PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A transportation service that several local seniors depend on needs volunteers. 

The Neighborly Senior Care Network said it needs drivers to get seniors to medical appointments and more. 

Sarah Palmer of Pinellas County depends on the service.

What You Need To Know

  • Neighborly volunteers help seniors get to and from their medical appointments 

  • Last year, volunteers did over 700 trips and this year, it's already completed nearly 500

  • Neighborly said it needs more than two dozen volunteers to help with the increase in demand

  • Volunteers must have a vehicle with certain insurance minimums

Most Wednesdays for the last couple of years, Rudy Consoni helps and Sarah Palmer get home from her dialysis appointment.

Consoni knows exactly the kind of help she needs.

“I’ve known her for quite some time,” said Rudy Consoni, a Neighborly volunteer.

Consoni volunteers with the Neighborly Senior Care Network. Once a week, he is driving seniors home from their medical appointments or pharmacy pickups. 

“You're kind of like an Uber driver that way,” Consoni said.

But to Palmer, his service is much more. She has stage four renal failure and has to go to dialysis three times a week. She said her doctor recommended that she doesn’t drive to the appointments.

“I kind of understand why, because I could probably get there, but coming home, you feel like you've been about 10 rounds with Muhammad Ali or somebody,” Palmer said.

Neighborly said last year its volunteers did more than 700 trips. So far, this year, they’ve completed nearly 500 trips. The transportation service said it needs about 25 new volunteers to keep up with the growing demand.

“For many of these people, this is their lifeline, and access to care,” said Neighborly Volunteer Coordinator Hilary Justice.

When Neighborly can’t give a ride via volunteers or its own transportation service, it has to call a taxi service.  

“The nonprofit arena right now, where funding is a bit up in the air, it does cost the agency a lot to resort to a taxi service. So, volunteers are a critical,” Justice said.

Justice also said volunteers do more than a taxi service by making sure seniors are getting the care they need, and that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Sarah.

“He's always there. When he goes on vacation, it's like, 'Oh gosh, I wonder who they're going to send for me today,'” Palmer said.

The program has made such an impact on Palmer’s life, she is putting Neighborly’s transportation program in her will.

“It means an awful lot to me,” she said.

Consoni makes sure she gets in the house safely and then goes to get his next senior.

“It's a good thing to do. It just makes you feel better at the end of the day,” Consoni said.

Going the extra mile with every ride.

If you are looking to volunteer with Neighborly, you must have a vehicle with certain insurance minimums. 

Interested candidates can apply online.