BRICK – Elisa Foley, 76, recently moved in with her sister, who drives her to her dialysis treatments three times a week, with each session lasting 3.5 hours.
“She gets up at the crack of dawn to take me, but she can’t take me home because she works,” Foley said.
A new township service that transports seniors to and/or from their dialysis treatments has been “lifesaving” to Foley, she said, because she is on Social Security and can’t afford to take an Uber home three times a week.
For five years, Foley has needed the procedure – which removes waste products and excess fluid from the blood – due to kidney failure as the result of diabetes. She has her license but can’t drive since the diabetes has also impaired her vision.
The Senior Dialysis Transportation Service provides Brick residents ages 60 and over with door-to-door transportation. The shuttle bus is wheelchair-accessible and even has a specially trained aide to provide assistance to the patients who have mobility issues.
Senior Services Director Zulma Soto said the department has been providing transportation services to seniors in Brick for the past seven years.
A shuttle bus takes seniors food shopping, to programs at the Senior Center and to medical appointments, but with only two buses, they could not fulfill requests for dialysis because of the frequent treatment schedule.
Last year the department provided seniors with more than 6,000 rides, she said.
“I’ve been in communication with the social workers at our two existing dialysis centers who also have expressed the need for this life-sustaining service,” Soto said.
The shuttle service is specifically geared for seniors who can’t drive, who don’t have family members and/or friends who could drive them, and who don’t qualify for financial assistance that would pay for taxis or other public transportation services.
One group gets their dialysis treatment on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and another group goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (there is no dialysis treatment on Saturdays).
“We started this program slowly to address any challenges we encounter and to ensure its success,” Soto said.
“We are trying to accommodate everyone that has requested the transportation,” she added. “There are some other resources, but they are expensive, so our goal was to be able to provide transportation to those who didn’t have any other resources and give some relief to the caregiver, and also to the individual.”
The transportation program is supported in part by federal funding secured by Senator Cory Booker and Congressman Andy Kim in the 2023 government funding bills.
“We were fortunate to have the grant given to us and we were able to buy a bus,” Soto said. “We will evaluate and see if the need is larger, and then we’ll move forward and see what else we can add.”
Anyone wishing to utilize the dialysis shuttle should call Senior Services at least two days in advance of an appointment. Seating is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Call 732-920-8686 for more information.
