Care Remedy provides wheelchair accessible transportation, rides to and from procedures that require sedation, and PCA and in home care throughout the City of Boston. We work in every neighborhood, from Charlestown and East Boston to Hyde Park and West Roxbury, and we are set up for the part of the trip that most services skip: the stairs, the front door, the waiting room, and the ride home afterward.

Boston is a hard city to age in if you cannot walk well. Half of the housing stock was built before 1940. About 76 percent of the city's residential buildings are one, two, or three family homes, which is to say buildings that were never built with an elevator. Roughly 29 percent of Bostonians over 65 have an ambulatory disability, meaning trouble walking or climbing stairs. Put those facts together and you get the situation we are called about most: someone who needs to be at Brigham and Women's at 8:00 in the morning, and three flights of triple decker stairs between the bedroom and the curb.

What we do in Boston

Wheelchair accessible transportation

Our vans are equipped with ramps and four point tie down systems, and our drivers are trained to secure a chair properly rather than improvising with a lap belt. A rider can stay in their own wheelchair for the entire trip. We also carry a stair chair, which is what makes the difference in Boston housing. A driver who can only meet you at the curb is not much help when the person lives on the third floor of a walk up in Dorchester, or behind the raised entry stairs of a South End row house, or on the north slope of Beacon Hill where the brick sidewalks are protected historic fabric and are not going to be regraded.

We handle dialysis schedules, infusion appointments, specialist visits, hospital discharges, rehab admissions and discharges, family events, and trips to the airport. We take one rider at a time. Nobody is riding around Boston for an extra hour while the van picks up three other people.

Transportation for procedures that require sedation

If you are having a colonoscopy, an endoscopy, a cardiac catheterization, an eye procedure, or oral surgery, the facility will not discharge you to a taxi, a rideshare, or the MBTA. Nearly every Boston hospital and surgical center requires a responsible adult who will be identified by name, will remain reachable during the procedure, will take verbal and written discharge instructions from the nurse, and will physically accompany you home. That is a real requirement and procedures get canceled at the door over it every week.

Care Remedy fills that role. We bring you in, we stay for the duration, we take the discharge instructions, and we get you home and inside, not just to the front steps. If you live alone, we can stay for the afternoon or overnight while the sedation wears off. Post procedure support is staffed by the hour with no fixed packages, so you pay for the hours you actually need.

PCA services and in home care

Care Remedy holds a MassHealth Personal Care Management contract, which means we are one of the agencies MassHealth uses to help members through the PCA program. If a family member qualifies for MassHealth and needs hands on help with bathing, dressing, transfers, toileting, mobility, or eating, the PCA program can pay for that care, and in many cases it can pay a family member who is already doing the work unpaid. The paperwork is where most families give up. Evaluation, functional assessment, hours approval, surrogate designation, and payroll enrollment are each their own step. That is the part we do with you.

Separately from the PCA program, we staff private duty home care by the hour: personal care, meal preparation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, companionship, overnight coverage, and support after a hospital or rehab stay. Many Boston families use both, with PCA hours covering the core personal care and private hours covering the evenings, weekends, and appointment days that the approved hours do not reach.

What The RIDE does not do

The RIDE is a genuinely valuable public service and a great deal of the time it is the right choice. It is inexpensive, it covers 58 cities and towns, and for a standing weekly appointment booked well in advance it works. We are not trying to talk anyone out of it. But there are specific things it is not built to do, and those gaps are why families in Boston call us.

The first is timing. The MBTA states plainly that trips must be scheduled one to five days in advance, that "same day requests can't be accommodated," and that trips cannot be booked after 5 PM for travel the following day. So a Tuesday appointment has to be booked by 5 PM Monday at the latest. A hospital discharge that happens on a Thursday afternoon, a Friday morning slot that opened up because someone canceled, a next day change made after supper, none of these fit inside that window.

The second is the pickup window. Riders are told to be ready at the start of a 30 minute pickup window, and the trip is not considered late until that full 30 minutes has passed. The driver then waits up to five minutes after arriving before dispatch clears them to leave. If you are not there, it counts as a no show. For a person who needs help getting from a third floor apartment to the front door, thirty minutes of standing readiness and a five minute grace period is a hard standard to meet.

