Need medical appointment escort. Any advice?

In April 2016, I required a colonoscopy and endoscopy under general sedation to get a diagnosis for digestive issues. My friend escorted me to the hospital. After the procedure, the hospital pushed me in wheelchair to my friend's waiting vehicle then drove me home. Fortunately, she did not have to stay with me overnight but checked with me the next morning to see I was OK. Without my friend's help, my procedure would have been cancelled for a different schedule.

The procedure disclosed mild colitis and a small hiatal hernia but I'm otherwise fine.

Call the patient rep in surgery center. They may know who provides that service in your area. Call your doctors office. Call the Area Agency on Aging and local senior centers. The senior center when I lived in southwestern Ohio had a file of drivers. Lots of senior women used their service. Local service at university had students who would drive. Also check with student employment office they also have listings of students who drive people. My cousins son drove people every afternoon when he went to Ohio State.

zk1529: Imho, the one for $125 seems to be your best bet. Perhaps you should go with that rather than fretting about it. Call it a day.

How about Visiting Angels?

I live alone too. I do have at least one close neighbor who may be available. No local family in CA unless someone flies in to stay with me, so I can see how tough and frustrating finding an escort is, especially with my autism.

What would happen if a medical emergency happened, you have no one with you nor cannot speak for yourself?? However, if you have an advanced health directive, the designated may be contacted you hope are available at the time of the call. The extreme alternate is the law enforcement should surgery if consent is necessary. It truly takes a village to help each other!

How far is it to the hospital? Are you in a position to spend a couple hundred $$ for the day? Could you make arrangements in advance with a employee of the facility to drive you home? Maybe the receptionist or secretary or even one of the nurses who could use some extra money. They would probably be very reliable and might be very happy to help especially if presented as a huge favor to you. You might have to wait until the end of their shift or lunchtime. Take a taxi to the facility and your return driver is already there. Good luck.

zk1529, please let us know if or how you were able to solve your problem. Your update will help others in similar situations. I hope your procedure went well. Thanks!

Volunteers can only take you to and from routine appointments. When you need a "responsible party," you may need to hire a home care aide. Most have a 3 or 4 hour minimum, so it may cost $100-140. There are Medical Transport services in some cities which cost a similar amount.

Possibly research a home health agency in your area, call the health and human services, your insurance or independent home health aides. Home health aides can assist you with whatever you need including taking you to and from appointments and staying with you, conversation and company, helping with grocery shopping and errands, etc. it’s worth looking into. Not all home health agencies are medical, there’s non-medical as well. I hope this will help you.

Good Morning,

I am a firm believer in calling on your local Church people, especially the retired men who are dependable!

Hope this helps.

Private nursing services do this. My friend -- an RN -- was a private nurse for years. She would be with the person all throughout any medical visits. Drive them there or go in medical transport as needed. Wheel them where they had to go and be in the room with them with the doctor to take notes and write up a report for family members. Call your doctor and/or local hospital and ask for a referral or recommendation to a good private nursing agency where you live. We we live, the rate for such services is about $150.00 an hour including their travel time to get to you.

Some areas have non-profit entities that provide less expensive services with volunteer nurses or nurse aides; but these services tend to booked up and you may have to wait to get on the schedule. Try calling your local area agency on aging as they have have a list of such entities.

Speak with your primary physician for referrals to home health agencies.
I have used a home health agency several times and the assigned caregiver was on time, drove me, stayed at the place of testing with me, drove me back home and, stayed with me at home to get me settled. One service even went and picked up medication for me after returning me home and, would make light meal ( soup, sandwich etc) if requested. This was a four hour block of time and the billing cost payment was arranged with the company prior to day of service. It has been several years since I used this service but the cost was approximately in the range of 125. - 150. for four hours

You could get the senior bus to take you and pick u up later. But when you say Medical Escort to me that means someone willing to stay the night? You need to be observed for 24 hrs.

What I would do, is just get a ride there and back. When asked if you have transportation and someone to stay with you say yes. They are not going to come to your house and make sure. Just pray u have no complications.

In general, medical insurance will not pay for an overnight stay for an out-patient procedure.

Interesting you can't stay for one night at the hospital?

If you're concerned about the driver not showing up, then ask someone to be a back-up person in case the driver flakes out on you.

