Health & Fitness
Mission Viejo City steps up to take care of their seniors
Mission Viejo provides senior citizens transportation to the Norman P. Murray Community Center to have lunch with their friends and try out their dance moves.
In January 2013 the Orange County Transportation Authority granted the city of Mission Viejo $50,000 through June 30 and approximately $100,000 annually through June 30, 2016 to fund senior transportation according to Kelly Doyle, Director of Recreation and Community Services.
Mission Viejo City also approved a contractual agreement with Age Well Senior Services, Inc. to transport senior citizens to lunch at the Norman P. Murray Community Center as much as three to five times a week; as well as contracted with California Yellow Cab to almost double the Senior Citizen Dial-A-Taxi transportation service.
Age Well Senior Services is a non-profit organization, federally funded through the Title III – B Nutrition program including the Meals on Wheels program, a home-based, food-delivery service for seniors unable to leave their homes.
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According to Hazel Fenn, Site Manager for Age Well Senior Services, these resources provide a free or very nominal fee cab ride for Mission Viejo seniors to and from the Norman P. Murray on a daily basis. Seniors claim that these services are life-saving.
Take Mary Williams born Oct. 27, 1911 – this year she turns 101 years old. Mary is driven to and from the community center on a daily basis in her wheelchair, and her health is good enough to make many envious. In fact, the only problem she has is a little loss of hearing.
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Mary loves to see her friends at the center and she says with a wry smile, “they come and go, but I’m still here.”
Mary was born in North Dakota and travelled to California “at the same time Pearl Harbor happened.” She can’t remember the year was 1941, but she said, “I always wanted to come to California ... it had a romantic name.”
Mary worked as a surgical medical secretary at Loma Linda Medical School, a registered medical records administrator and a consultant before retiring at 68 and she says, “I knew doctors all over the world.”
Now Mary enjoys reading at the community center, watching a little TV and having lunch which she claims probably helps her health because ”I only eat half of the meat that they serve here.”
The senior Dial-A-Taxi program, funded by the OCTA Senior Mobility Program, provides curb-to-curb cab service seven days a week, 24 hours a day, using easy-access sedans and “cab wait” service for seniors to run quick errands.
The new City agreements almost double the current Dial-A-Taxi services providing a lot more service for seniors while saving the city approximately $40,000 annually.
The authorized age for a resident was lowered to 60 years and seniors must be self-sufficient, require basic transportation and not require medical therapy. Seniors must reside in Orange County and can call 949 855-9766 to apply.
The Norman P. Murray Community Center gives seniors a chance to volunteer for work that makes them feel productive and engaged.
For the past 14 years, Alice Green, 83, has taken a free cab to the center at least three times a week to volunteer as an administrator at the front desk. She answers phones to take reservations, checks people into events and even acts as a caller for the Bingo and Bunko games.
Green has “handicapped hips” and uses a walker for balance and is helped by the driver who provides a ramp for her to access the cab.
“I enjoy working and volunteering,” Green said. Without the free transportation provided by the seniors program, “I would be stuck in the house alone.”
Marian Santanello, 83, agrees. She was born in Brooklyn and maintains her wicked sense of humor. Santanello followed family to California in 1972 and lost her Italian husband in 1982. “He didn’t eat his spinach,” Santanello says. “I did.”
Santanello can’t say enough about the senior transportation program that allows her to come to the community center a few times a week. “I am so happy to have it. It’s beneficial to me because I am very low income. Otherwise I’d be stuck at home looking at the walls, saying a lot of bad words.”
Santanello has worked many jobs in her life and calls herself a “Jack of all Trades.” The jobs included being a cosmetician, drug clerk, waitress and working at JC Penney for 12 years in the fine jewellery department. She says her favourite part “was the pay check.”
Kidding aside, Santanello says the transportation program is “the best thing to happen in a residential area where people can’t get out.” Santanello has two sons, five grandkids and three great grandkids.
Although she says she loves being with her family, Santanello believes it also important to have “something different to do every day.” She volunteers to set tables for lunch and clean up afterward and is grateful for the transportation program that allows that to happen.