Sending Strength to Our Texas Teams and Stakeholders

At MTM, there’s nothing more important than family—and supporting our family during difficult times. Between MTM’s non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) operations and MTM Transit’s public transit and paratransit divisions, we have more than 550 team members who live throughout the state of Texas. Although the cold weather may have subsided, those team members have had an incredibly trying couple of weeks, as many were—and some are still—without electricity, heat, and water in their homes. Even as power and water slowly return to homes, many are still bracing for impact as they deal with skyrocketing electric bills, remedy frozen and burst pipes that have caused damage to their homes, and continue facing a shortage of water resources.

In the face of their own personal crises, I’m incredibly proud to say that our teams haven’t faltered in helping their community. In Austin, where MTM Transit partners with Capital Metro to deliver Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit services, the community faced unprecedented shut downs, power grid failures, and catastrophic damage from frozen and burst water pipes after the ice storm ravaged the city. Just when it couldn’t get any worse, it did—water pumping stations failed due to a lack of electricity and freezing pipes, causing a city of more than two million to go without drinking water. For our local team, the situation has been a call to action as they showcase our core values to their community.

In partnership with the City of Austin and Capital Metro, our staff have stepped up to meet the needs of their community. Our team—many of whom are without power and drinking water themselves—has stood at the ready. Maintenance crews showed up to make sure vehicles were in safe operating condition, shovel driveways, and salt sidewalks. Drivers continued to provide life-sustaining transportation to services like dialysis, while also delivering meals and care packages to the community and their coworkers. They have even utilized vehicles as warming shelters for those without heat. And now, they are delivering bottled water to the residents of Austin who are without drinkable water. I am incredibly proud of the service-minded teammates who make up our company and didn’t hesitate to step up to the plate even as they faced adversity themselves. Thank you for taking care of each other and your community!

As our Texas teams continue to weather to storm, the MTM family from around the nation is coming together to help our coworkers in need. We have set up a donation fund and intend to match the funds raised, which will be dispersed to team members who need assistance with the considerable cost of home repairs and displacement as they await insurance relief. We’re also working to provide as much flexibility as possible to our teammates as they restore their homes and lives.

It’s not just our Texas teammates on our minds. MTM is incredibly engrained in Texas communities like Houston and Austin, and our thoughts go out to our Medicaid and Medicare members, transit passengers, transportation provider partners, medical facility partner staff, and clients who have been impacted by this month’s disastrous weather events and cold snap.

Keep your Texas friends, family, and coworkers in your thoughts. They need strength, perseverance, and support now more than ever!