Last year, Help At Your Door made more than 42,000 personal interactions with our clients. While visiting the homes of the seniors we serve, we often receive snippets of their lives – growing families, memorable adventures, and celebrated milestones captured and shared in pictures and stories. Some are inspiring, others are cautionary tales, and there are those that make us grateful for the sacrifices made on our behalf. Below is a glimpse into the life of one of our transportation clients, Mary.
As a retired, critical-care, registered nurse who spent twenty-four years working within the State of Minnesota’s Department of Human Services in the Aging and Adult Services Division, Mary knows a thing or two about the services and support that is available to seniors. In fact, she was part of the discussion of how to best help individuals age in place and assisted with the development of a repository of resources for seniors across the state known as the Senior LinkAge Line®.
Due to a recent surgery, Mary needed regular rides to her physical therapy appointments. Usually her brother would driver her, but sometimes he had prior commitments that conflicted with the appointments. Together, Mary and her brother searched for other resources. Her brother suggested, “Just call Uber,” but Mary did not feel comfortable with that option.
“I was hesitant about having someone come to my door that I did not know at all,” Mary reflected. “Reliability and safety are very difficult [to come by] in this day and age. It’s hard to trust because you just never know what you are going to get.”
She thought, “How could I solve this problem?”
Mary reached out to her old stomping grounds. “My thinking was that organizations listed in the Senior LinkAge Line® were part of a group that the State of Minnesota had become knowledgeable about and that made me feel much more secure.”
After receiving information about Help At Your Door from the assistance phone service, Mary contacted us: “They [Help At Your Door] just fit what I needed – a ride back and forth to my appointments.”
She signed up as a Help At Your Door client and her first ride was a success: “The driver helped me into the car and into the facility. He waited for me and brought me home. He was kind and professional and very congenial. And the assurance of safety, being on time, and knowing that I can get where I need to and accomplish my goals as far as physical therapy were very important to me. Truly what more can a person ask for.”
As luck would have it, her driver had previously worked for the Department of Human Services at the same time as Mary did. They knew the structure of the department and other people that worked there, making conversation easy and enjoyable.
When asked about any words of wisdom that she may have to share, Mary replied, “Spreading kindness is about the best thing that you can do – one person at a time and the people that I’ve met from Help At Your Door are very good examples of that.”
And for those considering supporting Help At Your Door, Mary had this to say, “It is a vital community activity that gives people who are in need of services an option and really the point of it is aging in place – being able to stay in their home and being able to access services for tasks that are sometimes challenging as we get older. Family isn’t always available to give a hand and this service is reliable.”
If you or a loved one is in need of a secure and reliable transportation like Mary was, please call 651-642-1892 or Request a Service online.
