With the cancellation of bus routes throughout East Pierce County, seniors have been one of the groups most affected by the change, leaving many stranded for rides when they used to visit the center, or even worse: unable to get to medical appointments.
“They’re stuck at home now,” Bonney Lake Senior Center Director Sue Hilberg said.
For many seniors, visits to the center are a primary social activity as well as access to a nutritious lunch.
“Studies show they live longer,” Hilberg said of seniors who get out of their houses more often. “It’s an important part of life.”
But without Pierce Transit services, many found their normal routines in jeopardy.
“We didn’t have a way of getting up here,” said Jeanne Frazier, a Sumner resident who regularly comes to the Bonney Lake Senior Center to play bingo with a group of friends.
Until two weeks ago, the group took the 408 up the hill, but when the bus stopped rolling, the ladies were stranded. Frazier said the loss of their regular bingo games would leave a “big void” in the lives of the women.
Eveleyn Wright, another member of the group, said the isolation would leave to depression, which is why she needs the social interaction. Wright also said she did not think it was fair that Pierce Transit has cut them out of the loop while still making sure to collect sales tax on their purchases.
“Everybody buys food and that pays sales tax that supports Pierce Transit and they … cut us out,” Wright said.
To help, Hilberg said the center has started to use its van to run a special route down the hill once a week to bring the ladies to bingo.
“We have kind of filled in the gap,” she said. “If we don;t go get them, who’s going to?”
But while social interaction is important, Hilberg is more concerned about seniors who now have to forego important appointments.
“Unfortunately we can’t fill the gap for medical services,” she said. “We’ve heard a lot of buzz about not being able to get to medical appointments.”
Senior Center Aide Phil DeLeo, who drives the van, said he has fielded multiple calls asking if the van can take them to an appointment. And while they would get them from time to time in the past, the numbers have “dramatically increased” since bus service was eliminated.
Hilberg said one of the women who regularly attended the center used the bus to get to kidney dialysis and now has trouble getting to and from appointments.
Several seniors who still drive have begun picking up friends and are helping to get them to appointments, but a plan to create a ride board to help meet the need ran into problems regarding liability.
Quinn Dahlstrom, a longtime city resident and candidate for city council, earlier this year began looking into voluntarily driving her fellow seniors to medical appointments, but was warned against it by her insurance company.
“It was just to help these people because they don’t have a way there now,” Dahlstrom said this past week.
However, Dahlstrom said her insurance agent told her she could drive friends, but creating a ride board and inviting strangers would leave her open to lawsuits and advised her to drop the issue, which Dahlstrom said she reluctantly did, though she recognizes the importance of mobility in her life and the lives of other senior citizens.
“It means they lose these lives,” Dahlstrom said about not being able to get to the senior center. “I have to put myself in their shoes because one of these days I’m going to be there.”
It’s a message not lost on the ladies who travel up from Sumner for the companionship and bingo games at the Bonney Lake Senior Center.
“It isn’t necessary we come to bingo,” said Shirley Morgan, who called it a connection to life and excitement, “but it’s almost as important as medicine.”
