{"id":21321,"date":"2022-12-28T01:38:50","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T06:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=21321"},"modified":"2022-12-28T03:59:57","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T08:59:57","slug":"brick-will-offer-new-senior-dialysis-transportation-funded-by-federal-omnibus-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2022\/12\/brick-will-offer-new-senior-dialysis-transportation-funded-by-federal-omnibus-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Brick Will Offer New Senior Dialysis Transportation, Funded by Federal Omnibus Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

A handicap-accessible bus. (File Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

For some senior citizens in Brick Township, life-saving dialysis treatments come with a conundrum: how to get to the office.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur needs assessment for Brick Township\u2019s seniors had this as our number one need,\u201d said Joanne Bergin, the township\u2019s business administrator. \u201cWe meet a lot of their basic needs, like food, companionship, assistance with getting to doctors\u2019 appointments \u2013 but we could never do dialysis because of the enormous amount of time involved in that. It was like we could only<\/em> do dialysis or everything but<\/em> dialysis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The need for transportation to treatment was highlighted after Brick, through a grant process, was able to purchase its small fleet of Senior Shuttle buses. While the shuttles have grown exceedingly popular with seniors, the hours involved in receiving dialysis treatments just wasn\u2019t a feasible option, though the need was clear. This led Bergin and her colleagues to develop a business plan in hopes of catching the attention of a higher-placed government agency that could fund such an effort.<\/p>\n

The federal omnibus spending bill, expected to be signed shortly by President Joe Biden, includes that funding. The program was included in the bill by U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-3), who will represent Brick Township until the new year, when the congressional district shifts to U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4).<\/p>\n

The $250,000 included in the bill will fund the purchase of two new dedicated shuttles for dialysis transportation, drivers and a medical aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince dialysis treatment schedules are multiple times throughout the week and of significant duration, the current system of transportation in the Township and County cannot accommodate rides to the dialysis treatment centers,\u201d Kim\u2019s office said in an e-mail. \u201cThis leaves many seniors struggling to access life-sustaining medical treatment for their chronic condition. This program will provide a reliable service to safely transport seniors in our community to and from the medical care they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bergin said seniors who cannot drive were missing crucial treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of seniors need to go for six hours, but they can only go for three because they can\u2019t get a ride at the right time,\u201d she said. \u201cSo some people were not getting treatment at all, while others were not getting sufficient treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bergin\u2019s office coordinated with dialysis providers in town to ensure that the shuttle schedules will be able to accommodate patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be the first town in Ocean County to do this,\u201d said Bergin. \u201cWe got a ton of support from Senior Services, from the county and Congressman Kim\u2019s office. We\u2019re really excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the federal measure is signed into law, Brick officials will seek bids to purchase two buses \u2013 one for the north side of town and one for the south side \u2013 and begin the service once the vehicles arrive and drivers are hired.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For some senior citizens in Brick Township, life-saving dialysis treatments come with a conundrum: how to get to the office. \u201cOur needs assessment for Brick Township\u2019s seniors had this as our number one need,\u201d said Joanne Bergin, the township\u2019s business administrator. \u201cWe meet a lot of their basic needs, like food, companionship, assistance with getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"#Brick #NJ Will Offer New Senior #Dialysis Transportation, Funded by Federal #Omnibus Bill","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,4853,4484,1529],"class_list":["post-21321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-dialysis-transportation","tag-featured","tag-senior-citizens"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/22-passenger-shuttle-bus-handicap-rental-st.-louis-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-5xT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}