To the advisory committee of the Town of North Hempstead’s Project Independence:
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for creating the Project Independence program. My 85-year-old mother who lives in Great Neck has end stage renal failure. She needs to go for hemodialysis treatments three times per week, for three hours each time. The dialysis center where she goes is in Port Washington.
My mom is no longer able to drive. We took her car and license away from her after she crashed it into three parked cars and totaled it. There is no family member who can drive her to dialysis because we all work during those hours. Project Independence has been our savior.
Each week we call Project Independence to set up her transportation for pick-up. Then my mom calls the appointed taxi (told to us by Project Independence), 45 minutes prior to when she needs to be taken home. The cost for this service is substantially lower than what is would cost without belonging to this group. ($8.25 each way instead of $14)
My mom has been using this service every single week for the past four months now without a glitch. The people who answer the phone when I call each week to schedule her rides couldn’t be nicer. They are so thorough. They repeat all of the info to me and provide me with confirmation numbers.
Then, they call my mom that morning to confirm the pick-up time. There is a woman, Lorraine at All Island Car Service, who is absolutely exceptional. She has a great rapport with my mom, and is very professional and patient.
It is essential that my mom gets to dialysis three times per week. Her life depends on this. During Hurricane Sandy, All Island taxi service was temporarily shut down. Project Identity quickly scrambled to find another car service.
Paula Yule at Project Identity scheduled her with Deluxe Car Service and my mom was able to get her treatments for the next two weeks without drama.
On behalf of my mom, my brothers and myself, we are forever grateful for the incredible service.
Thank you to Jon Kaiman and his staff. You are wonderful and life saving!
Pam Bilfeld
Nutritional Health Coach
AADP and HHC board certified
