This afternoon I witnessed something very disturbing. I was having my regular therapy session (yes, the very same therapy that Dr. Worthless thinks is a waste of time). It was late in the afternoon and I was one of the last scheduled patients. Now the clinic that I go to specializes in occupational therapy and they have several clients with autism or other cognitive disorders. And I have to tell you these are absolutely WONDERFUL people. They treat all of their patients with respect regardless of mental ability.
Not so our local public transportation system. One of their advertised services is a "door-to-door" bus service in which they pick up people at their residences and deliver them to their destinations. So it is not uncommon to see their white vans in front of the clinic dropping off or picking up residents.
Now I am not exactly sure what happened but somehow one of the patients, an older man who had rather substantial cognitive difficulties, found himself delivered BACK to the clinic when he had trouble getting into his apartment. The clinic was beginning to close. The driver of the van just dumped the man off and took off out of the parking lot with one of the clinic employees running after him yelling at him to stop. There was another van waiting at the curb. The driver curtly said he was not paid enough to take this man to his home--and he too left!
So now the clinic has this poor confused man on their hands, they are about to close, they have families to get home to. He can't even remember where he lives, he says he is locked out, there is no manager there. What about his sister? They call his sister. She does not have a car, she can't come get him, and SHE DOESN'T KNOW the name of his apartment complex even though she lives in the same town. That says a whole lot right there about her level of concern for her brother.
Meanwhile the clinic manager is calling Metro Transit. She is told that this man is HER problem, not theirs, that he shouldn't be traveling alone on public transportation--what's the point of having door-to-door service then? She says, "If this were Wal-Mart, would you leave him in front of the store?" Apparently, yes. While this conversation is going on, another therapist gives the man a phone book so he can at least try to figure out where he lives. Finally Metro says they will send another van out but it will take 20 minutes to a half hour to get there. So now they have to wait and see if the van will show up. While we are waiting we all try to help the man figure out the name of his apartment complex and it finally comes to him. It's not very far from the clinic. So the manager says she will drive over to his apartment and see what the trouble is (he thinks he's either locked his keys inside or dropped them on the ground) and see if she can get someone there to help. He is to stay at the clinic with the other therapists until the van arrives. She promises she will be back and if the van hasn't arrived she will then take him home or see to it that he is brought to a safe place.
As a bystander I was very much disturbed by Metro Transit's attitude towards its disabled riders and you can better believe they WILL hear about it. I have a friend who works in the office there and I will tell her what I witnessed. I also said to the clinic staff that they should contact the news media as well. But I know they won't. They are much too modest. They are a rare breed. Not many would go out of their way to help this man as they did. I don't know how this story ended and won't until my next visit.
Not so our local public transportation system. One of their advertised services is a "door-to-door" bus service in which they pick up people at their residences and deliver them to their destinations. So it is not uncommon to see their white vans in front of the clinic dropping off or picking up residents.
Now I am not exactly sure what happened but somehow one of the patients, an older man who had rather substantial cognitive difficulties, found himself delivered BACK to the clinic when he had trouble getting into his apartment. The clinic was beginning to close. The driver of the van just dumped the man off and took off out of the parking lot with one of the clinic employees running after him yelling at him to stop. There was another van waiting at the curb. The driver curtly said he was not paid enough to take this man to his home--and he too left!
So now the clinic has this poor confused man on their hands, they are about to close, they have families to get home to. He can't even remember where he lives, he says he is locked out, there is no manager there. What about his sister? They call his sister. She does not have a car, she can't come get him, and SHE DOESN'T KNOW the name of his apartment complex even though she lives in the same town. That says a whole lot right there about her level of concern for her brother.
Meanwhile the clinic manager is calling Metro Transit. She is told that this man is HER problem, not theirs, that he shouldn't be traveling alone on public transportation--what's the point of having door-to-door service then? She says, "If this were Wal-Mart, would you leave him in front of the store?" Apparently, yes. While this conversation is going on, another therapist gives the man a phone book so he can at least try to figure out where he lives. Finally Metro says they will send another van out but it will take 20 minutes to a half hour to get there. So now they have to wait and see if the van will show up. While we are waiting we all try to help the man figure out the name of his apartment complex and it finally comes to him. It's not very far from the clinic. So the manager says she will drive over to his apartment and see what the trouble is (he thinks he's either locked his keys inside or dropped them on the ground) and see if she can get someone there to help. He is to stay at the clinic with the other therapists until the van arrives. She promises she will be back and if the van hasn't arrived she will then take him home or see to it that he is brought to a safe place.
As a bystander I was very much disturbed by Metro Transit's attitude towards its disabled riders and you can better believe they WILL hear about it. I have a friend who works in the office there and I will tell her what I witnessed. I also said to the clinic staff that they should contact the news media as well. But I know they won't. They are much too modest. They are a rare breed. Not many would go out of their way to help this man as they did. I don't know how this story ended and won't until my next visit.
