FRIENDS OF SENIORS OF DUTCHESS COUNTY CORP.

SERVICES:
1. We provide transportation to all medical appointments including doctor appointments, labs, physical therapy, dental appointments, dialysis and surgical procedures.  We start driving at 5:00 a.m. and drive until 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; and from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on some Saturdays, sometimes on Sundays.  We travel to appointments within Dutchess County as well as to medical appointments in Albany, New York City, Connecticut, Orange, Putnam and Westchester counties for those seniors whose doctors have referred them to those locations.

2. We provide assistance with grocery shopping, either for or with a senior depending on the individual's need and preference.  We shop for those individuals who have no other means to get food with the exception in the towns of Dover and Beekman.

3. We provide visiting services.

4. We provide telephone reassurance on an as needed basis.

5. We provide respite for primary caregivers.

6. If Friends of Seniors cannot help an individual, we will do our best to find an agency or organization that has the resources to meet the requested service.

Since we are volunteer-based and since our volunteers drive their own cars, Friends of Seniors needs at least 10 days to two weeks advance notice of your appointment.  We ask that when you make a doctor's appointment to please call Friends of Seniors as soon as possible.  The exception is the Town of Beekman senior citizens who need to give only seven days notice.

Friends of Seniors is not an emergency service.  If you are in need of immediate assistance and/or do have an emergency, please call 9-1-1.

We sometimes need to work with the families in regard transportation needs.

There is no fee for services provided, although many of our clients prefer to donate $5 to $10 each time the client is served.  All donations are tax-deductible.

We do not drive in inclement weather.  It is up the volunteer and the senior, but the rule of thumb is if the schools are closed, so are we.

We are sorry...Friends of Seniors cannot transport people in wheelchairs or on oxygen. Since we all drive our own cars, we are not equipped nor are we medically trained to transfer people in wheelchairs or take people on oxygen.  That said, call us anyway and we will refer you to an organization or an agency that can assist you.

Through a grant provided to us from the Margaret J. Campbell and Dorothy P. Campbell Fund of the Community Foundation of Dutchess County, we do assist people who need rides to dialysis. 

Volunteers cannot provide hands on care, such as personal grooming, transferring to bed to chair, etc.  We are not qualified and therefore cannot administer medication.  We do not provide housekeeping services nor do we do outside chores - no snow shoveling, no mowing the lawn, etc.  We can give you information about where those type services are provided.

Medicaid recipients have medical transportation provided to them through Medicaid; therefore we do not transport people who have Medicaid.  If you are on Medicaid, call your case worker to inquire about obtaining a voucher for medical transportation.  However, if necessary, we do provide shopping services, visiting, respite for primary caregivers and telephone reassurance for Medicaid recipients.


VOLUNTEERS ARE THE BOSS!:
Volunteers are reimbursed for their mileage at .40/mile for a routine medical assignment, .50/mile to take a client to dialysis within the county, and .58/mile if the volunteer drives over 50 miles in one day.  Mileage reimbursement is provided through a grant from The Dyson Foundation. 

Volunteer work is flexible and up to the volunteer. Because of the nature of today's busy world, people who want to volunteer cannot always work within volunteer organizations' time frames. Friends of Seniors believes THE VOLUNTEER IS THE BOSS!

Your volunteer work is based on your availability.  When FoS calls you to assist a senior, if you're available, then arrangements will be made.  Perhaps you have time only to take someone to their medical appointment, but no time to take that person back home.  Friends of Seniors will make arrangements with another volunteer to take the senior back home.  While you're out taking care of your own errands, you can pick up a senior, take him/her to the medical appointment and continue on with your day. Or while your grocery shopping for your own family, you can shop for someone who might not be able to get out to shop for himself or herself.  Or you can drop off the client at his/her appointment, run your own errands and then go back to pick up the client to take him/her home.