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I wasn't sure what forum to post this in, but I figured that you folks with your experience as caregivers might be a good place to start.
My mother-in-law is a quadriplegic and lives in a nursing facility about an hour's drive from our house. We had planned to visit her this weekend; it's been a while. My wife does not have a good relationship with her, the reasons for that go back far earlier than the incident resulting in her disability.
She called my wife today and requested that we pick her up and bring her to our house for the visit. This is preferable for many reasons for both sides. The problem is that we don't want to spend a total of four hours in the car, or drag our young (3 months and 3 years) children for that amount of time. My wife is small and I don't know that she could help her mother in and out of the car unassisted were she to pick her up solo. I am willing to do it alone if it comes down to it, but it will be awkward for both parties. Her mother's English is not very good, so our conversations are generally pretty uncomfortable. Also, the way there relationship is her mother may be content to sit in our house for half an hour and declare she is ready to leave.
Does anyone have experience hiring a driving service for a disabled person who would need help getting in and out of the vehicle? She essentially cannot do anything for herself. If you have, is the cost significantly more than a regular taxi/Uber type service? I'm willing to foot the bill, and I'd also be willing to drive one of the trips.
Sorry for the backstory, I suppose it wasn't really necessary!
Many cities have some type of private, wheelchair accessible transportation services for the disabled. Frankly, in my experience none of those services would ever accept the liability to lift or carry anyone in an out of a regular seat in a car or van.
When, my mother took that type of transportation (in a wheelchair) 25 years ago it cost $75 or $100 for a 30 to 45 minute ride. At that time, I bet a taxi would have been about 1/4 to 1/3 of the cost.
The private car service drivers or bus drivers that transport special education students in my area are strictly forbidden to even touch the student, in fact, many companies will not even allow the drivers to fasten the child's seat belt (the parent or teacher needs to do that).
Of course, your area may be completely different.
Does the nursing home have a van and driver? Perhaps, that is one of their extra services.
From early responses it sounds like I may be SOL, which is what I sort of expected. The facility only offers rides to things that are necessary such as medical appointments.
Is your MIL in a wheelchair or are you expecting someone to lift and carry her from a bed or wheelchair to a car or van?
If she is in a wheelchair, and is not medically fragile, maybe you could find a medical transport service or a friend/acquaintance with a wheelchair van? Maybe, even a private ambulance company.
Is there a bus system? All city/type busses are wheel chair accessible, and driver's can help with loading/unloading (as long as she stays in the wheel chair). Also, contact the senior centers in both towns, they might be able to help. The one here in my town I think would. Maybe for a donation. My dad drives for them and I think if someone called explaining the situation, they'd probably have no problem helping out.
One of our churches was donated a special needs van. Anyone from the community can request it's use.
The fees are simple: cost of labor for driver, gas, daily insurance, and personal attendent.
The last advice is the best one. Unless you have to take her somewhere, it's better for you to come to her.
Otherwise, a cab company with a wheelchair-accessible taxi or a medical transport service can be arranged. It's much easier to get the cab to come to you at a prearranged time to pick you up than it is for them to pick you up for the return trip to the nursing home, especially if the visit is not of a fixed length of time. Even then, they'll be transporting other people and won't be waiting around for your mom. She may be stuck waiting for hours until the driver is free.
Cost for medical transport van to go from hospital to nursing home one block down: $35 incl. tip
Cost for wheelchair-accessible taxi SUV to go from nursing home to orthopedist 8 miles away: $32 incl. tip
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