Transportation: Charter Health Care Transportation

Rating 2 out of 5 stars

Charter Health Transportation

If you are insured through Charter Health, you can get door-to-door transportation for medical appointments and subsidized Metro fares.  Charter requires that rides are scheduled 48 hours in advance. Call 202-408-4728 or toll free at 1-800-375-3485 to schedule your ride.

Website: Here is info about their transportation services. Here is a pdf document that has their contact information for transportation services. Here is their main page.

Criteria: Charter Health insurance carrier, DC resident.

Geography: DC

Tricks of the Trade:

1. To make a reservation call the above number Monday - Friday from 7 am to 6 pm.
2. They ask for 2 days advanced notice but are usually able to schedule with 24 hours notice.
3. When they used to provide bus tokens, they would mail them to patients.  I'm not sure if they mail metro cards to patients now.  If you know, please leave a comment.

Please leave a comment.  How well does this service get your patients to and from their medical appointments?  What do your patients say about their experience?  How would you rate this resource?

Transportation: Medical Transportation Management (MTM)

Medical Transportation Management or MTM

MTM provides free door-to-door transportation for DC Medicaid patients.  A Social Worker has to complete the application on the patient's behalf.

Rides should be scheduled about 3 days before the patient’s appointment.  To schedule a ride call 1-866-796-0601. Each patient is allowed one caregiver to accompany them to their appointment.  Please inform the MTM operator when scheduling your appointment if a caregiver will accompany you.

Website: Main site.  I'm not positive that this is the site for DC patients.  I know this service provider is nationwide and can't find a website for their DC office.

Criteria: This service is only for DC residents with DC Medicaid.

Tricks of the Trade:

1. MTM gets a 1 out of 5.  They are almost always late.  Sometimes pick up other patients en route, which can create a major delay and the patients frequently complain about the attitude of the driver and the cleanliness of the vehicle. I honestly feel bad referring people to MTM but sometimes that is all there is.

Do you know of their DC website?  Have you had similarly bad experiences or perhaps you've had good experiences   Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Food: Food and Friends

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

People are often referred to me for "financial assistance."  When I realized there was very little I could do to put more cash in people's hands, I began to problem solve.  Which of their expenses could I help them cut so they could have more cash?  I found myself asking them about all sorts of issues and found that Food and Friends was one of the best resources I could offer.  If someone can save 50-100 dollars per month on food, they would have more money for the other important items they needed.

Website: http://www.foodandfriends.org

Criteria: Have a diagnosis of cancer (any type) or HIV/AIDS.  Here is their eligibility check list.

Geography: They serve people in DC, MD and Northern Virginia.

Tricks of the Trade:

1. Quin Grier (sGrier (at) foodandfriends (dot) org) the intake coordinator is awesome.  Call her with any questions.  She returns messages quickly and is very knowledgeable about other services if your clients doesn't meet the qualifying criteria for Food and Friends.
2. The food has to be handed off to a person and cannot be left on a door step or stoop in an apartment building.  Make sure the client understands this and has someone who can pick up the food if they are unable for some reason.
3. The client can choose from prepared meals or groceries.  I've found that some people prefer to cook their own food, as would I.

Has Quin been as big a help to you as she has to me?  Did you know they served people with only HIV/AIDS and cancer?  Leave a comment...make this post better.