Delta Dental Foundation is addressing transportation barriers for individuals to access dental care through a new self-driving shuttle pilot program. It is focused on supporting Detroiters who are age 65 and older or who have a disability.
Delta Dental Foundation (DDF), a CMF corporate foundation member, works to increase dental access to underserved and high-risk populations.
DDF is supporting a new shuttle pilot program launched by the city of Detroit Office of Mobility Innovation that provides transportation for residents facing mobility barriers.
According to a press release, the Detroit Automated Driving Systems Shuttle (ADS) program will utilize self-driving vehicle technology to get Detroiters who are age 65 and older or who have disabilities from their home to the store, doctor appointments, their job or other destinations at no cost to the rider.
DDF is supporting a vehicle dedicated to transporting patients to dental care.
Holli Seabury, executive director of DDF and CMF trustee, shared that this project will work to serve the population with the most barriers to accessing transportation, particularly those who need dentists and are unable to travel to their appointments.
“Transportation is such a huge barrier to oral health care, and like many foundations, we provide funding to access transportation within the existing system. But we also know it isn’t working,” Seabury said.
According to Seabury, if you were to ask any nonprofit dental clinic, they would cite transportation inequities as one of the leading reasons patients can’t access care.
“If we really want to move the needle in terms of access to care and health equity, we need to embrace emerging initiatives—like the self-driving shuttle pilot—that use technology in new and surprising ways,” Seabury said.
Seabury shared that in the future, she would like to see the foundation working with regional, state and federal transportation systems.
“There is a huge opportunity for healthcare and transportation systems to work together to solve some of our transportation inequities at a system level,” Seabury said.
The pilot project is currently in the process of designing a self-driving shuttle service that can be scheduled in advance and have on-demand capabilities. The shuttle will pick each rider up at their home, take them to one of the predefined destinations and return them back home.
Riders will have the option to pre-book roundtrip rides through a mobile app or website or reach out to a call center to book trips with a live representative.
Want more?
Read the full press release.
