If someone in Stoneham cannot get down their stairs, two trained staff can bring them down seated in a motorized stair chair and back up afterward. It is $200 a visit, and it does not need a week of notice.

What does Stoneham offer for free first?

The Stoneham Senior Center runs volunteer medical rides to nearby doctors and to MelroseWakefield and Winchester Hospitals, with at least eight business days notice. The center also lends out equipment such as transport chairs, wheelchairs and shower seats. Both are worth a call before you pay anyone. Ride options in Stoneham.

Neither one gets a person down a flight of stairs.

What goes wrong when families do it themselves?

• The appointment came up fast. A follow up is scheduled for next week and eight business days is not available.
• A borrowed chair, no crew. The family has a transport chair and still nobody who can safely take it down the steps.
• Hurt helpers. A son or daughter carries a parent down and injures their back, or both slip.
• Discharge day. The hospital is ready, and getting up the front steps is the one thing nobody planned.
• Skipped visits. Doctor, church and family events quietly stop because the stairs feel impossible.

The crew handles the steps and the hand off to the vehicle.

Who does the work?

Always two trained staff with a tracked stair chair. Care Remedy has served seniors and people with disabilities since 2019 and makes about 30,000 transportation trips a year from our Woburn office, one town over. Short notice requests are often possible.

What does it cost?

$200 a visit. Our wheelchair van is $115 each way within five miles, then $2 a mile. Medicare does not pay for stair help. What sometimes does.

What should you tell us when you book?

How many steps inside and out, whether they turn, who is driving, the person's weight, and manual or power wheelchair. We will give you the rated capacity on the phone.

We serve Stoneham from our Woburn office. Call 781-957-8076.