Are you on Nextdoor? My sister is and has great success finding info about neighborhood goings-on and activities, as well as troubleshooting issues. Asking a very local group of folks might yield a reference for a good, reliable person who can provide what you’re looking for. (For a fair price for his or her time, of course.)

Good luck!

This is the way it goes; a person needs a caregiver to drive them to and from a medical procedure appointment, period, we're all in the same boat on this. You don't want to pay for a 'caregiver', yet you need a procedure done. So you pay, whether you like it or not! That's life in 2022. You ask a family member or a friend to help you out, or a church member if they are willing, and if you find yourself between a rock & a hard place, you hire a caregiver to escort you back & forth and you pay the required fee. For enough $$$$, the person will show up to do their job and you'll be all set.

You say, "Found one however they wanted $125 for 4 hour max - not sure what they would do if MD ran late.. A last resort option." If the MD ran late, you'd pay the person more money to stay later, that's what you'd do.

You also say, "The local church will be my last resort.. Thanks." I should think you'd be thrilled to have a church member spend their time escorting you to and from a medical procedure for free.......rather than considering it a 'last resort' as you are considering the $125 fee for a 4 hr max person!

If you want this procedure done, pick one of these options & call it a day, that's my 'advice'. You've done an 'exhaustive search' so there you have it.

I found this:

https://www.care.com/senior-transportation/strongsville-oh

Would your county office on aging have suggestions? My 73-year-old husband had to leave our home at 4 am last week to take his brother (84) for pacemaker surgery. He did stay overnight with him afterward. We live 2 hours away so not exactly a simple trip. Not everyone has family that lives close by or friends/neighbors that they would feel comfortable with such a big ask. I found a woman (by word of mouth) that would work hourly as a paid companion and would do such trips as you are asking. However, she did require that she was scheduled regularly so my father hired her for 3 hours once a week.

I don't know if this will help or not but when my dad lost his driving privileges I needed someone to drive him to visit his wife who is in a nursing home a couple of times a week. Since he had some mild dementia I didn't want to hire a transportation company who would just drop him off and pick him up so I contacted a home health care agency and they had a companion service where I was able to get someone to drive him to the nursing home and she stayed the entire time in the lobby waiting for him and then drove him back home. You will need to tell them how long you need the companion for and of course they charge an hourly rate and mileage. Another option as I think others have mentioned in case you need someone to stay with you for a long period of time is to see if one of the home health care agencies can send you a caregiver who will drive you and then stay with you at your appointment and then at your home for however long you need.

I guess this is where you need to show someone will drive you home and stay with you for 24 hrs? Does it have to be someone with some medical background or just having someone there to be able to call 911 if you have a problem?

You have no friends or family that can drive you to and from and spend the night?

Having a similar issue here. I think it just really shows how this country discounts (I might even say despises) the single person. While we are welcome to contribute to society through our tax dollars, there's absolutely nothing given in return. Just listen to politicians/political candidates. It's all about "families" not someone who has helped families, but is now standing alone. In all honestly, it's as there's a death wish for the unfamilied. It's not outright, but it's subtle.

I'm assuming you've asked neighbors... Do you belong to a church or faith organization? Even if you don't, you can call up a large church that is as local to you as possible and ask if they have a Care Ministry and tell them your dilemma. Our church has such a ministry and part of it focuses on the elderly. Normally they won't care that you're not an attender or even a member of that faith.

I just did a search for "churches near strongsville, oh 44136" and many came up. It should list their phone numbers and locations in the search results.

You may need to hire a caregiver that drives for that time.

Sometimes, changing the terminology can get you the right person.
Instead of searching for a "driver", call an agency that sends out "caregivers".
Maybe meeting them beforehand will improve the chances of them showing up.

Does the "escort" need to have any skills to help you with recovery just after?

What do hospitals do for those who are alone? I am sure they have such patients. Please call your hospital and ask them. Tell them you have no one and can not find an escort. I'd be shocked if they said they could not treat you.

I would start by calling Medicare -- I don't know how that works though if you have an Advantage Plan. I've called the Medicare number several times and their agents have been very helpful. If you have an Advantage Plan ask them. There's a good chance I'll be in the same boat soon. Visiting Angels (if there's one in your area) does that kind of thing but it's costly & some people on this forum haven't had positive things to say about them -- but that could depend on a particular area of service/franchise. Good luck.