A new “age-friendly” bus shelter and bicycle racks near the CommunityCare Clinics branch in South Toledo will be funded through a grant AARP Ohio recently announced.

The $18,000 AARP Community Challenge grant to the clinic is one of six awarded this year in Ohio, with a total of $3.4 million to be distributed to 260 organizations nationwide.

The local free clinic, sponsored by the University of Toledo, provides most of its services at Cedar Creek Church, 2150 S. Byrne Rd. Along with adding a shelter with a bench to the nearby bus stop on Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority Route 34 and providing a bike rack at the church, the local grant also will “establish a partnership to provide free transportation to older adults who cannot get to the clinic on their own,” AARP said.

Having a bench in the shelter will benefit many clinic patients, “especially those who are physical therapy patients and older adults,” who may have difficulty standing at a bus stop for an extended time, the clinic wrote in its grant application.

“By implementing this improvement, we better ensure those waiting for the bus can sit down in a safe environment.”

Nick Domitrovic, a 2025 medical-doctor candidate at UT who is the clinic’s co-director of public relations and outreach, said the grant’s transportation component is expected to provide about 250 patient rides through services like Lyft or Uber and “one-on-one transportation coaching for the community.”

The shelter improvements are scheduled for completion by year’s end, Mr. Domitrovic said.

First Published July 8, 2022, 7:28 p.m.