By Howard Packowitz

Riders who took the YWCA Medivan for medical appointments will soon depend on public transportation to get there.

YWCA announced it is discontinuing the service, effective Saturday, citing a projected $120,000 deficit for the soon-to-be completed fiscal year, having operated at a $70,000 deficit the previous year.

Connect Transit, Bloomington-Normal’s public transportation system, will pick up the slack for the more than 100 Medivan riders.

“Connect Transit was a natural landing spot for the service to transition to as they are well positioned to take on large volumes of passengers and have planned routes already in place throughout Bloomington-Normal,” the YWCA said in a news release.

YWCA McLean County’s CEO and president D. Dontae Latson said the difficult decision to end the program was due to the lack of a state budget, cuts to United Way grants, and the lack of other available grant money.

“We are unable to continue operating at a loss,” said Latson in a prepared statement.

Community leaders approached the YWCA about nine years ago to begin transporting patients to non-emergency appointments when Lifeline Mobile Medics went out of business. Lifeline’s emergency transports were shifted to fire department ambulances.

Medivan services had been been reduced to just three days a week this month, compared to five days a week in May and six days in April.

The YWCA will continue taking patients to medical appointments outside of McLean County, within a 60 mile radius.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]