IslandRides is a game changer

by Liz, Melba and Anne

We’ve heard it many times: It’s the little things that make life zesty. From my 40-year career in the aging field, I found, as I helped families find the best care and services for their relatives as they got older, it was often the small things — pets, friends’ visits, hearing from grandkids, getting the garbage emptied —that kept them on an even, happy keel.

Easier said than done!

Today at age 76, I know what I should do to enjoy my last years — but I don’t always do them. Good nutrition and exercise — two of the most important ingredients of healthy aging — are incredibly easy to let slide. I have an abundance of excuses. Lucky for me, I also have IslandRides — a low cost, electric car and driver non-profit that takes me where I need to go on the island. IslandRides is a game changer.

My favorite exercise is creaky yoga, but getting to class — with its long uphill walk and me without a car —became too much, so now my neighbor, Melba, and I take IslandRides there twice a week. I can get groceries easily, thanks to IslandRides that takes me to the store when I call. A friend who lives miles from the Village has IslandRides pick up and deliver groceries to her door. I can get to the library, visit friends, arrange meet-ups for lunch. Not even the rain is an excuse now.

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Small, rural communities like Lopez rarely have the array of services that make life easier for older people in larger cities. We are so fortunate to have IslandRides — with its friendly drivers (well, except for one), punctual and easy scheduling, clean cars, and bon homie that make our island just a bit nicer as we age.