The Senior Advisory Committee met Tuesday, June 15 for its monthly meeting, discussing everything from the Senior Rides program, to the shortage of caregivers on the island, to the beginnings of a return to normalcy.
The Senior Rides program provides transportation services for island seniors free of charge. The service is temporarily suspended for the summer as the van needs some maintenance and a state inspection sticker. During the winter months various taxis help out by providing the transportation, paid by theSAC, but during the summer months the taxis are too busy.Once the SAC van is road-worthy, it will need a driver. Board member Sandra Kelly suggested the driver will probably need a chauffeur license, and will probably expect an hourly wage of at least $25 an hour.To further complicate things, the SAC shares use of the van with the Block Island Early Learning Center. Kelly suggested that it might be August before all these issues could be sorted out, although she left the option open for the service to be suspended until fall. Kelly also said if there was money allocatedin the budget the van could be brought to the mainland for the repairs and sticker.
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