Grants support medical, senior shuttle services in Alle-Kiski Valley area

Free rides for seniors and a medical shuttle to UPMC facilities in the Alle-Kiski Valley area are among the services being funded with nearly $625,000 in grants from the St. Margaret Foundation.

Of that amount, nearly $260,000 is going to shuttle services.

“The stress of hearing bad news regarding your health is difficult enough without having to worry if you’ll have a ride to your chemotherapy, money for your medication, or the ability to fill your insulin prescription,” foundation President Mary Lee Gannon said.

“Transportation is a key need for people with health challenges who are under-resourced,” she said. “The best health care in the world won’t help you if you can’t get to it.”

The largest single grant, $200,000, is supporting a new home for the New Kensington Family Health Center, which is moving out of city hall to a new building at 1080 Fifth Ave. It’s expected to open in spring 2021.

The free shuttle services include:

• A “Free Rides for Seniors” shuttle in partnership with North Hills Community Outreach provides medical transportation to able-bodied seniors age 60 and over living in Brackenridge, Cheswick, Etna, Harrison, Millvale, Oakmont, Springdale, Tarentum and Verona. The shuttle stops at several senior living facilities in those communities and provides transportation to and from UPMC St. Margaret, UPMC Harmar Outpatient Center, UPMC Natrona Heights, UPMC Renaissance Family Practice, Dr. Singh and Associates and other UPMC doctors’ offices along the route.

• Also in partnership with North Hills Community Outreach, another “Free Rides for Seniors” shuttle transports any senior who lives within its driving area from Blawnox to Sharpsburg and from Route 28 to the Allegheny River. It includes stops at grocery stores, the Waterworks, pharmacies, doctors’ offices, and hospitals in the area.

North Hills Community Outreach can be reached at 412-449-0151.

• A free medical shuttle in partnership with Family Services of Western Pennsylvania provides residents of any age with free, nonemergency medical transportation service to and from St. Margaret’s Hospital, UPMC primary care doctors’ offices and other UPMC diagnostic centers in Arnold, Brackenridge, East Deer, Harrison, Lower Burrell, New Kensington, Tarentum and West Deer. Family Services can be reached at 724-889-0029.

• The foundation sponsors a wheelchair-accessible van service. The van is stationed at St. Margaret Hospital during the day on weekdays to help with transportation to a nursing facility or home. Arrangements are made through UPMC St. Margaret’s care management department.