If you’ve ever been in the position of caring for an aging parent while trying to juggle a full-time job, you know the kind of mental gymnastics it takes to make the pieces fit. My mom has always been a strong, independent woman — the kind who never asked for help and insisted on carrying all the grocery bags herself, even well into her 70s. But time has a way of humbling all of us, and over the last few years, her health has quietly but steadily declined.
She’s 83 now. Arthritis has settled deep into her joints, especially her knees and hips, and a mild stroke two years ago left her balance a little shaky. She uses a cane to get around these days, and even short trips from the living room to the kitchen can be an adventure. On her good days, she’ll remind me that she “feels fine, just slower.” On the not-so-good days, her legs won’t cooperate at all, and I’ll find her sitting in her chair looking small in a way that still catches me off guard.
One of the biggest challenges lately has been getting her to her medical appointments. And there are a lot of them. Between her primary care physician, a cardiologist, her arthritis specialist, and a rotating list of physical therapists, it feels like her calendar is more booked than mine. Some months, we’re talking about six or seven appointments. I wish I could drop everything and drive her myself, but like most people in San Francisco, I have a demanding job that doesn’t always allow me the flexibility to leave in the middle of the day.
At first, I did what most people do: I tried the usual suspects. I scheduled Ubers. I booked Lyfts. I even called a couple of old-fashioned taxi companies thinking, surely, one of these would work. But each time, the same problem popped up: the drivers weren’t set up to help her from the door to the car. Mom can’t just step out onto the sidewalk and hop in like she used to. She needs help navigating the front steps, steadying herself as she gets into the vehicle, and making sure she has her cane, her purse, her medication — the whole production.
More than once, I’d get a call from her, sitting on the porch, saying the car had pulled up, but she couldn’t manage the last part of the journey on her own. Some drivers would wait, some wouldn’t. Some would honk and expect her to rush out. I couldn’t blame them, really — they weren’t hired for door-to-door assistance. But it just wasn’t safe for her. One particularly bad day, she actually tripped trying to rush to a waiting Lyft, and though thankfully she wasn’t hurt, it was the last straw for me. I knew I had to find something better.
I spent more evenings than I care to admit falling down Google rabbit holes, typing things like “senior transportation San Francisco” and “help for elderly getting to appointments.” I found a handful of shuttle services and some city-based paratransit options, but the waitlists were long, the scheduling was rigid, and it didn’t solve the root of the problem: Mom needed someone who could come to the door, help her get to the car, and walk her all the way into the clinic or office — not just drop her at the curb and wave goodbye.
The weight of it all was starting to wear on me. I’d lie awake at night worrying about what might happen if she slipped on the sidewalk when no one was there to catch her. I started trying to shift my work hours around, using vacation days for routine doctor visits, which as you can imagine wasn’t sustainable.
That’s when a conversation at work changed everything. I was venting to a coworker — one of those conversations where you start with “how’s your mom doing?” and next thing you know, you’re pouring your heart out over your half-eaten salad. My friend nodded along, then said, “You know, we had the same problem with my dad. He can’t walk well either, and I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to get him to his appointments when I couldn’t be there. But we found this service that actually specializes in senior transportation.”
She went on to explain that it wasn’t like Uber or Lyft. The drivers weren’t random people trying to earn a few bucks between errands. They were trained to work specifically with seniors and people with mobility issues. They actually come to the front door, help the person out of the house, assist them into the car, and — here’s the part that sealed it for me — walk them into the building and make sure they’re checked in before leaving. It was like a huge weight lifted off my chest just hearing that such a service existed.
Of course, I was still skeptical. We’d had enough false starts that I wasn’t about to get my hopes up without doing some digging. So I called the company, asked about their services, and liked everything I heard. The drivers undergo background checks, they’re trained to help passengers with canes, walkers, or wheelchairs, and they genuinely understand that seniors sometimes need more time and patience to get from Point A to Point B.
The first ride we scheduled was a cardiology appointment at UCSF. I made sure to call my mom right before the pickup to see how it was going. When the driver arrived, he didn’t just pull up and wait for her to appear — he parked the car, walked to her front door, greeted her by name, and patiently helped her lock up the house, navigate the steps, and get comfortably seated. When they arrived at the clinic, he didn’t just stop at the drop-off zone. He escorted her inside, helped her check in, and even stayed with her until the receptionist confirmed they’d notify him when she was done.
When I called her after the appointment, she sounded more at ease than she had in months. “He was so nice,” she told me. “It wasn’t rushed at all, and I felt safe the whole time.” I think that was the first time in a long while that I didn’t feel the familiar guilt of not being able to do everything myself.
Now, it’s just part of our routine. Whenever an appointment pops up on her calendar, I schedule a ride through the service. I still take her when I can, of course — those drives are valuable mother-daughter time, even if we’re just talking about what we saw on the news that morning. But on the days when I can’t, I know she’s in good hands.
If you’re in a similar situation, trying to balance work, family, and caring for an aging parent, I can’t recommend looking into these senior transportation services enough. It’s one of those things nobody really talks about until you’re neck-deep in it, but once you know it’s out there, it can make an enormous difference — not just for your parent’s safety, but for your peace of mind.
Caring for an elderly loved one is hard enough without the added worry of how they’re going to get from home to their doctor safely. I’m so grateful my coworker shared her story with me, and I’m even more grateful that services like this exist for families like ours.
