How to get outpatient surgery while all alone?

February 21, 2024 11:03 AM

Due to a series of unfortunate events, I need to get some outpatient surgery done. However, I am not in a location with any friends, or family available to help.

The surgery center has indicated that I either need to come up with somebody to take me home and stay with me for a day, or cancel the surgery. Travel is impractical in my current condition. The timeline is very short, with a surgery scheduled for Friday

What can I do? I’m willing to hire an aid or a nurse or something similar, but I have no idea how to go about that. I appreciate any ideas!

posted by whisk(e)y neat to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

Where are you located?

Also can you ask the hospital for to aid you in finding assistance?
posted by greta simone at 11:04 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]

Can you say more about the social situation where you are? Are you in an unfamiliar area or just somewhere where you have limited social connections?

If the latter, I would try neighbors, posting on Facebook (on your feed plus a neighborhood group) and Nextdoor, asking both if anyone was willing or if they knew somewhere to hire someone.

You may also want to call taxi companies/car services--insurance will pay for transportation to/from appointments in some situations--but it sounds like having a ride home may not be sufficient.
posted by hoyland at 11:07 AM on February 21 [1 favorite]

Best answer: In a similar situation, my friend contacted a local home health care agency. They arranged for someone who could meet her at the surgery center, take her home and stay for an hour and then a second person who stayed overnight. Just search for "In-home care" or "home health care" and you should find a number of options.
posted by metahawk at 11:09 AM on February 21 [36 favorites]

Medical transport, non-emergency medical transportation - these are services that exist in most parts of the US at least, not sure where you are. And yes, the surgery center may have recommendations/connections - have you said to them, "I will need to hire an aide or something to pick me up, do you have a recommended agency?"
posted by mskyle at 11:19 AM on February 21 [8 favorites]

Best answer: I've used care.com to hire house cleaners; it seems like a place you might find help for this.
posted by Dashy at 11:56 AM on February 21 [1 favorite]

I was in a similar situation recently. Kidney stone surgery. They insisted I don't drive home. I suggest Uber ride. They said not allowed. I actually postponed surgery until my kindly neighbor returned home from a vacation and he took me and waited for me. It was a month postponement.
posted by Czjewel at 12:00 PM on February 21

Best answer: In a similar situation, my friend contacted a local home health care agency.

This. My wife works at a home healthcare agency and this is definitely something they would do. Plus, they are licensed and insured.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:57 PM on February 21 [7 favorites]

Best answer: This is not just about a ride, by the way, OP needs to have supervision for 24 hours.
posted by soelo at 3:20 PM on February 21

Best answer: Soelo...Yes, I too required supervision for 4 hours. I guess the length of time required depends on the type of surgery.
posted by Czjewel at 3:48 PM on February 21

I've had to do this twice in the last 15 years or so. Home healthcare is the most direct way to go.

In both cases, the person drove me to the clinic, sat in the waiting area while it happened, took me back home afterwards. Stayed with me for a while at home.

The clinic would not do the procedure unless the person was there at check-in, signing in with me, so that was a hard requirement. Once we left for home, there was no follow-up.

Cost ran around $300 or so, wasn't covered by insurance. (Yes, I'm in the U.S.)

The healthcare provider in one case offered a social worker to coordinate things, in that particular case, the social worker wasn't much help. I had to put together the services by myself.
posted by gimonca at 5:56 AM on February 22 [1 favorite]

Best answer: This is not just about a ride, by the way, OP needs to have supervision for 24 hours.

Once again, Home health care to the rescue.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:27 AM on February 22

Response by poster: Just a follow up, a home healthcare agency was able to provide me with transportation, oversight, and care for a day. That all worked perfectly, and I am very grateful for y’all’s assistance in finding them.
posted by whisk(e)y neat at 11:54 AM on February 25 [2 favorites]