[Ohio-talk] New places and hiring drivers

[Christopher Sabine, ONH Consulting]

Kaiti. I've also looked into similar transportation options for hiring
drivers and readers when I was doing my Practicum in Social Work at Wright
State. Unfortunately, I found that many of the larger retirement communities
I've dealt with won't post ads for drivers over concerns about liability
issues. There was one case in particular when I was just looking for a job
in social work after I got my Master's where I even offered to foot the bill
for added insurance, meet with the organization's legal department, etc. to
no avail. This latter situation involved a very large, fairly high profile
retirement community in Cincinnati with a public broadcast radio station
that could have feasibly aired an ad for a driver. 

What I have found useful is research any agency that provides vocational
services to mental health consumers and contact them, asking them about
hiring one of their clients as a driver. This could be very beneficial for
you and the driver, and the job and social interaction could be very
therapeutic for the consumer. Since mental health consumers in vocational
programs generally receive case management and work with BVR, your employees
are pretty much pre-screened. The drivers could also receive job coaching
and other employment supports to assist with the job if need be. I believe
Chillicothe (Ross County) has a BVR office, but I'd start out by calling
COVA (I think that's the agency in Columbus that serves Ross County.) and
ask for the agency contact providing vocational services in Chillicothe. 

I found my most reliable driver this way, and he is still a very good friend
of mine to this day.

Hope this helps.

Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-Talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti
Shelton via Ohio-Talk
Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2016 5:05 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List
Cc: Kaiti Shelton
Subject: [Ohio-talk] New places and hiring drivers

Hi all,

In a previous email I mentioned that I'm looking into an internship for next
school year in Chillicothe, Oh.  I have done some research and have found
that there is some public busing available in the city of Chillicothe, and
para-transit is available in the city as well as to some parts of the
surrounding area in the county.  However, in my efforts to be extra
prepared, I've been thinking about possible solutions for cases such as
this: I take the para-transit van to work, do a few sessions, then take it
again to a new site.  However, this next site only has me there for 45
minutes before I need to be somewhere else, but the para-transit has a rule
I need to be off the bus for an hour before taking another ride.

I've been thinking of trying to hire private drivers from the area who could
fill in the gaps where public and para-transit busing won't serve me.  I am
thinking of the possibility of reaching out to local churches to see if any
retirees or other people who aren't working during the day would be able to
drive me around a bit if needed.  Of course, I would know my schedule ahead
of time and would be able to let them know in advance, and I would pay them
for their time and gas.
I am open to using cab services as well (I don't believe this area has
Oober), but having someone who I work with directly and can schedule pick up
times with in advance would give me some additional piece of mind, as I'll
need reliable transportation no matter which internship I take.

Any ideas about how this might work based on your past experiences, or
possible other solutions would be really appreciated.  I am trying to be as
resourceful as possible so that if/when I get an interview I can have a
concrete answer for this important logistic, but this is new to me so I'd
appreciate feedback from any more experienced travelers and employees who
might have hired their own drivers or managed transportation between
buildings n a work day.

--
Kaiti Shelton

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