Rides to Wound Care Appointments in Massachusetts

A wound care visit is usually weekly, and the course runs for weeks or months, so the ride is a standing appointment rather than a one time problem. Wheelchair accessible transportation with us is $115 each way and $230 round trip within five miles, then $2 a mile beyond that. Most wound centers keep weekday daytime hours only, which is the part that catches families out.

How often will we need a ride to the wound care center?

Plan on weekly. Cape Cod Healthcare states that wound care patients are usually scheduled to be seen once a week. The Healogics managed wound care and hyperbaric medicine center at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield says many patients are seen weekly, while others need appointments more or less often. Build the budget on a repeating weekly round trip, not on a single visit. At $230 a round trip, four visits in a month come to $920.

Our wheelchair van, secured with a four point tie down. The client stays in their own chair for the whole trip.

How long is a wound care appointment?

The first one is the long one. Cape Cod Healthcare says a first wound care appointment lasts about 90 minutes. Follow up visits are usually shorter. Ask your own center for its estimate before you book the ride, because it decides whether the driver waits or drops off and comes back. If someone needs to stay with the client through the visit, that is home health aide care at $45 an hour.

Do wound care centers have evening or weekend hours?

Usually not. The wound care and hyperbaric medicine center at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield posts hours of Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, and states that no referral is needed. Weekday daytime is the normal pattern across these clinics. That matters for a working family, because it means the standing weekly slot has to come out of someone's work hours unless you arrange the ride and the escort.

Where exactly are these clinics?

Many of them sit inside a hospital building rather than on a street of their own, which changes where the van can pull in. The Springfield center is at 233 Carew Street, on the first floor of the Weldon Center. Cape Cod Healthcare runs wound care at 1 Trowbridge Place, Suite 200 in Bourne and at 905 Attucks Lane in Hyannis. Tell us the building and the floor when you book, not just the hospital name, and we will get the drop off right the first time.

Can the aide change the dressing at home instead?

No. Our aides are trained, background checked and insured, but they are not nurses. They do not change dressings, do not administer medication, including insulin, and do not make clinical judgments. A dressing change at home is skilled nursing. Cape Cod Healthcare notes that Visiting Nurse Association nurses can do dressing changes in the home. Ask your wound center for a home nursing referral. If a physician orders home health nursing and the patient qualifies, insurance may cover it, so ask before you pay anyone privately for it.

Is there a free or cheaper ride we should try first?

Yes, and you should. A weekly ride paid privately adds up fast, so work through these first:

• If the patient has MassHealth, ask the wound center to complete a PT-1 request so the rides are covered. A recurring course of treatment is exactly the situation that form exists for.
• Call the town Council on Aging. Many run a van for medical trips at low or no cost, and a standing weekly booking is easier for them to honor than a last minute one.
• Ask the wound center whether it has a patient navigator or social worker. They often know a local ride program you will not find on your own.
• If the patient can transfer into a regular car and has a willing family driver, you do not need us. Say so and we will tell you the same thing on the phone.

Where we help is the case those routes do not cover: a client who stays in their own wheelchair, a building with steps and no ramp, a strict appointment time, or a van that has to show up every single week without a missed trip.

What does it cost?

• Wheelchair accessible transportation: $115 each way, $230 round trip within five miles, then $2 a mile beyond that.
• Stair assistance: $200 a visit, two trained staff and an electric stair chair, for a home with steps and no ramp. Call us for the rated weight capacity of the chair.
• Home health aide care: $45 an hour, one to eight hours a day, no minimum contract, no assessment fee and no four hour minimum per visit. Three hours twice weekly runs about $1,170 a month.

Related pages: what wheelchair transportation costs in Massachusetts, free rides to medical appointments for seniors, and home care in Springfield, MA.

How do we book a standing weekly ride?

Call 781 957 8076 or email info@careremedyinc.com with the clinic name, the building and floor, the day and time, and how many weeks the course is expected to run. We operate from offices in Woburn, Springfield and Brockton.

Care Remedy is not affiliated with Mercy Medical Center, Cape Cod Healthcare, Healogics or any hospital named on this page. Clinic hours, addresses and scheduling practices change, so confirm them with the center. Anything about the wound itself, the dressings or what your insurance will pay belongs with your own doctor and your insurer.