[community] Rural transit funding for innovative services

Tue Mar 30 21:00:16 UTC 2021

Hi Inclusive Community,

Sharing a random idea that I personally have no capacity to work on, but think would be an interesting project. Disclaimer: I have not read up on this funding and expect part of it would involve partnering with government.

Context/cue for this email: CBC article on rural transit funding for innovative services<https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rural-transit-funding-mckenna-1.5967875>

Idea: I've always thought a great idea for rural transit as it relates to healthcare appointments was some sort of hybrid model of ride sharing and appointment scheduling. Seems like platform co-op and in the wheelhouse of this community. Possibly someone has thought of this before or is doing it, but anyway, here it is.

Example: Let's say there is a small village and a certain amount of residents had frequent but different appointments at the same hospital and several clinics in a nearby town.

*       Inputs

o   Each person could call in and note what type of repeating and one off appointments they had (e.g., "I see this Dr. B each month and that therapist C every three months"), as well as if they always or sometimes have someone to drive

o   The clinics would log who is in clinic and when they are in clinic (e.g., Dr. B runs clinic Tuesdays and Fridays, therapist C sees people Monday through Wednesday)

o   The drivers would log when they were available (and/or what appointments they have / healthcare providers they see). Drivers could include clients driving to their own appointments, caregivers/social supports driving their loved one/neighbour to appointments

*       Outputs

o   The system would then do some elegant matching system and say that Driver A will take client F and H and Q into town on Monday (for already scheduled appointments).

o   The system could give feedback to the clinics to increase the number of appointments that line-up with one another and make the system more efficient (e.g., to ensure 2-3 people from the village had appointments on a Tuesday afternoon when Driver A was available)

*       Other

o   Ideally the service would be adjusted for income.

o   There could be the option of payment or points systems for driving someone so that you could use the service later (e.g., caregiver A drives their Client A and two others to an appointment, but when Client A has an appointment caregiver A is not available for, Client A can use the credits to take a ride from someone else)
Thanks and have a good day,
Julia
Julia Foster, MScOT, OT Reg. (Ont.)
Occupational Therapist
KHSC Vision Rehabilitation Clinic<http://ophthalmology.queensu.ca/faculty/physicians/lvr>, in support of the
South East Ontario Vision Rehabilitation Service (SOVRS)
Department of Ophthalmology
Kingston Health Sciences Centre-Hotel Dieu Site
166 Brock Street, Kingston, ON K7L 5G2
Telephone:  613-544-3400 ext. 2475
Fax: 613-887-2081
Email: Julia.foster at kingstonhsc.ca<mailto:Julia.foster at kingstonhsc.ca>
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From: Julia Foster [mailto:juliafoster29 at gmail.com]
Sent: March-30-21 8:57 AM
To: Foster, Julia
Subject: Rural transit

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