Ford's GoRide program aims to get Nana to the doctor on time
The Michigan-only program transports elderly patients from their home or nursing home to doctor's visits using Transit vans.
It's not easy getting old, particularly if you're unable to drive. How do you get to medical appointments if a family member isn't available to help? Well, Ford has a solution that might help your nana when she's got to get to the doctor's office, and it's called GoRide.
The service, which is operated in partnership with Beaumont Health in Michigan, is for nonemergencies only, but it could be a boon for the elderly population there. The service can be booked up to 30 days in advance and will pick up and shuttle the patient to and from one of 200 medical facilities throughout the state. It's not free, but at $45 to $60 per trip it's not wildly expensive and should be covered by most insurance plans.
Ford's GoRide program provides nonemergency medical transport to more than 200 facilities for elderly people in Michigan.
"There's no excuse for the fact that so many people have trouble simply making it to their medical appointments," Marion Harris, vice president of Ford's Mobility Business Group, said in a statement. "By merging our expertise in vehicles, technology and human-centered design, we've created a high-touch, patient-focused service that truly understands and is tailored to patients and their needs. Our service is focused on multiple social determinants of health, and delivers the quality of care and on-time certainty that medical facilities need in order to increase throughput and reduce wait times."
Ford has said that during the pilot program, drivers had a 92 percent on-time rate for pickup and drop-off and that the drivers are trained to work with nursing home staff in the event that a patient needs bedside-to-bedside service. The GoRide fleet currently has 15 Transit vans , chosen for their ability to facilitate wheelchair ramps, but plans to expand to 60 vehicles by the end of the year.