New transportation service gives Sonoma seniors a lift

Grandma had to give up her Gremlin? Paw-paw had to surrendered his Pontiac? Never fear. Miss Daisy Drivers is here.|

Senior citizens who’ve surrendered their driving privileges often find that accomplishing routine chores is complicated. The inability to get between points A and B can be frustrating, isolating, and - when medical care is the needed errand - even dangerous.

Miss Daisy Drivers, a new personal transportation service especially for seniors, is designed to help the elderly stay mobile. From shopping trips, medical appointments, prescription pick-up and personal errands to scenic day trips undertaken just for fun, Dawn Cashwell-White and Patty Sullivan, both 54, are available to chauffer clients who can’t drive themselves.

Cashwell-White has worked with the senior population for 20 years, and says she’s always felt a connection. “I just have a kindred spirit with seniors,” Cashwell-White said. “It’s where my passion is.”

She’s taken clients to Walmart in American Canyon for “retail therapy,” and to cannabis dispensaries for medicine to help manage pain. She’s picked up dry-cleaning and driven clients to family functions. She’s even taken clients out to the beach, the kind of day trip people take for granted when they’re young. But for a senior who’s no longer able to move about the world independently, the beach might as well be the moon. “Sometimes they don’t even get out of the car,” Cashwell-White said. “It’s enough to just sit and watch the waves.”

One of the most significant ways Miss Daisy Drivers assists clients is by accompanying them to their medical appointments. The service will drive them there, help them inside, and even take notes during the appointment, when requested. Elderly patients - and patients in general - sometimes have a tendency to minimize or muddle their physician’s message, and their families often want a more accurate picture.

It is delicate work, and, often, intimate. Being involved with someone’s medical history requires discretion and a deft touch.

“There’s an art to it. You have to have them trust you,” Cashwell-White said. “I have a very easy way about me. Who I am is on my sleeve. I just tell them, your kids love you and want you to be comfortable. This is what I’m going to report back to them. Are you OK with that?”

Miss Daisy Drivers charge an hourly rate of $25, and its drivers are certified, licensed and insured. Perhaps more importantly, their work is motivated by pure reasons. “My clients have lived long lives, and they’re inevitably going to pass,” Cashwell-White said. “If I can make the last part of their lives brighter with love and laughter, I’m going to do it.”

For more information or to book a ride, contact Miss Daisy Drivers at 339-0995.

Email Kate at kate.williams@sonomanews.com

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