How did you find good medical transportation?

[austin944]

I need to have some oral surgery done, which will require me to be sedated. I will be groggy but awake afterwards, and should be able to walk.

I don't have close family nearby to drive me home, and the few friends I have will not be reliably available on the day of the appointment.

I'm looking around for a medical transport and I have not found anyone that I could trust, and I greatly dislike the idea of riding home with a stranger while semi-incapacitated. And the clinic may require the driver to remain there while I am sedated.

How did you find or how would you find trustworthy and reliable medical transportation in this kind of situation? Cost is not a concern.

 

[Scrapr]

A family friend was in training to be a paramedic. While she was training she did transfers for the ambulance service. Maybe start there?

edit: they used Sprinter vans, not ambulances. And I'm sure the rates reflected that.

 

[braumeister]

Would it be possible to have the surgery in the morning and then sit in their waiting room until the anesthesia wore off? Then you could drive yourself home. Shouldn't be more than a few hours.

 

[golfnut]

Would it be possible to have the surgery in the morning and then sit in their waiting room until the anesthesia wore off? Then you could drive yourself home. Shouldn't be more than a few hours.

My experience is they (hosp. clinics) wont allow this.

 

[Walt34]

Around here the medical transport drivers for hospitals/clinics are almost all retirees who just do it for something to do and for most the income is secondary. I'd think if you hired a service through the hospital they'd vet the drivers as the liability risk for not doing so is substantial. Judging by the couple of retiree/drivers I've talked to the risk is minimal.

If my wife wasn't available I wouldn't hesitate to call on one of those services.

 

[razztazz]

For my two (so far) colonoscopies I used a company called: COMFORT KEEPERS. However when I tried to use them in May for some other surgery I had they told me they don't do that "medical rides" for people thing anymore. That might be just a local thing though. See if they or a similar service exist in your area.

This is one area that seems like a hard number to hit if you do not have lots of family around or don't hang out at Cheers where everybody knows your name. If my neighbor was not being so helpful I would have died at least twice already for lack of a ride. No ride. No medical attention.

 

[Koolau]

I need to have some oral surgery done, which will require me to be sedated. I will be groggy but awake afterwards, and should be able to walk.

I don't have close family nearby to drive me home, and the few friends I have will not be reliably available on the day of the appointment.

I'm looking around for a medical transport and I have not found anyone that I could trust, and I greatly dislike the idea of riding home with a stranger while semi-incapacitated. And the clinic may require the driver to remain there while I am sedated.

How did you find or how would you find trustworthy and reliable medical transportation in this kind of situation? Cost is not a concern.

I can only speak from experience. I had a friend drive me home BUT I could have done it myself. I had 3 wisdom teeth extracted. When I awoke, it was as if nothing had happened. I even had a sense of the passing of time during the process though I had no sensation or memory. I was wide awake and could walk without assistance. So, I would not have been concerned about, for instance, riding home in a taxi. I was fully awake, aware, cogent and ambulatory.

Later, when the local wore off, I had enough pain that I took some Tylenol. Other than that (plus the oral after care with saline solution) it was a nothing event though YMMV.

 

[razztazz]

I can only speak from experience. I had a friend drive me home BUT I could have done it myself. I had 3 wisdom teeth extracted. When I awoke, it was as if nothing had happened. I even had a sense of the passing of time during the process though I had no sensation or memory. I was wide awake and could walk without assistance. So, I would not have been concerned about, for instance, riding home in a taxi. I was fully awake, aware, cogent and ambulatory.

Later, when the local wore off, I had enough pain that I took some Tylenol. Other than that (plus the oral after care with saline solution) it was a nothing event though YMMV.

I felt the same way, but they always wanted the name of the person I going home with/being released to. There's a lot of liability involved here. Maybe dentists handle this differently

 

[W2R]

Have you tried asking at the oral surgeon's office? They may know of some solutions. Perhaps there is a business that provides such a service, for a fee. Surely the surgeon has many patients each year with the same problem.

Here, going home by taxi is not permitted after most procedures. I think that may be due to liability issues.

