Senior services wheelchair van stolen at Indianapolis hospital
FRANKLIN, Ind. (WISH) — In the moments it took for a senior services driver to help a cancer patient into an Indianapolis hospital, the nonprofit’s wheelchair van was stolen.
It happened Thursday outside Franciscan Health Indianapolis on Emerson Avenue when a driver with Johnson County Senior Services left the van idling to help a patient get inside.
Kathy Bolin, a dispatcher with the service, said the van was left outside for less than 5 minutes, and the theft is disheartening.
“They (the thief) had to be watching. They had to see that someone in a wheelchair got off that van. I don’t know how somebody could be that heartless,” Bolin said.
Dorothy Ross, 101, uses Johnson County Senior Services to go to the heart doctor, the eye doctor, the pharmacy and even fun trips to the hairdresser.
Ross has been a passenger for 25 years, whenever one of her family members isn’t available to assist her.
“I don’t know what I’d do without them. I really don’t. The people here, I don’t think they’d know what to do without them,” Ross said.
Johnson County Senior Services is the only group in Johnson County that offers free door-to-door services to seniors.
The service has four drivers who make about 60 round trips each day, which added up to more than 13,000 last year. The service has a waiting list of about 60 people right now.
The stolen van is one of two owned by the service that feature a bigger ramp to accommodate passengers with wider wheelchairs, so two patients who often need the bigger ramp at the same time will have to manage.
“We depend on donations, so losing that van is crucial. We can’t go out and just buy a van like that,” said Bolin.
The nonprofit’s budget is almost $450,000, with more than half coming from donations and fundraisers. Much of that budget is for its food pantry and to help provide seniors with durable medical equipment, such as wheelchairs.
Bolin said the entrance where the van was parked is the only one at Franciscan that doesn’t have surveillance cameras.
The van is a white Dodge Grand Caravan with a “Braunability” logo on the bottom left and a blue municipal plate with No. 54394.
The case is under investigation with IMPD.