COMPASSIONATE TRANSPORT FOR ST. LOUIS’ ELDERLY AND MENTALLY ILL

SSM assists the elderly as well as those with special needs, severe mental illnesses and special conditions. They serve particularly large populations of these patients at three of their outpatient care locations:

• Mary’s Hospital in Richmond Heights, Missouri (St. Louis County)
• DePaul Health Center in north St. Louis, Missouri
• Joseph Hospital in St. Charles, Missouri (metro St. Louis area)

These patients often come from residential care facilities or nursing homes and depend heavily on SSM’s services. But they have great difficulty getting to and from appointments.

Without transportation help, “A very needy patient population that desperately needs these services would not be able to get these services,” said Matt Davis, Network Director for SSM Healthcare.

Transportation solutions and results

SSM contracted with Express Medical Transporters, and we created a custom transportation program for SSM. As a result, Express Medical Transporters has been able to provide transportation as an extra service to their patients. Each day, we provide close to 100 rides for SSM’s patients.

“There are other services out there, but none of them could provide the same level of service EMT provides with the population,” Davis said. “They have drivers who interact with patients, form relationships with them that are critical — they represent SSM.”

We have provided dedicated, highly trained field service representatives (FSRs) to assist SSM’s patients. Operating as an extension of SSM services, our FSRs are the first and last people that patients see when visiting SSM.

“On a regular basis, their drivers go above and beyond to actually engage in patients’ lives and daily routines,” said Davis, “I’ve heard countless stories about how drivers have gone above and beyond.”