Getting Around Program
Alternatives for Seniors Who No Longer Drive
Center for Healthy Aging, Santa Monica, CA
Introduction
In July 2003, a fatal accident involving a senior driver at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market served as a tragic wake up call about aging and driving issues. The story received major attention from the media, senior service providers, caregiving groups, transportation programs, and families.
In response, the Center for Healthy Aging (CHA), a private nonprofit organization that serves older adults and their families on the west side of Los Angeles, submitted a proposal to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety to develop the project “Getting Around: Alternatives for Seniors Who No Longer Drive. The project’s goal is to offer public education that raises awareness of driving and aging issues. It also encourages people to start thinking about how they can remain mobile if they can no longer drive. The initiative’s unique focus is on individual and family responsibility with support from local community government.
Goals
To achieve its goals, CHA is focusing on two key components:
Producing multimedia public education materials, including a video for national broadcast and an interactive website.
Implementing a countywide pilot project that provides support and transportation resources for individuals who voluntarily or involuntarily stop driving.
CHA hopes that combining these two components will provide a double impact by simultaneously raising awareness and offering local support and assistance.
The video will be released and shown on PBS stations in October and November. CHA staff members expect the broadcast to have an immediate impact as a public education vehicle because it will reach a large audience all at once.
The pilot project has been developed and is currently operational in selected areas of Los Angeles County. It is intended to serve as a model for communities nationwide. Community outreach activities are essential to motivating PBS stations to broadcast the video. Affiliates are most interested in airing shows when there is community involvement.
Approach
In an effort to address real-life driving crisis situations, CHA chose to test the feasibility and effectiveness of using a trained volunteer network to respond to older drivers who risk losing their licenses or whose licenses have been revoked. Because Los Angeles County is so large, the center chose to work with the DMV Office of Driver Safety, which serves a large portion of the county. CHA combined its volunteer identification and recruitment efforts with other senior related organizations in the area.
In addition, CHA has established a local steering committee made up of representatives from city and county Agencies on Aging, the DMV Office of Driver Safety, law enforcement, the City Attorneys Office, Adult Protective Services, and other organizations that serve this population. Committee members have made recommendations about which organizations had the capability to identify volunteers and to provide a project staff liaison.
Each of these organizations agreed to join the Getting Around program and send at least two volunteers and one staff member to the training. They also agreed to produce a booklet of local transportation resources to be distributed in their communities.
CHA staff developed the training materials, which included curriculum that teaches volunteers how to:
deal with someone in a crisis,
actively listen over the telephone and in person,
provide basic counseling,
prepare a transportation plan, and
offer information about local resources.
The training program also included speakers from the DMV, law enforcement, and a geriatric physician who provided a medical perspective. Volunteers and staff from eight senior organizations from different parts of LA County received one full day of training for four consecutive weeks.
An existing statewide 800-number is the programs first line of response. City and county information and referral staff participated in the training program because they are often the initial point of contact.
Callers are directly connected to the Los Angeles city or county area Agency on Aging based on their area code and phone number. They then are given the phone number of their local Getting Around site or can be transferred directly in some circumstances.
During regular business hours, the trained volunteers provide support, counseling, and resource referrals either on the phone or in person. Callers can speak to the same counselor on multiple occasions depending on their needs. In addition to the 800-number, referrals can also come from community organizations, the DMV, law enforcement, and more.
Progress
Since the project began each of the eight sites have produced a user-friendly, updateable booklet of local transportation resources. The volunteers respond to calls in a timely manner and collect information on each case.
Every site has also been asked to market the program on the local level by mentioning it in all of their printed material and on their website, and by discussing it at local networking meetings.
Many of the initial calls were from people who had lost their licenses and wanted assistance with appealing the DMVs decision. Others came from adult children who were concerned about a parents driving behavior and wanted to talk about these issues with the counselor. These people also wanted resources and ideas about how to get parents to retire from driving.
The project has raised community awareness about senior driving issues. More people are talking about the need for a variety of transportation resources. They are also planning for the time when they are unable to drive. The fact that most people outlive their ability to drive by 7-10 years has not been discussed prior to this projects establishment.
CHA has received two additional grants for its work with older drivers. The S. Mark Taper Foundation has provided funding to develop a curriculum and offer a class that educates adult children on how to discuss retiring from driving with their parents. The focus of the class is on being proactive rather than reactive during a crisis.
The Archstone Foundation is funding a planning grant to replicate a successful transportation model used in Portland, Maine. This ITN model uses volunteer drivers to provide on-demand, door-to-door service to a frail senior population who are unable to use other forms of transportation. ITN Santa Monica should be able to begin providing services in early 2006.
Lessons Learned
In retrospect, CHA believes it should have developed an MOU with the DMV Office of Driver Safety to enable them to make direct referrals to the Getting Around sites. Because the DMV is a state agency it is unable to make direct referrals to a community-based organization. Instead, the DMV agreed to pilot a direct referral system once a protocol is developed that allows them to obtain a signed release of information from the older customer.
CHA also believes it should have prepared all program marketing materials in advance of the volunteer training. In the generic material the statewide 800-number is used, but on the local level the direct phone number of the local site can substituted. The outreach material for law enforcement was also important and should have been available for roll call training in the months before the project began.
Contact Information
Nicole Kaplan, V.P. Programs & Services
Center for Healthy Aging
n.kaplan@centerforhealthyaging.org
(310) 576-2554, Ext. 239
Santa Monica, California
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