Tips for Caregivers

Arranging for Medical Appointments

Your elderly parent may have to see several different doctors to treat her ailments and maintain her health, but she is often unable to get to these appointments on her own. She may forget to schedule necessary visits and sometimes she may even miss her appointments. You can't leave work to handle the arrangements, so what do you do?

Here are some tips to help you schedule doctor's visits, arrange for safe transportation, and give you peace of mind:

1. Establish a good relationship with your parent's primary doctor who will also be referring her for other medical care. Request that he schedule your parent's visits in advance and advise you of her appointments. Keep a calendar of these appointments to help you plan ahead for assistance.
   
   
2. VNS Partners in Care Program provides ambulatory escort services for elderly family members or disabled seniors. Upon request, a licensed home health aide will accompany your elderly parent to and from the doctor or dentist, outpatient testing procedures, and same-day surgical procedures. Your parent must be self-directed - alert and oriented - to take advantage of this private-pay service, which is not covered under Medicare/Medicaid. The home health aide will not only act as an escort, but will also settle your parent comfortably upon return from the doctor's visit. Partners in Care aides can also bring your parent home from the hospital and watch her until her primary caregiver returns.
   
   
3. If you have already contracted for private-pay home health care for your elderly parent through VNS Partners in Care, contact your nurse care manager to help schedule doctor visits and medical testing procedures and to arrange aide-assisted transportation to and from the visits.
   
   
4. Contact Senior Corps (1-800-424-8867), a network of national service programs that provides free assistance in the form of transportation to medical appointments, as well as grocery shopping and bill paying, through its Senior Companion Program. Senior companions, 55 years and older, are an excellent social stimulus for the elderly and relate well because of similar life experiences. There are Senior Companion Programs in Queens (718-380-3000 ext. 365), Brooklyn (718-642-8528), Bronx (718-430-0847), Manhattan (212-406-5044), Nassau/Suffolk (631-493-0847) and Suffolk County (631-447-6460 ext. 102).
   
   
5. Contact AmeriCorps (1-800-942-2677), a network of national and community-based public and private programs that serve communities in many ways. Some of the free services AmeriCorps volunteers provide are visiting the elderly and taking them to and from doctor's appointments.
   
   
6. For your elderly family member who simply needs transportation to and from the doctor and other medical appointments, call the Eldercare Locator (1-800-677-1116; www.eldercare.org) to find your area agency on aging for information on vans, buses, and private drivers who provide service to the elderly. Some vans are able to take wheelchairs.