The Davies Project
April 8, 2020 - Ruth Shillair
In Greater Lansing, where 70% of the children who rely on the local sub-specialty clinics are on Medicaid, poor transportation options contribute to a 60% missed appointment rate for children with serious illnesses.
The Davies Project is working hard to turn this situation around by pairing families with highly-screened and highly-trained volunteer drivers to ensure that every child has access to the subspecialty medical care and support services he or she needs.
Regular attendance at appointments as well as the companionship that often develops between families and drivers is having a positive impact on the lives of families with sick children during what is frequently a very isolating time. Dependable access to medical appointments helps doctors provide timely treatment, fulfills a crucial need in the community, and improves children’s health outcomes.
The Davies Project is working hard to turn this situation around by pairing families with highly-screened and highly-trained volunteer drivers to ensure that every child has access to the subspecialty medical care and support services he or she needs.
Regular attendance at appointments as well as the companionship that often develops between families and drivers is having a positive impact on the lives of families with sick children during what is frequently a very isolating time. Dependable access to medical appointments helps doctors provide timely treatment, fulfills a crucial need in the community, and improves children’s health outcomes.
Davies Project has provided thousands of rides for hundreds of seriously ill children to local medical appointments that likely would have been missed without our support. Interestingly, they are the first in the country using volunteer drivers to tackle transportation for all kinds of sick children. They also drive transportation-challenged expectant moms to prenatal care and take parents to spend time with their hospitalized infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Related YouTube videos created by Ruth Shillair, Assistant Professor for the Department of Media and Information at the College of Communication, Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University.