New transportation program for some patients at Humboldt District Hospital 

By By Doug Lett

Unique transportation program

New program helps with hospital transportation

Oct 21, 2022 | 8:00 AM

The Humboldt District Hospital Foundation (HDHF) has launched a new program to help people get to appointments for mental health and addictions.

HDHF Executive Director Lorrie Bunko said the problem came to light when staff noticed that some people were missing their appointments.

“Community mental health and addictions had been noticing a trend among their clients that are having difficulty making their appointments, missing them because of no transportation,” she said.

Bunko said when they checked with other departments, the same sorts of issues were popping up.

“We reached out to our acute care side, with emergency and in-patients to find out if they have similar problems, and to our surprise, they are facing the same thing upon discharge,” she said. “There are just some people that don’t have the financial resources, or have very few if any people to reach out to, to be able to pick them up,” said Bunko.

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She said the HDHF met with the City of Humboldt, to see if they could work together on the problem. And they found a workable solution.

She said the city’s mobility van program can get people to appointments, and get them home afterward, and can help discharged patients get home, as long as it’s within city limits.

The service is free to those who need it, says Bunko. The HDHF purchased tokens from the City of Humboldt and gave them to various departments to use at the departments’ discretion.

“The staff, they know the situation, the individual situations…they know when they come across these situations,” she said.

Bunko added that in some cases the lack of transportation was slowing down discharge of patients.

“When it comes to the acute care and inpatient side, It actually has been delaying the discharge time, in order to find that ride home for someone,” she said.

Bunko said it doesn’t help that there is no taxi service in Humboldt.

However, she said the program has its limits. It is only available when the mobility van is operating, which is Monday to Friday until 5 pm. And it also does not address the need for transportation for people who live outside the city and need to travel to Humboldt for health care.

She said the foundation has contacted the Saskatchewan Health Authority to see if there are any options for people who live in outlying communities, and are having trouble getting transportation.