Cracking the transportation bottleneck

In 2010, the Whitehall Senior Center, an activity and meals hub for seniors in Whitehall, was trying to unload a bus and a van it had been using to transport its patrons and residents of a nearby assisted-living home. The Montana Department of Transportation had designated the center that area’s agency to provide state-funded public transportation for seniors and people with disabilities. But the center was finding the state’s reporting system and other requirements too cumbersome.

Dick Gustin, who had been running the program for Whitehall Senior Center, asked Liberty Place, a local nonprofit that houses and rehabilitates people with severe brain injuries, if it wanted to add the two vehicles to its own fleet of three.

“The people we serve have many medical needs which require specialist care, and we have to travel for those services,” explained Liberty Place Executive Director Ann Geiger. “We also have some who are able to have jobs in the community. [Gustin and I] began to talk about the fact that Liberty Place was already doing a lot of driving for residents and … it seemed to make sense for us to join forces.” Liberty Place took over the program in 2011.