What happened going to be ophthalmologist

Today I had an ophthalmologist appointment at 1:30 p.m. I was told I'd be picked up by the ambulette at 1 PM. I asked if I could eat an early lunch to ensure I'd be ready.  I knew other residents had to be cared for. We were also shorthanded. We had three aides instead of the scheduled five. I knew it would be difficult to feed me early

My early lunch was only about ten minutes earlier than noon. I felt really awful sitting at my usual table with other residents and getting my tray first. One female resident tried to grab it thinking it was hers. She doesn't say much. But when I told her I had to eat early to go to the doctor, she apologized for grabbing it. I told her not to worry about it. Nevertheless, I still don't like, and don't feel comfortable, eating when other residents aren't.

Then, I had to wait for the nurse for meds after lunch. Due to short staffing the nurses assisted my aide so I could get a bathroom break before leaving.

I still waited thirty minutes for the ambulette to show up. Then, the paratransit bus dropped off the resident who attends developmental disability workshop. I'm sure the ambulette driver was not happy about that.

When I approached the ambulette, it had a side lift, which they never send. The ambulette driver told me I had to back onto the lift. Ambulance companies usually NEVER let riders back onto a lift. When I asked the driver to guide me while I went backwards, she said she couldn't. So, the facility transportation aide who went along tried. But I pulled too far to my right slick and got caught on one side of the lift. The medical transportation aide thought I was permanently stuck, and went to the building to get help. In the meantime, I got the ambulette driver to rock my power chair a bit to to get me unstuck.

Then, she put the power chair in freewheel mode and backed me on manually. Unfortunately, I was told I had to be tied down facing sideways. I appealed to her to let me face forward because I get nauseated riding sideways. But she said I had to do what policy said.

It was hot in the ambulette and I had to wait a bit for the driver to get in and turn on the air conditioning. But when she did, it felt much better. It was a bumpy ride to the doctor's office. When we arrived, the driver started to unfold the lift and an alarm went off. The lift would not lower. The driver said a piece was broken where I got caught. So, the driver lowered it manually.

The the ambulette driver told the medical transportation aide that she could only lower me once, and then her ambulette would be out of service. The driver told the facility medical transportation aide she would have two take me back to the facility. She said the only other ambulette had no air conditioning and was 50 miles away.

The ride back was better and much less bumpy in the facility's minivan. I felt awful that the flipper plate on the ambulette lift might be broken. But I'm hoping it is an easy fix.