My oral surgeon only used Novacaine and laughing gas for pain during my implant surgery. So, he let me drive myself home once the laughing gas had worn off.

Frank and I have provided rides home, and/or helpful caregiving to each other after numerous medical procedures. For example I would not have been able to have my knee replacement surgery without a caregiver, but my surgeon met and talked with Frank and decided he fit the need even though technically he lives next door and not in the same house. I gave Frank a ride home after his colonoscopy and he gave me a ride home after cataract surgery. Tomorrow he is driving me home after a routine appointment with my ophthalmologist, who will be dilating my eyes. But if Frank was not available, I'd ask the doctor's staff for ideas on who to hire for a ride home.

 

[Koolau]

I felt the same way, but they always wanted the name of the person I going home with/being released to. There's a lot of liability involved here. Maybe dentists handle this differently

IIRC the dentist DID want the name, so I'm not certain I would have been allowed to use a taxi service - BUT physically, I could have - or even driven myself.

You are correct that dentists (medical businesses in general) are acutely aware of liability. I'm only suggesting that most folks don't have a problem after this type of anesthetic and, especially should not fear riding home with someone they don't know (such as a medical transportation company.) As in all aspects of medical treatment, YMMV.

 

[CRLLS]

If the dentist is in your town, you might ask your friendly Chamber of Commerce (remember them?) for a recommended local service.

 

[Sue J]

Tomorrow he is driving me home after a routine appointment with my ophthalmologist, who will be dilating my eyes. But if Frank was not available, I'd ask the doctor's staff for ideas on who to hire for a ride home.

W2R, I was at the ophthalmologist last week and he used short duration dilation drops. I had never had this offered before. I've always had the regular drops and either had DH there to drive me home or I drove myself (go straight home, very carefully) while wearing those awful temporary dark plastic lenses.

It was about 4:30pm when I left the Dr. office to drive home and I was very surprised by how normal my vision was. No squinting, no discomfort and I drove home not needing the dark plastic lenses. When I got home and looked in the mirror I could still see a little dilation left but nothing close to previous experiences with eye doctor appointments.

I hope your doctor offers this to you. Made a huge difference.

 

[W2R]

W2R, I was at the ophthalmologist last week and he used short duration dilation drops. I had never had this offered before. I've always had the regular drops and either had DH there to drive me home or I drove myself (go straight home, very carefully) while wearing those awful temporary dark plastic lenses.

It was about 4:30pm when I left the Dr. office to drive home and I was very surprised by how normal my vision was. No squinting, no discomfort and I drove home not needing the dark plastic lenses. When I got home and looked in the mirror I could still see a little dilation left but nothing close to previous experiences with eye doctor appointments.

I hope your doctor offers this to you. Made a huge difference.

Sue, those short duration dilation drops sound pretty cool!

 

[Koolau]

Sue, those short duration dilation drops sound pretty cool!

In the old days, there were drops that "undid' the dilation. Those drops are no longer available. I recall being dilated for 3 days one time - no idea why. I'm wondering if they use short duration drops now because I no longer have that problem. YMMV

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

It sounds like what you need is not so much "medical transportation", which would mean you have medical needs specific to the travel or getting in or out of a vehicle, but more someone with basic medical knowledge to escort you and keep an eye out for anything dangerous. I would say call a home health care agency and ask what the minimum hours are to hire a home health aide or certified nursing assistant, assuming you'd only need them for 2 hours or so (assuming one hour at the office, and then an hour to get you home). If cost is no object, you could offer to pay for an 8 hour shift but let them leave once you're home, or even have them stay until you recover fully from the sedation. Then, of course, you could have a regular taxi take you to and from your appointment, with the healthcare worker accompanying you home.

 

[skipro33]

I found my medical insurance covered the transportation even though it was for dental procedure not covered. All that mattered was that I was incapacitated and my doctor as well as the surgeon said I could not proceed without transportation arranged. So check with your medical insurance company and see if they'll cover you for this.

 

[harllee]

The Senior Center in my community has volunteers that will drive you to and from doctor appts. Check out your local senior center.