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Partnership launches free ride service for veterans at Jacksonville apartments

Florida Times-Union - 6/6/2019

June 06--If successful, a small pilot ride-sharing service launched Thursday for 30 or so veterans at a Jacksonville apartment complex may go nationwide.

The intent of the pilot is to get veterans from Mission Springs apartments to medical appointments in an efficient and timely fashion, said Jeremy Smith, supportive services director for Invest in America's Veterans Foundation, a Cape Coral-based nonprofit that provides affordable housing and other services for homeless veterans and their families. Mission Springs on Timuquana Road is one of its properties.

The program will offer free access to RelayRIDES, a proprietary technology that automatically assigns transportation referrals through the ride-sharing platform Lyft. Jacksonville-based One Call, a leading provider of specialized health care solutions for the workers' compensation industry, developed RelayRIDES to help injured workers get to and from medical appointments.

After the pilot is up and running for a few months, the foundation and One Call will ponder whether to "develop a full-blown" version nationwide to help veterans get to medical appointments as well as employment and educational opportunities and other necessary trips, Smith said. The goal, he said, is to "get veterans where they need to go, on time." Public transportation is "not always practical" or reliable, he said.

Bernadine Green, a retired Army veteran with 31 years of service and lives in Mission Springs, praised the program.

"Many veterans aren't sure of where to go for help to or how to get there, so services like this are necessary," she said. "The veterans in the Jacksonville area are in need of a support system like this to help with transportation, so it's exciting that this program is launching here. It's what we should do to support our veterans."

The program stemmed from conversations between Smith and Joseph McCullough, senior vice president of product management for One Call. Solving veterans' lack of access to transportation, particularly to Veterans Administration hospital appointments, was a "missing link" in the foundation's services and McCullough proposed RelayRIDES as a solution, Smith said.

"As a veteran myself, I understand the impact organizations such as Invest in America's Veterans Foundation have on veterans and their families. We're excited to take our commitment to veterans one step further with this partnership," said Chris Watson, Chief Operating Officer at One Call Care Management.

The partnership could also lead to offering RelayRIDES to other organizations.

"We're primed to take this technology to other sectors," McCullough said. "From veterans to the elderly, we have many examples of how RelayRIDES is helping people regain health, independence, employment and, best of all, a quality life."

The pilot was launched at a Mission Springs event commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the 1944 Allied invasion at Normandy, France, that was a turning point in World War II. With several World War II veterans in attendance, the foundation dedicated its Veteran Park to their "greatest generation."

Beth Reese Cravey: (904) 359-4109

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