(4 in new castle per year and 1 in kittaning per year) As you may know, matp has stopped (with no notice except a letter after this change has been decided) for medical transportation outside the butler area. no warning, and when i called them i asked for an alternative transportation and was told, in a very sing-song voice--"sure don't, sorry".
i have a traumatic brain injury along with a list of other disabilities and i cannot figure out to whom i should send an email for help, so i thought i would start with you guys, because it looks like you are very determined to help those of us who are aging and disabilities.
do you have any idea who i contact in order to keep my 5 times a year doctors' appointments that are just outside the butler area? i'm not good with changes with this, and since i got the letter from MATP i have been so anxious and depressed and out of sorts that i realize i need any kind of help i can get.
so if you wouldn't mind, and if you do not provide medical transportation, do you know who else i could contact?
thanks so much,
jennifer
2 Answers
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If you live in the county seat than you should have a number of services right there. Her in my county of NJ you can call the Office of Aging. They provide a number of services one being Senior busing. The buses have wheelchair lifts. There is a small charge but they transport to appts and shopping. I have a friend who drives the shopping bus and helps her passengers with carrying their purchases. Red Cross may have drivers.
E.g., our paratransit system a few years ago offered point to point individual services w/i 15 miles of an individual's home, for $1.00. It's probably up to $2 or more now, but that's a far cry from a taxi charge.
Ambulettes provide paratransit, at a much higher rate though. Small vans often serve specific medical communities, such as ours in Ann Arbor which has a large teaching hospital, a VA hospital and other medical facilities.
You might also contact your doctor's office, or a TBI support group or PA association and ask if they're aware of any transportation you could use. Ask also about "chits"; I learned a few years ago that our hospital uses these on a one time basis for someone who has no transportation home after a hospitalization.
Senior centers, assisted living and similar places sometimes contract with the local transit agency to provide transportation, coordinated through the senior center.
PA state might have a senior division with information on transportation.
I Googled MATP but didn't take the time to learn more about it other than that it's a medical transportation feature. I wouldn't give up on getting information from it though; sometimes you have to be persistent with agencies.
If PA has Area Agencies on Aging or Alzheimer's Assn. branches, check with them. I've found the latter to be one of the most helpful agencies - it provided me with a very good list of home health care and private duty agencies in my area.
Lastly, the search function on this website can help locate other posts with similar questions on Transportation. You can check out these links:
https://www.agingcare.com/search.aspx?searchterm=transportation
https://www.agingcare.com/search.aspx?searchterm=transportation+for+medical+appointments
Some of the hits overlap, but there are plenty of posts here on this subject.
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