Can transportation be scheduled for a whole course of physical therapy at once?

Yes. Presence NEMT sets recurring therapy transportation as a standing schedule — the days, pickup window and clinic are agreed once, and local DFW dispatch holds the series rather than re-booking each visit.

Will a driver help someone who is using a walker or is non-weight-bearing?

Yes. Drivers assist door-through-door, help with the walker or wheelchair, and allow extra time for slow, safe transfers in both directions.

Can a therapy clinic or case manager arrange the rides instead of the patient?

Yes. Clinic schedulers, hospital and health-plan case managers, discharge planners, employers, claims contacts and family members all arrange transportation on a rider's behalf.

Is this an ambulance service?

No. Presence NEMT is not an emergency ambulance service. Call 911 in an emergency. Non-emergency medical transportation is for medically stable people who do not need monitoring or clinical care during the trip.

How much medical information does dispatch need?

Mobility level, equipment, any weight-bearing restriction, the appointment details and a working phone number. Diagnosis and records are not needed, and individualized decisions about a person's fitness to travel remain with the treating clinician.

Resource Guide

Getting to Physical Therapy After an Injury

Therapy only works if the visits happen. How to set up recurring transportation for a full course of physical, occupational or speech therapy — what to arrange, what dispatch needs, and who can arrange it for someone else.

Request Transportation

Nurse-owned, with local Dallas-Fort Worth dispatch reachable by call or text.

Straight Answers

Why is physical therapy the appointment people miss most?

Because it repeats. A single specialist visit is easy to arrange once; a therapy plan of two or three visits a week for six weeks is eighteen separate rides. Every week, someone has to leave work, borrow a car or ask a neighbor again, and eventually a week gets skipped.

The fix is structural, not motivational: set the whole series up once as a standing schedule instead of booking each visit.

Who can arrange therapy transportation for someone else?

A family member or caregiver, a hospital or health-plan case manager, a discharge planner, a therapy clinic scheduler, an employer or claims contact on a work injury, or an attorney's office coordinating a client's treatment. The rider does not have to be the person who calls.

Does the ride have to be re-booked every week?

No. Presence NEMT sets recurring therapy schedules once — the days, the pickup window and the clinic address — and local Dallas-Fort Worth dispatch holds the series. Changes and cancellations go through the same dispatch line.

Recovery Is Measured in Attendance

Physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy work through repetition. A course of care is written as a number of visits over a number of weeks, and the plan assumes those visits actually happen. When transportation is the weak link, the therapist sees regression, the physician sees a plateau, and the person recovering assumes their body has stopped responding.

Very often the real problem is a car. Someone is non-weight-bearing, in a brace, recovering from surgery, told not to drive, or simply too fatigued after a session to be safe behind the wheel. That is a logistics problem with a logistics answer.

Where Therapy Transportation Usually Goes

Outpatient physical therapy and occupational therapy clinics
Speech therapy and post-stroke rehabilitation visits
Work-injury therapy ordered after an occupational medicine or orthopedic visit
Post-surgical therapy after joint replacement, fracture repair or spine surgery
Cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs
Hospital or skilled nursing facility to an inpatient rehabilitation facility
Home to an outpatient rehab gym and back, on a fixed weekly pattern

Set Up the Series, Not the First Visit

Ask the clinic for the full plan before arranging transportation: how many visits, which days, what time and for how many weeks. With that, one call sets up the entire course.

Consistency matters more than convenience. A pickup window that always works — mid-morning after a shift change, or early afternoon before school pickup — survives a six-week plan. A window that only works this Tuesday does not.

Confirm the number of visits per week and the total length of the plan
Pick one pickup window that works every week, not the earliest available slot
Say whether the driver should wait through the session or return for it
Name one contact for changes, so the clinic and the family are not both rescheduling
Flag the sessions that run long, such as an evaluation or a re-assessment

Tell Dispatch About Mobility, Not Diagnosis

Scheduling a safe therapy ride needs mobility information and nothing more. Whether someone walks with a walker, uses a manual or power wheelchair, is non-weight-bearing on one leg, cannot bend a knee, or needs a reclined seated position changes the vehicle assigned — and that assignment cannot change at the curb.

Diagnosis, records and clinical detail stay between the patient and the treating clinician. Presence NEMT does not need them to move someone safely.

Ambulatory riders, including crutches, a walker, a boot or a brace
Manual and power wheelchair riders, with chair dimensions for a power chair
Bariatric riders, using appropriately rated equipment
Riders who need BRODA Chair or Traversa Stretcher Alternative reclined positioning support
Riders who need a CNA, MA or Nurse escort for hands-on support beyond a driver's role

After the Session Is the Harder Trip

Therapy is work. People come out of a session shakier than they went in, sometimes with a new brace, new instructions or fresh soreness. The return trip deserves the same door-through-door assistance as the outbound one, with time allowed for a slow transfer rather than a rushed one.

This is one reason rideshare frequently fails for therapy. A driver who will not leave the car, cannot secure a wheelchair and cannot wait is a poor match for the ten minutes after a difficult session.

Work Injuries and Claim-Coordinated Therapy

When therapy follows a work injury, the arranging party is often a claims adjuster, third-party administrator, self-insured employer, nurse case manager or return-to-work coordinator rather than the worker. The scheduling mechanics are identical; the reporting expectation is different, because the coordinating contact usually needs to know the trip happened.

Presence confirms coverage area, mobility match and timing before anything is scheduled, and reports trip completion back to the contact who arranged it. Presence does not make authorization or payment decisions, and does not imply or represent affiliations, contracts, certifications, payment arrangements or partnerships unless verified.

Questions Worth Asking a Transportation Provider

Can you hold a standing schedule for the full course of therapy?
What happens when the clinic moves a session, or the rider is discharged early?
Do drivers assist door-through-door, and will they wait when a session runs over?
What mobility equipment can you accommodate, and with how much notice?
Can an escort be added on the days a rider needs more support?
Who answers when something changes the morning of a visit?

Scope and Safety

This is healthcare-informed travel and transportation planning guidance from a nurse-owned company. It does not replace individualized advice from the traveler's treating clinician, who should confirm fitness to travel, medication changes, oxygen needs and similar clinical decisions when they apply. Call 911 in an emergency.

Presence NEMT is not an emergency ambulance service and does not provide clinical care en route. Call 911 in an emergency.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can transportation be scheduled for a whole course of physical therapy at once?: Yes. Presence NEMT sets recurring therapy transportation as a standing schedule — the days, pickup window and clinic are agreed once, and local DFW dispatch holds the series rather than re-booking each visit.
Will a driver help someone who is using a walker or is non-weight-bearing?: Yes. Drivers assist door-through-door, help with the walker or wheelchair, and allow extra time for slow, safe transfers in both directions.
Can a therapy clinic or case manager arrange the rides instead of the patient?: Yes. Clinic schedulers, hospital and health-plan case managers, discharge planners, employers, claims contacts and family members all arrange transportation on a rider's behalf.
Is this an ambulance service?: No. Presence NEMT is not an emergency ambulance service. Call 911 in an emergency. Non-emergency medical transportation is for medically stable people who do not need monitoring or clinical care during the trip.
How much medical information does dispatch need?: Mobility level, equipment, any weight-bearing restriction, the appointment details and a working phone number. Diagnosis and records are not needed, and individualized decisions about a person's fitness to travel remain with the treating clinician.

Set Up Recurring Therapy Transportation

Call or text Presence NEMT and a local team member will help you arrange transportation. No health details are required upfront to get started.

Call (817) 900-6368 Text Us Request Transportation