Governor Wolf Announces $1.2 Million Federal Grant to Connect Transit and Medical Facilities

Jake Bauer

Jake Bauer

Published September 30, 2016 4:21 am
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HARRISBURG, Pa. – Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary Leslie S. Richards announced yesterday that PennDOT has received a special $1.2 million federal grant from the Rides to Wellness program that will underwrite a pilot program to integrate medical appointments with ride scheduling in Adams, Franklin, and York counties.

“Connecting transit and medical facilities helps reduce missed appointments, which helps medical facilities save money and improves patient access to preventive care,” Governor Wolf said. “PennDOT’s effort along with their partners will yield real results for those in need.”

Pennsylvania received the largest award out of the pool of $7 million available from the Federal Transit Administration and will match the federal dollars with $510,000.00.

“With this investment, we will build on the innovation we released last year with our FindMyRidePA program,” Richards said. “This initiative fits with our mission to pursue new ways to build mobility for the people of Pennsylvania.”

PennDOT will seek a vendor to develop software that will connect medical appointments made at Keystone Health and Family First Health with the FindMyRidePA system. Keystone Health and Family First Health are large community health centers in Adams, Franklin and York counties. rabbitransit of York helped pilot FindMyRidePA and oversees transit in the new pilot area.

The proposed initiative meets the federal Rides to Wellness program goals of providing increased access to care, improving health outcomes and reducing health care costs.

“Transportation is a barrier for many of our patients. FindMyRidePA allows us here at Family First Health and rabbittransit to effectively connect with each patient in need; to increase engagement, provide accessibility to medical appointments, and improve health outcomes,” said Shane Moore, a patient care coordinator at Family First Health.

“rabbittransit is excited to work on a project that focuses on the removal of transportation barriers and provides easier access to health care to help our community achieve its wellness goals,” added Richard Farr, rabbittransit executive director.

With “FindMyRidePA,” users can see detailed routes from whatever points they enter into the system, including bus schedules and walking routes. Users can print out the information in an easy-to-follow format. FindMyRidePA is now available in Adams, Cumberland, Cambria, Dauphin, Franklin, Lebanon and York counties.

Riders can access the system through desktop computers and mobile devices accessing a website, FindMyRidePA.com. The current service area has 1.4 million residents and more than 120,000 veterans and is served by five fixed route transit system and paratransit services and six county shared-ride programs.

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