The third is the door itself, and this is the one that matters most in Boston. The RIDE's drivers assist door to door, meaning to and from the vehicle. They do not go inside a home or past a building's main lobby, even when the rider has a PCA, and as of the August 2025 service changes they no longer carry riders' personal items. That is a reasonable policy for a public transit agency. It also means that in a city where three quarters of the buildings are one to three family homes, the flight of stairs between the apartment and the sidewalk is nobody's job. It is where the trip actually breaks down.

The fourth is cost on the trips that fall outside the core. The RIDE charges a premium fare when either end of the trip is more than three quarters of a mile from MBTA bus or subway service, or when you change a reservation after 5 PM for next day service. At current fares that is $5.60 each way instead of $3.35, so a round trip to a specialist in a suburban office park runs $11.20 rather than $6.70. Riders also need enough money in the account to cover the full fare before a trip can be booked at all, which occasionally strands someone whose balance ran out mid month.

RIDE Flex, the on demand option delivered through Uber and Lyft, closes the same day gap but not the mobility gap. The MBTA is upfront that with Flex "we can't guarantee that drivers will provide door to door service." There is a monthly allocation of subsidized trips that does not roll over, and the rider pays anything above $43.

The city's own programs have edges too. The Age Strong Shuttle is free for Boston residents 60 and older and it is wheelchair accessible, but it is for non emergency medical appointments within the City of Boston and it needs advance notice, so it does not solve a same day need or a trip to a specialist in Burlington or Norwood. The taxi coupon program for residents 65 and older reduces a fare by a dollar per voucher, capped at four books a month, which helps with a short errand and does not touch the cost of a long medical trip.

Care Remedy exists in those gaps. We take same day and next morning calls, we schedule around the appointment rather than around a pickup window, one rider at a time, and we start at the apartment door rather than the curb.

Where we take Boston residents

These are facilities we drive to regularly, all currently open under the names listed.

Hospitals. Massachusetts General Hospital in the West End, Brigham and Women's Hospital in Longwood, Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on Brookline Avenue, Boston Medical Center in the South End, Tufts Medical Center on Washington Street, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Longwood, Boston Children's Hospital, New England Baptist Hospital on Parker Hill Avenue in Mission Hill, Mass Eye and Ear on Charles Street, Boston Medical Center Brighton on Cambridge Street, and both VA Boston campuses, the Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center on South Huntington Avenue and the West Roxbury VA Medical Center on VFW Parkway.

Carney Hospital in Dorchester closed permanently in August 2024, and the former St. Elizabeth's in Brighton is now Boston Medical Center Brighton. If your records still say Carney or St. Elizabeth's, your appointments have moved, and we can tell you where the department you need went.

Dialysis. DaVita Boston Dialysis on Harrison Avenue in the South End, Fresenius Kidney Care Roxbury on Warren Street, Fresenius Kidney Care on Commonwealth Avenue near Audubon Circle, DCI at Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain, and DCI Boston on Kneeland Street next to Tufts. Dialysis is the schedule that punishes lateness most, and it is the one we build standing weekly runs around.

Infusion and cancer care. Dana-Farber's Longwood campus, Dana-Farber Brighton at Boston Medical Center, the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute at both Mass General and Brigham and Women's, the Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess, the Boston Medical Center Cancer Center in the Moakley Building, and the Tufts Medical Center Chemotherapy and Infusion Center on Washington Street.

Rehab and skilled nursing. Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center on Centre Street in Roslindale, Sherrill House on South Huntington Avenue in Jamaica Plain, The Boston Home on Dorchester Avenue, and the German Centre on Centre Street in West Roxbury.

