Tom Newsome likes to stay busy.
Newsome, who has an intellectual disability, goes to Employment Solutions, an organization that provides a host of services for people with disabilities, a few times a week for adult day training.
He enjoys archery and takes ukulele lessons, said Peggy Petrilli, Newsome’s mother. Newsome was dependent on Wheels, the Lextran-contracted paratransit system for people with disabilities, to get him to his appointments.
In the summer of 2023, Newsome was expecting to be picked up by Wheels for a special summer camp.
They never came. It wasn’t the first time Newsome’s Wheels ride didn’t show.
“When he was left and not picked up, he would cry,” Petrilli said. “He was so disappointed he couldn’t go.”
Petrilli said the family quit using Wheels after using the program for decades. It was too unreliable. Petrilli or her husband or other people now help get Newsome to his activities.
“He’s had to skip activities that would be very beneficial but he can’t go because we didn’t have the transportation,” Petrilli said.