There is a wide gap between a taxi and full accompaniment. A driver who stays in the car is no use to somebody managing a walker down three steps. A companion for the entire afternoon is more support than most people need, and more than they want to pay for.
Non-medical assisted transportation fills that gap. It is door-to-door transportation with physical assistance at both ends: help getting from the door to the vehicle, help with the mobility aid, a steady arm across an icy pavement, and the same again on arrival.
This is the elderly transportation service most seniors and semi-independent clients actually need. Once they are where they are going, they are fine. What they need is somebody to make sure they get there safely and without anybody rushing them.
What connects them is independence that needs support at particular moments rather than supervision throughout the day.
People who manage their own lives and their own decisions, but for whom the journey itself is the difficult part: the stairs, the pavement, the getting in and out.
Older clients for whom a familiar driver, an unhurried pace and a hand on the arm turn an intimidating trip into an ordinary one.
People using a walker, a cane or a folding wheelchair who can transfer into a standard seat but need support to reach it.
Assistance is a vague word, so here is what it covers in practice.
Walking assistance. A steady arm from the door to the vehicle and back, at the client's pace rather than the schedule's, including across the kinds of surfaces that make a Montreal winter genuinely dangerous for anybody unsteady on their feet.
Stairway assistance. Support on the steps at the door, a short flight in a walk-up, or the kerb, wherever it can be done safely. Staff assisting clients with mobility needs are trained in PDSB, the Quebec standard for safe client transfer, because an improvised lift on a staircase is how both clients and drivers get hurt.
Folding wheelchair assistance. The client transfers into a standard vehicle seat, and the chair is folded, loaded, carried and set up again at the other end by our driver rather than by the client or whoever happens to be nearby.
Door-to-door transportation. The whole point of the service. We collect from the door, not the kerb, and we see the client to the door at the other end. Where the destination is a clinic or a residence, that means getting them to reception rather than leaving them at the entrance.
This is the distinction clients most often get wrong at booking, and it is worth being clear about, because the difference affects cost as much as it affects service.
The person collecting a senior from their home is, in that moment, somebody being trusted a great deal. We screen accordingly.
Every accompaniment staff member undergoes a criminal background check, a vulnerable sector check where applicable, identity verification and reference verification before working with clients. All hold first aid and CPR certification, and staff assisting clients with mobility needs are trained in PDSB.
New staff complete 20 to 40 hours of structured onboarding before working independently. It covers client dignity and person centred care, professional communication, confidentiality and privacy legislation, safe transport procedures, emergency procedures, infection prevention, defensive driving and passenger safety, and practical shadowing alongside an experienced colleague.
Staff wear professional identification badges and many wear branded uniforms, so a client expecting somebody knows immediately that the right person has arrived.
The schedule bends to the client rather than the client hurrying to the schedule. Rushing somebody unsteady is how falls happen.
For recurring rides we assign a consistent driver wherever the roster allows, somebody who already knows the door, the stairs and the routine.
French and English reliably, and where available Haitian Creole, Spanish, Arabic and other community languages.
If a staircase or a mobility situation is beyond what we can manage safely, we say so at enquiry rather than at the door.
Between December and March, safe transportation services stop being a convenience and become the reason some people leave the house at all. Ice on a front step, snow banks at the kerb, a pavement nobody has cleared: each is a fall risk for somebody unsteady, and a fall at eighty is frequently the event that ends independent living altogether.
Our drivers plan for it. That means allowing more time, choosing the safest approach to the door rather than the closest one, taking the client's arm across cleared ground instead of the direct line, and being willing to say that today the steps are not safe and a different arrangement is needed.
It also means booking earlier in winter. Demand rises at exactly the point when conditions slow every journey down, so a standing arrangement is worth considerably more in January than it is in July.
Straightforward for a one off, simpler still for a regular.
Pickup, destination, time, and what assistance is needed at each end.
Including whether the stairs and mobility situation are within what we can do safely.
The same one each time where the roster allows, for recurring bookings.
Collected from the door, seen to the door, with the mobility aid handled by our driver.
We cover Greater Montreal, including Montreal Island, Laval, the North Shore and the South Shore, with province wide coverage available for special assignments.
Cancellations made more than 24 hours ahead are free of charge. Same day cancellations may attract a fee where a driver has already been assigned, and no fee applies where the cancellation results from a medical emergency, a hospital decision or other circumstances outside the client's control.
Billing may be per trip, hourly, by distance, by waiting time, or under a service agreement for recurring rides. We do not publish rates, because distance and the level of assistance needed move the figure too much for a headline number to mean anything. Tell us the journey and we will quote it.
Clients need to be able to transfer into a standard vehicle seat. Within that, we accommodate a good deal.
A client who cannot leave their wheelchair needs a specialised provider, and we will tell you that at the point of enquiry rather than sending a vehicle that cannot help. Declining a job and abandoning somebody are not the same thing.
If the journey needs more than a hand at each end, one of these is probably the better fit.
Non-emergency medical transportation with a companion who stays through check in, the appointment and the journey home.
Accompaniment for groceries, pharmacy visits, banking, activities and community outings.
Outings, appointment runs and family visit transport arranged directly with CHSLD and RPA residences.
This is the ride, with physical assistance at both ends. Our accompaniment services add a companion who stays with the client throughout, into the appointment, through the outing, until a documented handover. If somebody is fine once they arrive but needs help getting there, this is the right service and the cheaper one.
Yes. All of our work is non-emergency transportation. We are not an ambulance service, we do not provide stretcher transport, and we do not carry clients who need continuous medical monitoring during the journey. Where a situation requires that level of care, we say so and point you to a specialised provider.
Where it can be done safely, yes. The steps at the door, a short flight in a walk-up, the kerb. Staff assisting clients with mobility needs are trained in PDSB, the Quebec standard for safe client transfer. Where a staircase goes beyond what can be managed safely for both the client and our driver, we say so before the booking rather than at the door.
Folding wheelchairs, yes. The client transfers into a standard vehicle seat and the chair travels with them, loaded and unloaded by our driver. We do not currently operate ramp or lift equipped vehicles, so a client who cannot leave their chair needs a specialised provider and we will say so at the point of enquiry.
Wherever the roster allows. For a regular ride, the weekly shop or a standing appointment, a familiar driver who already knows the doorstep, the stairs and the client's pace makes the whole thing easier. Recurring bookings make consistency considerably easier to guarantee than one off requests.
Yes. We carry up to six passengers per vehicle, so a spouse, adult child or friend travelling alongside the client is normally straightforward. Mention it at booking so the seat is planned rather than assumed on the day.
Then this is the wrong service and we will tell you. Our accompaniment services cover staying with somebody through an appointment, an errand or an outing. Booking assisted transport and hoping the driver will stay is how people end up disappointed.
No. Our staff transport, escort and assist. They do not administer medication, give injections, provide wound or catheter care, or perform any clinical treatment. Staff hold first aid and CPR certification and will respond in an emergency, but the service is firmly non-clinical.
Bookings run through the DMA app and the notice required depends on the day and the route. For recurring rides a standing arrangement removes the question entirely, because the slot is held and the driver assigned in advance.
Tell us the journey and what assistance is needed at each end, and we will confirm we can cover it.
