If someone in Winchester cannot manage 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 we come from our Woburn office next door.

Why is this a Winchester problem?

Close to 40 percent of the town's homes were built before 1940, and most are single family houses with the bedrooms upstairs. Many sit up from the street with front walks and porch steps. Families rarely want to leave a house like that, so the stairs become the thing that decides whether a parent can stay.

Doesn't the Jenks Center handle rides?

It handles the ride, and it is a good first call for Winchester seniors 60 and over. The Jenks Center asks for at least two business days notice and routes medical trips to a wheelchair accessible van service. What a ride service does not do is bring someone down an interior staircase. That part is still yours. Ride options in Winchester.

What goes wrong when families do it themselves?

• The van is booked, the stairs are not. The ride arrives on time and nobody can get the person to the door.
• Stuck upstairs after surgery. A parent home from Winchester Hospital or Lahey stays on the second floor for weeks.
• Hurt helpers. An adult child carries a parent down and injures their back, or both fall.
• The stairlift gap. A curved rail costs thousands and takes weeks. The appointment is Thursday.
• Quiet withdrawal. Dinners, church and family visits stop because getting out feels like too much.

Two staff, one motorized chair, and the client seated the whole way.

Who does the work?

Always two trained staff. Care Remedy has served seniors and people with disabilities since 2019 and makes about 30,000 transportation trips a year. The crew can hand off to the Jenks Center van, a family car, or our own wheelchair van.

What does it cost?

$200 a visit. Our wheelchair van, if you need it, 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 the staircase turns, who is driving, the person's weight, and manual or power wheelchair. We will give you the rated capacity on the phone.

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