transportation to individuals under some insurance companies like Medicaid and Humana. MTM operates through local companies in Lowndes County – TC Express and Leech and Quality Transportation. Individuals can call their insurance provider to request rides and are advised to call three days in advance of their appointment.
TC Express allows riders backed by insurance to run some personal errands like picking up prescriptions, going to the bank or being dropped off at the airport, TC Express Dispatcher and Administrative Assistant Pam Harris said. They do not provide rides to grocery stores.
TC Express also offers private-pay services for medical transportation, where costs are paid entirely out of pocket. Private-paying individuals can call TC Express directly to request rides. The cost for these services depends on a variety of factors including mileage, total passengers and disability accommodations.
For private-paying individuals, TC Express only offers medical rides, Harris said.
Leech and Quality does not currently have a private pay option, though office manager Shanta Blakney said the company hopes to add this in the future.
How can seniors receive prepared meals?
The Area Agency on Aging offers free home-delivered meals to seniors aged 60 years or older across each of the seven counties in the Golden Triangle Region. Rudy Johnson, executive director for Golden Triangle Planning Development District and director for the area agency, said the group delivers five frozen meals a week to seniors in the area and serves around 328 people in Lowndes County.
Individuals can call or visit the GTPDD’s office in Starkville at 106 Miley Drive to sign up for the meal delivery service.
Loaves and Fishes of Lowndes County provides one free meal to anyone, regardless of age or income, six days a week. These meals can be picked up at 223 22nd St. N. from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
These meals are currently available for pick-up only, though organizer Steve Greenough said that making home deliveries is on his wishlist.
What can community members do to help?
Greenough said that community members can help Loaves and Fishes of Lowndes County toward its goal of serving meals seven days a week with an added home-delivery service by donating to the organization or offering to volunteer.
Community members can make a donation on the organization’s website and can volunteer their services by contacting Greenough at [email protected].
Mayor Keith Gaskin said in the wake of LCCOA’s closure, he is ensuring the city’s community outreach department is contacting local nonprofits.
“From the city standpoint … we need to make sure that everybody is aware of the situation,” Gaskin said. “We need to make sure that the folks that work in community outreach for the city are reaching out to… help find some of the resources for the folks who need help.”
Gaskin said local nonprofits must come together to satisfy the community needs left unfulfilled by LCCOA’s closure.
“We have several good organizations in the city that… are nonprofit functions that should be eager to try to pick up the pieces in that area,” Gaskin said. “We need to make sure that the folks that were depending on (LCCOA) are not left behind.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
