Getting Rides After Anesthesia? (relative, friends, years, adults)

[Lodestar 77]

Contact your church's pastor/priest/rector etc. or Admin. Assistant and explain you need someone who can take you then stay with you for x amt. of time. I expect that the church would have congregants that they could contact, assign, or refer to you to do this. Serving others is what a church does, and you are church family. And I see no problem for someone to come 40 miles to attend to you. You could have fellowship/refreshments or a meal with them at your home, get to know them better. I don't see a problem unless nobody knows you there. In that case, you need to find another church home and family.

[xray731]

OP - does your county have a Senior Services Dept? We do in western NY and they do provide a van service - health related trips require a 2 week notification. I'm unsure of the cost but many of our patients used them.

We plan on moving after retirement and being close to medical facilities and having a Senior service program are my 2 main concerns after the safeness of the neighborhood.

[charlygal]

Home health aide for a day.

[twins4lynn]

Talk to your doctors office and see if they have non-emergency medical transportation companies they can recommend. You can also google non-emergency medical transport limo.

[luv4horses]

Here in Raleigh area they require someone to drive you home AND to stay with you (in the waiting room) during the procedure. It was suggested to hire a home care person, from a company they found acceptable, to pick-up, stay for the procedure, then drive you home. You could theoretically have a neighbor check in on you for the 24 hrs afterwards. The home care service charged $25 per hour.

It would be great if there was a group who could 'bank' that activity for other seniors who needed it. I could do it for someone, banking my effort, and they could do it for someone else, kind of like those babysitting clubs.

[BucFan]

I see all kinds of criticism about 55+ communities especially in the Florida and Tampa/STP subforums. Sometimes here in this subforum. I always defend the communities as often they have the social support for these sorts of issues. I always recommend retirees looking to live in the boonies/rural areas think long and hard about what would happen in these types of situations (needing transport). My 10,000 population community offers this. A great convenience for single retirees w/ no other means.....

Rides to medical appointments
Samaritan Services provides rides to people who live in SCC. SCC Ride takes people wherever they want to go within SCC - medical, grocery, restaurants, etc. Samaritan Services also provides rides, for medical reasons only, to Tampa, Brandon and Bradenton. We ask that you call 10 days to two weeks before your appointment to schedule a ride. Clients have to be mobile enough to get in and out of the car by themselves. A companion can go with the client if the client has special needs. The drivers are told not to help the client other than putting a walker in the trunk of the car. Drivers are not trained to assist in medical issue. They drive clients to and back home from an appointment. These services are free. There are envelopes in the back seat that clients can use for a contribution if they wish.

[xray731]

Buc - that's a wonderful service!

I was just talking to my husband about this as he's oblivious to the fact that as we age - we may not be able to drive - and he said when he went for his colonoscopy - they refused to do the procedure on a woman who had a taxi bring her - and that was going to be her ride home.

[evening sun]

I had a colonoscopy a few weeks ago, all they required was a driver. They wheeled me out to our car ( dh picked me up)

[VTsnowbird]

I was lucky enough to have a new friend drive me to and from colonoscopy recently. When my DH was getting a biopsy once, I witnessed an interesting exchange in the waiting room. A was having a procedure, came in with B (neighbor) and C (driver). C had to get to work and B was going to stay. Medical personnel were insistent that the driver (B could not drive and did not have the car) had to stay the whole time. I can't remember how they worked it out. Some places can be really strict.

[reneeh63]

i know folks are feeling the "pinch" of not having options, especially for colonoscopies but...one way around the need for a driver and someone to stay with you afterwards is to go the no anesthesia option. It's not crazy - Europeans mostly go the non-anesthesia route.