Ross & Tine Transportation, owned and operated by Ross Edwards and his wife, Tine, transports people who use wheelchairs where they need to go. Medicare or Medicaid often hires him to transport people to appointments with their doctors and therapists. He made his first “run” on May 5, 2001. Now, a year later, Mr. Edwards works from 6:20 a.m. to 6 p.m. and his wife works as the dispatcher. He hopes he will be able to buy another van and employ a second driver in the near future. Ross started transporting people early in his life. At the age of 14, his father sent him out with a truck to find, hire, and bring cotton pickers to the cotton field in North Carolina. When he was 16 he was hired by the school he attended to drive the school bus. So, going back to the transportation business was an option to be considered after Mr. Edwards had to give up the grocery store he and his wife ran for 23 years. He had a stroke in 1993, which left him paralyzed on the left side; he used a wheelchair for over a year. Mr. Edwards became a client of the Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) in 1997, and his counselor, Julia Roher, has worked with him in many ways. First, he had physical therapy. With that help, and through his determined efforts, he was able to walk again. Ms. Roher referred Mr. Edwards to DORS’ RISE Program.
Ross and Tine Transportation has grown during this first year, mostly by word-of-mouth. Many of his clients ask for Ross specifically. He attributes this to the fact that he talks and laughs with them and is patient with them. Mr. Edwards considers himself to be “one of the miracle ones” and feels his disability is one of the best things that ever happened to him because it has been his “key to God.” Because he’s had help in overcoming the hardships life he has been confronted with, he feels that now he can give hope to others in a similar situation. Ross Edwards says this is the secret to his success. ROSS & TINE Transportation is headquartered in Landover, Maryland, and they can be reached at 301.412.5238. |
“The RISE Program is a great program,” states Ross Edwards. “The people there were so nice and told me how to do things so I could get funding for my van and for the van modifications and business equipment I needed to start my business.”
Mr. Edwards is grateful for the assistance he received. He says he would never have been able to afford a van without the loan that the RISE Program helped him attain. Based on the business plan, DORS also helped with the purchase of the business equipment he needed: van modifications, a computer, a calculator, a fax machine, and advertising (including the paint job on his new van.) The RISE Program also helped him obtain insurance, a very difficult task, and to set up the relationship with the Medicare/Medicaid program for payment for transporting patients to appointments.