HAMILTON COUNTY—Primelife Enrichment Center is a popular place for seniors in Hamilton County. The non-profit organization’s goal is help seniors live an active independent life. They do so by focusing on social determinants of health.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the non-profit organization had around 250 members, now they have more than 525. One of their most in-demand services is transportation. For seniors like Teresa Coccaro the transportation has been life changing as are the friends she has made at the center.
"I would probably be at home debilitating you know slowly getting worse,” Coccaro said.
Coccaro has Ataxia, which hinders her ability to walk making transportation a challenge. She rides a scooter and says trying to order a ride through apps like Uber or Lift doesn’t really work for someone that is handicapped.
" To call an Uber most Ubers show up and they don't have handicap accessible,” Coccaro said.
Primelife has seven wheelchair-accessible minivans plus two small transit buses, with an increase need though, comes an increased costs and it’s impacting the nonprofits bottom line.
“The senior population here in Hamilton county is the fastest growing demographic in the county,” Gary Wagner the Executive Director of the PrimeLife Enrichment Center said. “It's also the fastest growing demographic in the state. "
Previously the non-profit organization provided around 500 rides a month, but now they have been giving about 1,000 and that’s cutting into their bottom line.
"We usually will show an operating deficit of somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-70 thousand dollars and unfortunately that's going up while some of our funding sources decreased,” Wagner said.
The nonprofit receives funding from three main contributors, CICOA Aging & In-Home Solutions, Hamilton County and United Way. Right now, they aren't limiting the number of rides they are providing but they do have a wait list and are in need of more vehicles.
That's why they are hoping the county or other stakeholders will step up to help financially, especially as demand for their services continue to grow.
"It would be a very difficult decision for me if I had to choose between everything we do here at the enrichment center and our transportation program because I consider them both to be very critical to what we are trying to accomplish,” Wagner said.
The organization says they have a meeting with IU Health soon and they are hopeful that they, will be willing to help with their cause. For more details about the organization click here.
