STAYinTV began in January providing services to seniors living in Tellico Village who were unable to drive a vehicle to allow them the opportunity to remain in their own homes without being forced to live elsewhere with family or in an assisted living facility.
Village residents Chris Garner and Linda Kaump started the STAYinTV organization in 2009 upon realizing the Village continuously lost residents not because they wanted to necessarily relocate but because they needed resources the area could not provide them as they got older, Garner said.
“That’s what the purpose of the (STAYinTV) Rides Program is, is just to provide rides to those who are either uncomfortable driving to where they want to go or need to go or they just physically can’t do it anymore,” Garner said.
The group first formed a resource guide for residents and then began holding three to four expos each year for businesses listed in the booklet to visit with the Villagers one-on-one.
The organization then formed a resource called the Road Map to help Villagers prepare for lifestyle changes as they age, and volunteers initiated a home maintenance program to help fix minor household repairs for seniors.
The organization created the Rides Program, which began taking rider requests in January, Garner said.
“I have glaucoma ... so I can’t drive much outside the Village,” Martha Wiers Strange, a rider, said. “To me, it was a godsend. I have to rely on someone else for things like doctors appointments. I just think there are many people with physical disabilities who need help who are in the same condition that I am or similar.”
The Rides Program provides transportation to doctors appointments or for other tasks upon request. Garner said STAYinTV uses a nationwide computer system to schedule rides. The system allows the organization to track appointments and mileage as to reimburse volunteer drivers, Garner said.
Garner said the first step in forming the program was recruiting volunteers who undergo “training” to drive those requesting assistance. Garner said the group currently utilizes 12 drivers, but four others have been trained and will join in the summer.
Since the beginning of the year, the program has had just two riders, but Garner expects the number to rise much higher as STAYinTV gets the word out to its target audience.
“I’m really confident that once we start getting a few and getting word of mouth going, that we’ll be fine,” Garner said. “And we had a group from the Community Church out there ... had a meeting yesterday (Tuesday) of about 50 people that are the people that have lost a spouse. ... We gave them all a copy of our brochure. ... We got a good reception from them.”
Garner plans to continue sending out brochures and posting on Nextdoor.com and in the Tellico Village Property Owners Association Tell-E-Grams, but he said he thinks most of the people who need the program’s assistance may not be technologically savvy. Garner said he may place information packets in the mailboxes of residents who moved into the Village before 2000.
STAYinTV surveyed residents who moved into the Village before 2000 about a year ago, and the results showed 25 percent of those residents living in single family households, Garner said.
“I look at all of those as being a candidate (for the program),” he said. “All it takes is a sprained ankle, a pulled back, a twisted shoulder or something, and you can’t drive and you don’t have a spouse to turn around and say, ‘Hey, I need a ride to the doctor.’ And you can go to the neighbor or somebody from church or that kind of thing, but I see that we’ve got a potential out there of having an awful lot (of program candidates).”
Garner said the organization modeled the program after a similar one in Blount County, and he hopes to stretch the Village’s Riders Program to the entire county eventually. Garner said the Tellico Village Rides Program is basically a “pilot for the Loudon County system program.”
STAYinTV has already discussed the possibility of bringing the program countywide to Loudon County officials. Garner said county officials seemed to want their program to include the county, whereas the current Village program drives riders as far as West Knoxville.
“(The county Rides Program) will have at least five areas,” Garner said. “We’ll have a Lenoir City area, Loudon city area, probably Philadelphia, Greenback.”
STAYinTV will likely kick off the program one area at a time, Garner said. The organization plans to work alongside area churches and nursing homes to spread knowledge of the program across the county.
The current program remains available to just Villagers, but driving prices differ between main Villagers and Kahite residents.
To participate, Garner said to call 865-458-7085 to request a welcome package for the Rides Program, which comes complete with necessary forms. After completing forms, riders must pay a $50 fee. The fee covers enrollment and $40 worth of rides.
Cost of rides vary depending on distance from the pick-up location to the appointment.
Trips within the Village cost $5, whereas trips from Kahite to the main portion of the Village or Madisonville cost $8. Main Village residents pay $8 to travel to Lenoir City or Loudon, and Kahite residents pay $12 to go to Maryville or Lenoir City.
Main Villagers pay $20 for visit to Oak Ridge, Maryville, downtown Knoxville and the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
Kahite residents pay $20 to travel to downtown Knoxville or the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
Garner said the program charges customers to pay for printing and computer fees, supplemental car insurance, liability insurance, mileage reimbursement and driver training and appreciation programs.
“The main thing is like the name of our organization, STAYinTV, we’re hoping to make it possible for people to continue living ... here as they get older by providing a support group,” Garner said. “There’s different surveys and stuff that a person does a lot better staying in their own home as they get older rather than having to go live with someone else or going to a nursing home, that they survive mentally a lot better staying in their own home. So the idea of this is to allow you to stay in your own home for longer, as long as you can stay there and retain your dignity.”
“I can’t say enough good things about the program,” Wiers Strange said. “I’m just thrilled. I really hope a lot of people do take advantage of it.”
