If you’ve been reading this blog, you know that there are a multitude of issues and concerns that must be attended to when running an elder community. And rightly so. Your senior loved one deserves to have the most comfortable and personal care in her golden years. You’ve probably thought about every possibility of the elder care you want for your loved one inside the community, but have you thought about care that takes place outside? Specifically, we’re talking about transportation. Your elder loved one needs to be reassured she’ll have the assistance she needs to get to her essential appointments, such as trips to the grocery store and pharmacy, and doctor’s and dental appointments.
Convenient and readily-available transportation is just another in a long list of vital practices we undertake at the Homeplace of Henderson. We customize our transportation service to help take the load off families and support our residents who can no longer drive. Having dependable transportation is so important to us that we have an employee whose sole job is to transport our residents to and from their essential engagements. He has no other responsibilities other than making sure our residents arrive and return safely.
For our transportation services to run smoothly, we ask that the resident or a family member notify us 72 hours in advance of an appointment or store visit. This is necessary so that we can create a schedule in which no overlaps or conflicts occur. Aside from driving the resident to and from the appointment, we also ask our driver to stay with the resident throughout her appointment, if she or the family asks that to occur. Our driver can help with communication with a doctor or pharmacist, and take notes, if necessary, so that once the resident is back at Homeplace, the driver can report back to the family what the doctor said. This service is especially important for family members who may not be able to get away from work. Again, it’s worth repeating that service like this isn’t possible if we don’t ask for a 72-hour notice. Being able to allow adequate time for an appointment and then enough space between the next ensures that each resident is not rushed and gets all her needs met.
If a family member wants to go to the appointment with her elder loved one but can only meet at the scheduled location, that’s fine, too. Again, our driver will bring the resident, then ensure that the family member is there, and then leave the location, before returning to take the resident back to Homeplace.
Sometimes a spur of the moment need for transportation arises. Let’s say, for example, a doctor calls to tell a resident a slot opened up that afternoon and asks if a resident can make it in. We will do everything we can to accommodate, but we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to do it every time, especially when you consider that the driver may already have a full schedule that day.
Like all our other practices, our transportation policies are based on giving each resident the person-centered care she deserves.
To contact the Homeplace of Henderson, email Jessica Beaven at jessica.beaven@homeplaceofhenderson.com, call at (270) 577-0534.