Today was the last trip for the Jewish Home vans that transport some 30 elderly participants to and from a day-care program at the Silver Avenue center.
The move, spurred by budget cuts, left some families scrambling to find alternative transportation for their frail relatives enrolled in the senior residence’s weekday activities.
“As of Monday, my mother has no way of getting there,” said Don Surath, whose 86-year-old mother, Rose, goes twice weekly to the program.
Surath and the relatives of others enrolled in the program speculated that some participants would wind up sitting at home. They also feared that the popular program might be ended altogether if enrollment dips too low.
“Everyone in the group is trying very hard to keep the program alive,” said Ari Kushner, the grandson of 95-year-old participant Esther Smith.
Kushner described the five-hour program as, “kind of her sustenance.”
Surath said he can’t take his mother to the day-care, which runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., because he has a full-time job in Oakland. “Probably half the group is not going to be able to get there,” he added.
Previously, Jewish Home officials said 22 of 30 participants had hoped to stay on with the program, which dates back to the 1960s.
In a meeting earlier this month with distressed relatives, Daniel Ruth, the center’s chief executive officer, said he would try to extend the shuttle service for two more months to give families a chance to make other arrangements.
But Ruth said recently that “a number of” laid-off workers had since made other plans. “We’ve done the best we can,” he said.
Relatives said the Home had agreed to reduce fees by $15 daily through May to compensate for the loss of transportation.
The end of the shuttle service is part of an overall cost-cutting move. Citing the expense and liability risk, Ruth said, “We’ve made a fundamental decision that we’re not going to be in the adult day transportation service.”
Overall, seven staff members, ranging from drivers to a nurse and social service worker, are losing their jobs.
But Ruth said the program, which costs about $350,000, is included in the budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
“We’re trying to preserve a program that’s high quality and we continue to work with the family members of participants,” Ruth said.
The future of that program could change, Ruth acknowledged, depending on the size of state budget reductions and the number of participants staying on.
In addition, Ruth said, “we are no longer actively marketing the program,” asserting that previous outreach efforts had been unsuccessful. “What we have is a declining census,” he said. “There are other alternatives out there.”
But Kushner said his 95-year-old grandmother isn’t particularly interested in starting a new program at her age.
“She’s too old to say, ‘OK, I’m going to meet a whole new group of people,'” he said.
Like Surath, Kushner isn’t sure whether he can find another shuttle service right away. “The way it stands now is we’re kind of rushing and scrambling,” he said. “We’re not going to be able to get her there consistently on our own.”
Surath said it’s possible that his mother can ride a paratransit van. But because that service only has a driver and lacks an assistant to help escort passengers on and off the van, “it’s taking a little bit of a chance,” he said. His mother uses a walker.
For other participants who are demented or more frail, that arrangement may not work.
Surath was angered at the way the shuttle service was ended. “It was so shortsighted to announce out of the clear blue sky, ‘We’re going to do this on March 28’ and not take into account anything.”
Relatives, who have been meeting with different transportation firms, planned to meet again today to try to resolve the issue.