Looking for some help

[itku2er]

I am posting a link with permission of this young mans father, does anyone have any ideals how to help with this? You guys that do the interstate transfers and stuff are a lot more knowledgeable about this than I am. So any help would be greatly appreciated. This is a go fund me page but it has his story attached to the page. About his accident and how he ended up at the facility I currently work at.

 

https://www.gofundme.com/2perqmc

[medicgirl05]

This is interesting. I don't have a lot of advice, but here goes. The first thing is, does he actually need medical care(during transport) or just like hygiene things? In one of the updates the dad mentions finding an EMT or nurse to accompany him on a commercial flight for emergency medication administration...an EMT without a medical director is just a person. Without more details I'm thinking this option isn't realistic.

A private service near me took a patient 5 states away(20 hours one way), they took 4 medics and switched drivers every few hours. The family of the patient had plenty of money and offered enough money that the private service accepted it.

I think the first issue here is him having a place to go when he gets there, and I have no idea how that works. I'm sorry I couldn't offer more advice. Hopefully someone else will have some words of wisdom for this man.

Did he, or will he, receive and kind of settlement from the driver of the vehicle that hit him? That money could help.

 

[Just Plain Ruff]

I'm with Medicgirl

These are the steps i'd follow

1.  find out if there's a settlement coming?  sounds like he''s been in the LTC facility for a while so he should be getting some sort of settlement unless they didn't sue or something like that. 

2.  Find him a receiving facility where he's going.  That task is on his folks.  

3.  Start calling the transfer services - they are going to want to know a lot of info, such as distance, if he's on Oxygen, what kind of care he needs,  does he need meds and all that stuff. If he doesn't need meds then a basic crew would be fine to take him.  If he's on oxygen, the crews will need to make arrangements for replacement oxygen tanks.  It looks like in the picture he might need it.  

4.  Will the medical director sign off on such a long trip, especially when you are going way way out of state.  You will need to find a service that specializes in those types of transfers.  Not your local 911/transfer provider.  AMR or Rural Metro would be my first call if they are local to your area.  

 

I've transported a patient from KC Mo all the way to Seattle and we made arrangements with Apria healthcare so when we got low on oxygen, we just called their 800 number and they told us where the next town was with an Apria in it and they took care of us.  

don't forget bathroom and food breaks for the guy, Kind of difficult to transport someone who has a very special diet so you might be looking into a specialized transport unit with someone who can take care of this guy's needs.  Not sure if the transfer ems crew is ready to change diapers and all that.  

Our patient was a 26 year old cancer patient going to a specialized cancer treatment up in Seattle.  

Needless to say, this is a terribly long trip for anyone to take this guy on.  He's likely not to tolerate it very well.  

Not sure if I remember how far he was needing to go but back when we did our transport it was nearly 2000 dollars and that was 1992.  I'm sure it's at least double or triple or even higher.  

[paramatt_]

I'm working outside the US, but have a bit of knowledge of transfer/retrieval services. It's quite common to have lower acuity pt's that require similar transports both domestically and internationally. The first thing I'd be fuguring out what services / care is required during transport as some of the others suggested as there will obviously be additional costs depending  on staffing requirements. The referring dr should be able to give guidance on that.

A quick Google of 'United Sates domestic medical transfers' brought up a good list of companies that specialise in such work...once you know what he needs during transport you should be able to contact them directly for quotes. A good provider should be able to arrange all the transfers and liaison work between the the sending and receiving facilities 

[itku2er]

Thanks Guys. I passed this site address to his dad. Some of theses questions you all asked  I don't know the answer too. Thanks for the all the help.

[ClutzyEMT]

Haven't gone to the link yet but by reading some of the responses I thought of a couple organizations that they may or may not qualify for if they are in a financially compromised situation at this time~

http://www.angelflight.com/

http://mercymedical.org/

After going to the link and reading his updates, it looks like he has contacted one of the above sites but is having insurance issues  and trouble with medicaid. If you are in contact with him itku2er pass along this link as well~~http://www.accesstohealthcare.org/services-individuals/resources-seniors-and-people-with-disabilities

Not sure if he has already tried it, but it may help him with some of his issues? I wish him luck and can't imagine there wouldn't be some type of lawsuit from in injury like that, but then again, the driver of the car may have not had insurance so there is that...ugh....terrible deal all the way around~~

 

Edited March 1, 2017 by ClutzyEMT
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