Community health centers. NeighborHealth in East Boston, which is the former East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Codman Square Health Center, DotHouse Health, Upham's Corner Health Center, Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, Bowdoin Street Health Center, Daniel Driscoll Neponset Health Center and Geiger Gibson Community Health Center in Dorchester, Mattapan Community Health Center, Whittier Street Health Center and The Dimock Center in Roxbury, Brookside Community Health Center and Southern Jamaica Plain Community Health Center, Greater Roslindale Medical and Dental Center, South Boston Community Health Center, Charles River Community Health in Brighton, South Cove Community Health Center in Chinatown, NEW Health in Charlestown and the North End, and Fenway Health on Boylston Street.

Neighborhoods we serve

Allston, Back Bay, Bay Village, Beacon Hill, Brighton, Charlestown, Chinatown, Dorchester, Downtown, East Boston, Fenway and Kenmore, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Longwood, Mattapan, Mission Hill, the North End, Roslindale, Roxbury, South Boston, the South End, the West End, and West Roxbury. We also serve the surrounding communities, so a Boston resident going to Lahey in Burlington, Mount Auburn in Cambridge, or a rehab facility on the South Shore is a normal trip for us and not an exception. Hyde Park, Mattapan, West Roxbury, and East Boston are as routine for us as Back Bay. We do not assign coverage by which office is nearest and we do not charge more because a neighborhood sits further out.

Senior housing we know well

We pick up regularly at Boston Housing Authority elderly and disabled developments including Ausonia Apartments in the North End, Torre Unidad and Eva White and St. Botolph Street in the South End, Patricia White Apartments in Brighton, Amory Street in Jamaica Plain, Walnut Park and the Martin Luther King Apartments in Roxbury, Foley Apartments in South Boston, Roslyn in Roslindale, Rockland Towers in West Roxbury, Malone Apartments in Hyde Park, Hassan Apartments in Mattapan, and Heritage Apartments in East Boston.

One thing worth knowing: an elderly designation does not guarantee an elevator. Several BHA elderly and disabled developments have none, including Pond Street in Jamaica Plain, Spring Street in West Roxbury, General Warren in Charlestown, West Ninth Street in South Boston, Franklin Field, Ashmont and Annapolis in Dorchester, Groveland in Mattapan, John J. Carroll in Brighton, and Davison Apartments in Hyde Park. If your parent is in one of those buildings on an upper floor, stairs are part of every single medical appointment, and that is exactly the problem our stair chair is for.

We also serve Rogerson Communities properties including Beacon House and Peter Faneuil House on Beacon Hill, Hong Lok House in Chinatown, Council Tower and Spencer House in Roxbury, Farnsworth House and Cooper House in Jamaica Plain, and Roslindale House and Longfellow House in Roslindale, along with the 2Life Communities Brighton campus.

Questions Boston families ask us

My mother's records still say Carney Hospital. Where does she go now?

Carney closed on August 31, 2024 after the Steward Health Care bankruptcy, and it is not reopening. Dorchester and Mattapan patients were absorbed mostly by Boston Medical Center in the South End, Beth Israel Deaconess, and the Dorchester community health centers, and each specialty went somewhere slightly different. If you are holding a referral that names Carney, call the referring doctor's office before the appointment date rather than showing up. We drive to all of the receiving sites, so wherever the department landed, the ride is not the problem.

My father lives on the third floor of a triple decker with no elevator. Can you actually get him down?

Yes. This is the single most common call we get in Dorchester, Roxbury, Mission Hill, and East Boston. Boston built something like 15,000 triple deckers between 1880 and 1930 and almost none of them have an elevator. We use a stair chair, which is a mobility device designed for carrying a seated person down a staircase in a controlled way, operated by trained staff. Narrow turns, a tight landing, and a steep pitch are normal conditions for us rather than reasons to decline the job. Tell us the number of flights and whether there is a turn at the landing when you book, and we will send the right equipment and the right number of people.

The RIDE told me they cannot take us tomorrow. Can you?

Usually yes. The RIDE's rules close next day booking at 5 PM the evening before and rule out same day requests entirely, which is the constraint most families run into. We take same day and next morning calls and we schedule the pickup around the appointment time. Call 781-957-8076 and tell us the appointment time, the address, the floor, and whether a wheelchair is involved.

