LCHC Enhanced Transportation Access for Primary Care Program

Comanche County is 22% rural with a poverty rate of 16.8%.  With high poverty rates and rural areas, transportation is a constant obstacle.  Expanding our locations is just another way LCHC is working to overcome transportation barriers. Transportation obstacles affect not only health care professionals but also residents seeking care.  Our Enhanced Transportation Access for Primary Care Program will provide transportation for primary care appointments, specialty appointments and for discharged homeless patients from CCMH.  This is just the beginning of where we would like to start with the program.

In the ten rural health clinics, of the 23,000 unique patients being served, as many as 1,150 patients are unable to establish critical appointments due to lack of transportation.  Situations where patients don’t have a car, the car they have is not suitable for long distance, or friends they depend on for transportation, hinder early detection of illness, life-saving tests and procedures.  With a small fleet of vehicles, patients will attend 3 to 5 appointments each year for a total of up to 5,750 visits over all thus providing quality healthcare to all patients in the rural areas of service. Certified volunteer drivers will operate vehicles to transport the patients to and from appointments that older adults are not scheduling due to the lack of transportation or complications due to disability.  With safe transportation, older adults can schedule appointments with confidence knowing they have safe and reliable transportation, and therefore diagnose illnesses early and receive quality treatment necessary to stay healthy and continue living independently.  By obtaining a healthy independent living, the cost of living will be lower and individuals and families will not face the burden to afford nursing care facility costs.

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