Partnership is Critical to Support Family Caregivers 

The National Aging and Disability Transportation Center (NADTC) is uniquely positioned to facilitate the collaboration and partnership needed to bridge family caregiver support, dementia services, and transportation services. Previous webinars and blog posts have provided introductions and key considerations for transportation providers to better identify and understand the needs of family caregivers, including 5 Tips for Providing Transportation to Family Caregivers – NADTC, that identified specific ways to make transportation access easier for family caregivers.

In 2022, the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers identified the need for transportation providers to play an active part in the system of support for family caregivers. Partnership between transportation providers, dementia services and caregiver support programs are critical to mitigating systemic barriers in transportation for family caregivers. These collaborations at all levels—from community to systemic—lend themselves to innovative service delivery, leveraging funding, and reducing barriers for all.  

Innovative Partnership Example: Drivers and Transportation Escorts 

For an example of this type of partnership, we look to our colleagues at USAging and the Alzheimer’s Association that lead the Center for Dementia Respite Innovation. The (CDRI) funds innovative respite projects, for caregivers of people living with dementia, which can include expansion of existing transportation components within their respite programs. One of the 2024 CDRI grant recipients, The New Jewish Home Life Care of Manhattan, is a non-profit agency providing a range of healthcare services for older adults, including adult day programs. As part of their CDRI project, their program extended hours and days of service to better meet the needs of family caregivers and individuals living with dementia. Part of their service delivery model includes transportation services provided through contracts with private transportation providers, while transportation escorts are home health aides employed by The New Jewish Home’s home care agency. The transportation escorts provide door-to-door assistance that includes companionship, monitoring medical issues, and addressing any behavior-related concerns that may arise during the ride.  

Drivers and transportation escorts are provided weekly electronic schedules that detail pick-up preferences, assistive devices, as well as other notes about individual riders’ needs. Together, the drivers and transportation escorts are a team that assure safe access to The New Jewish Home’s services.  

Alignment with the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers  

Partnerships such as this move forward the goals of the National Strategy to Support Caregivers and are of mutual benefit to transportation providers because:  

• It improves ride safety. Drivers have additional peace of mind that if a safety issue arises with a rider with a cognitive impairment or medical issue, there is another professional on board that can intervene.  
• It can establish new funding sources for transportation providers.  
• Creating person-centered approaches like transportation escorts create a safer and more accessible transportation system for everyone as we age.  

Dementia Friendly Information Sessions and Rider Assessments  

Another example of meaningful partnership between transportation providers and caregiver support programming is through Dementia Friends information sessions. These are sessions hosted through Dementia Friends USA trainers that help community members and agencies, like transportation providers, better understand dementia and how to support people living dementia on a daily basis.  

As part of their work through Dementia Friendly Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Centralina Area Agency on Aging and Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, provided training for Mecklenburg Transportation System (MTS) one of the county’s largest transportation providers. Drivers and other staff in attendance learned valuable tips and practical strategies for supporting riders that have dementia and provided resources on dementia to share with their riders and caregivers. In addition, the Dementia Friendly Charlotte-Mecklenburg team conducted an environmental assessment of one of their vans. These assessments, like those provided to MTS, are often included with dementia-friendly initiatives and can be a helpful component of transportation planning and collaboration.   

Overall, creating safe and supportive experiences for people living with dementia and their caregivers can be beneficial for local transportation providers by: 

• Identifying and addressing potential safety issues and identifying agencies in the community that can help.  
• Building trust and increasing rider satisfaction. 
• Identifying barriers to service and coordinating long-term solutions with planning and grant opportunities. 

Photo courtesy of Dementia-Friendly Charlotte Mecklenburg. 

Additional Resources in Development 

Resources to support partnership development between transportation providers, caregiver support, and dementia-friendly initiatives on the horizon include:  

• Caregiver Action Guides from the Innovations in Family Caregiver Services and Supports Initiatives (coming later in 2025)  
• A dedicated Transportation Sector Guide that builds on the guidance in the existing Sector Guides – Dementia Friendly America. 
• Multisector plans for aging (MPA’s) that align policies to provide quality, innovative care models and supportive services for older adults, family caregivers, and people living with dementia. Both transportation and caregiving have been consistently identified as priority issues in many current plans. 

This blog was written by Laura Jane Ward-Strunin, Program Manager for the NADTC.