My colonoscopy is at Beth Israel and they say I need a responsible adult. Is that you?

Yes, and it is one of the main things we do. We check you in, we stay on site while you are in the procedure, we receive the discharge instructions from the nurse in person, and we bring you home and get you settled inside. Every Boston endoscopy unit we work with accepts a professional escort in this role. Book a few days ahead if you can, because sedation escorts get requested heavily on Monday and Friday mornings.

Does MassHealth or Medicare pay for the ride?

It depends on the trip. Medicare generally does not cover non emergency medical transportation. MassHealth does cover some medically necessary transportation through its own PT-1 process, which is separate from what we bill privately, and eligibility and approval run through the member's provider. Many of our Boston rides are paid privately, at an hourly or per trip rate quoted before the trip so there are no surprises. What is often coverable is the care itself rather than the ride: if the person is MassHealth eligible and needs hands on personal care, the PCA program may pay for those hours. Call us and we will tell you honestly which pieces are likely to be covered and which are not.

How does the PCA program work, and can a family member get paid?

The MassHealth Personal Care Attendant program pays for hands on help with daily activities for members who need physical assistance, and in many cases the person hired as the PCA can be an adult family member, though not a spouse or a legal guardian of an adult. The member is the employer. A Personal Care Management agency, which is what Care Remedy is, handles the evaluation, the functional skills training, and the ongoing management, and a separate fiscal intermediary handles payroll. The delay is almost always in getting the evaluation scheduled and the paperwork complete. We do that part with families rather than mailing them a packet.

What happens on a snow day?

Boston puts the duty to clear sidewalks on the abutting property owner, within three hours after the snow stops or three hours after sunrise for overnight snow, with a 42 inch wide path required for wheelchairs. In practice, on a street of two and three family homes, the quality of the path from the front door to the curb depends on whichever neighbor owns the house next door. Our drivers arrive with the expectation of clearing the last stretch themselves, and we plan extra time on storm days for dialysis and infusion runs, which are the appointments that cannot simply be moved to next week.

Local resources for Boston seniors

The Age Strong Commission is Boston's council on aging, area agency on aging, and city commission for older adults, all in one department. Reach them at 617-635-4366, Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. They handle Medicare and health insurance counseling, benefits applications including SNAP and fuel assistance, and referrals. The Age Strong Shuttle books at 617-635-3000, and taxi coupon books are sold at City Hall, Room 271.

Boston ElderINFO at 617-292-6211 is the single number that routes you to the right aging services access point. Boston is served by three: Boston Senior Home Care at 617-451-6400 covering Beacon Hill, Charlestown, Chinatown, Dorchester, Downtown, East Boston, Mattapan, the North End, South Boston, and the West End; Central Boston Elder Services at 617-277-7416 covering Allston, Brighton, Back Bay, Fenway, Mission Hill, North Dorchester, North Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, and the South End; and Ethos at 617-522-6700 covering Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Roslindale, and West Roxbury. If your neighborhood appears on two lists, call ElderINFO and let them route you.

Senior centers include the East Boston Senior Center on Bayswater Street at 617-961-3131, the Veronica B. Smith Senior Center in Brighton at 617-635-6120, currently operating out of Brighton One on Warren Street during renovations, BCYF Grove Hall Senior Center on Geneva Avenue in Dorchester at 617-635-1484, and the BCYF Beverly Gibbons Community Center for Older Adults on Main Street in Charlestown at 617-635-5175. The Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center on Kneeland Street serves Chinatown and has sites at Quincy Tower, Hong Lok House, and in Brighton.

The RIDE books through TRAC at 844-427-7433, daily from 8:30 to 5, and customer support is 617-222-3200.

Call us

If someone in your family needs a ride to dialysis in Roxbury on Monday, a way down three flights in Dorchester, an escort for a procedure at Tufts, or help getting a MassHealth PCA approved, call Care Remedy at 781-957-8076 . Tell us the appointment, the address, and the floor. We will tell you what we can do, what it costs, and whether one of the public programs would serve you better, because sometimes it will.