Good morning folks, We've just had someone reach out to us, looking for ideas on how to get a patient to and from treatment in northern Illinois. Wife's work is giving her loads of grief for taking any time off. Does anyone know of an organization that helps cancer patients get to and from daily treatment? Thanks

Look into your local chapter of the American Cancer Society...many have volunteers that do this very thing on a volunteer basis.

Good luck!

Also check with your treatment facility..they may have some good leads since they probably see people everyday with the same need.

I know the nurses in the chemo infusion unit helped us with a couple of things that were not actually in the scope of their jobs.

Thank you Deb, will pass this on. And God love oncology nurses, they are truly special!!!

Also try local houses of worship - some may be willing to help even if the patient is not affiliated.

I was going to say the same thing... cancer society, or hospital. If it's distant travel then most ccc's have hope lodges to stay at during the week.

best of luck.

I stayed at Hope Lodge, as Cheyrld mentioned is an idea. It's impressive here in NYC, and free. You have to be one hour away travel time to qualify, not overseas lol, so you can be local, and the traffic in NYC, makes almost everyone qualify. In addition to the above, if your area has public transportation, they most likely are required to have paratransit for those disabled. You can get temporary designation of disability during treatment, and receive door to door service to treatments, and in NYC can go anywhere to food shop, etc for the same price as the normal fare that is $2.25

Some insurances may pay for Ambulance or ambulette service to and from treatments. Some medicare advantage plans do, medicare, Medicaid, and probably others.

[quote=AnaD]Good morning folks, We've just had someone reach out to us, looking for ideas on how to get a patient to and from treatment in northern Illinois. Wife's work is giving her loads of grief for taking any time off. Does anyone know of an organization that helps cancer patients get to and from daily treatment? Thanks [/quote]

Does the patient not have any neighbors, friends or family? I had someone lined up every day of the week to take John to his radiation treatments. I carry the insurance for us as he owns his own business and I couldn't take time off from work to drive him back and forth every day. Radiation treatments don't take that long. People are more willing to help out than you would think. I also applied for "Family Medical Leave" to cover the time I missed. Legally you can't be disciplined or terminated when you are the "caregiver" and have "Family Medical Leave".