Compassionate Rides Save Lives: Why Non-Emergent Transportation Matters

When a loved one can't drive themselves to medical appointments, who can you trust to get them there safely? It's a question many families don't consider until they're frantically searching online during a crisis, often discovering an industry they never knew existed.

The vital world of non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) takes center stage in this eye-opening conversation with three business owners who've built companies founded on compassion, safety, and dignity. Cliff Montemayor (Ride N Safe), Shawn Shannon (Shannon Non-Emergency Transport), and Alonzo Burton (Comfort Care) share the deeply personal experiences that led them to create transportation services that go far beyond just driving people around.

"Would this be good enough for your mother?" This powerful question guides everything from driver selection to vehicle maintenance in an industry where details matter profoundly. The owners reveal how their drivers become extended family for many passengers, sometimes representing the only social interaction some elderly clients experience. They emphasize the critical difference between bargain transportation and quality care, highlighting the sometimes shocking safety issues they've witnessed from less reputable providers.

What separates these companies is their unwavering commitment to treating passengers with dignity. From customizing music selections to ensuring proper wheelchair securements with shoulder harnesses, these small touches transform transportation from a clinical necessity into a caring experience. The entrepreneurs also discuss their collaborative approach to raising industry standards rather than viewing each other as competitors, creating an NEMT care network focused on accountability and shared excellence.

For families navigating healthcare transportation challenges or entrepreneurs interested in entering this growing field, this conversation offers invaluable insights and practical guidance. Listen now to discover the hidden world of non-emergency medical transportation and the compassionate professionals working tirelessly to ensure no one misses life-critical appointments due to transportation barriers.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Journey Out Podcast
• 1:55 Meeting the NEMT Business Owners
• 4:13 Personal Stories Behind Starting NEMT Companies
• 13:22 Creating an NEMT Care Network
• 17:35 Value and Importance of Non-Emergency Transport
• 22:50 Customer Service and Company Differences
• 30:15 Training and Safety Standards
• 35:08 Guidelines for Families Seeking Transportation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Journey Out podcast. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little excited for today's episode. I'm just like crazy, blown away, excited, and so we have some amazing individuals here today and I just cannot wait for them to just impart all of their wisdom on you guys. So please like, share, subscribe, join the family. We are seeing everybody who's subscribing to the channel and we're like almost at a thousand subscribers.

Speaker 3: 0:26

So we are doing.

Speaker 1: 0:27

Thank you absolutely amazing and we can't do it without you guys. So continue to share, like and subscribe, leave us some comments, just go all out. We appreciate you guys. So before we just have some fun, let's just get into it, right, I know?

Speaker 4: 0:41

some people probably had it hard, but I was blessed they ain't never saw my mom and dad in stress. They only shows. They said I'm living comfy from the sweat off they bags and that's why all I ever wanted was to give it back. I'm not ashamed because I was raised right. Nope. I would only be ashamed if I didn't help you fight through the pain, help you drain out the games that your mind plays. No matter what, I'm never letting my shine fade away Outro Music, all right.

Speaker 1: 1:37

So we have three gentlemen sitting right next to us. We have Mr Cliff, we have Mr Sean, we have Mr Alonzo.

Speaker 5: 1:51

First and foremost, please go in depth, tell us. We have mr cliff, we have mr Shawn, we have mr Alonzo. First and foremost, please go in there, tell us who you are, what you do. Well, thank you for having us. My name is cliff Montemayor, ceo, co-founder of riding safe non-emergency transportation. So we cover 24 counties throughout North and Central Texas. We do interstate, out of state, basically wherever people need to go.

Speaker 1: 2:08

Awesome, all right. Who do we have here next?

Speaker 3: 2:11

My name is Sean Shannon and I am a co-owner of Shannon Non-Emergency Transport. We basically serve Tarrant and Johnson County. Here in the Fort Worth area we have 12 vans. My wife and my youngest son work with us and, yeah, we love the work Awesome.

Speaker 1: 2:27

And not last finale, but go ahead, I'm.

Speaker 6: 2:30

Alonzo Burton and I run Comfort Care Transportation non-emergency transportation based in Kansas City, Missouri, in the metro area. It's about four or five counties that we serve and it's been in this business for about two years and a month and looking to open up an office here in the North Dallas area.

Speaker 1: 2:55

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Okay, so one thing you all have in common is non-emerging transportation. All right, tell us a little bit about that. How did you get started? What was your journey in opening up Bright and Safe?

Speaker 5: 3:08

So my journey began as, by trade, I'm a paramedic and firefighter, so I've worked the box, I've owned and operated EMS systems, startups, and so a lot of that journey was taking care of people. So my last place where I started an EMS system is Granbury, texas. And so large retirement community, you know, and when those folks get sick, a lot of times they don't want to go to the hospital because they they're there. They moved to Granbury to retire, their children are off, they're there. They moved to Granbury to retire, their children are off. You know, their friends are of their age or older and they're always have that fear that they're not going to return home, they're going to be put in a nursing home or something else is going to happen.

Speaker 5: 4:02

So I had one, one couple that moved to Granbury to retire and they were doing great Well, he became ill and she became his caretaker.

Speaker 5: 4:08

So for a while we transported him. He ended up passing away and then she was living alone and then she became sick one night and she was really sick and so she did not want to go to the hospital, wouldn't go. And I told her look, you are really sick and need to go. And I was a paramedic inside I'm working on the ambulance and I said, look, I'm going to have to do some stuff and when you get out of the hospital I will bring you back home. So by that she allowed me to take care of her. She ended up spending quite a few days in in ICU on a ventilator, shipped to Fort Worth for higher level of care and then, once she got done, I did what I said I was going to do. I brought her back home and she was able to continue to age in place. And that's been the biggest part of my journey out of coming out of EMS and Fireside, going into the non-emergency side.

Speaker 2: 5:02

And that's what got you started, and I know all of y'all have similar stories. Why don't you share yours with me?

Speaker 3: 5:10

I had been in the freight business for 16 years and Renee had always worked. I understood logistics and transportation and Renee had always worked back and forth between child care and home health, just depending on where our boys were in their lives. And we had just gotten to a point in our lives where we were crashing again financially, just to be real blunt, and I just couldn't stand to take her through it again. I have two friends that are paramedics, one in Bowie, one in Greenville, and the same week both of them were saying you should look into this business. You know, I didn't. We didn't have any money and we'd been praying for probably a year and not to say that we're not great people of faith we were scared out of our gourds and one night I was asleep.

Speaker 3: 5:53

I always get the goosebumps of this, but I'm telling you, like we're sitting here, I heard God's voice. It was a whisper and it said I'm about to begin something new. And you know, just like the prophet, you know he said excuse me, lord, what was that, you know? And he said again. So we went from that just to looking and researching and when we discovered how many of the elderly were missing life, critical appointments, because of no transportation or poor transportation. It really lit our fire, and so we started trying to figure out how to do this, and we bought our first van in November of 2019. Wow, and just went from there.

Speaker 6: 6:30

Awesome, and you sir, similar to these gentlemen, and you know, I had a tragic event that took place. My mother was involved in a head-on collision and that person hit and ran and it was right during COVID, and so she had to spend three weeks in the hospital. She broke her femur bone in her hand, busted her eardrums from the airbags deploying which saved her life, had no idea that this industry even existed, but because of COVID I wasn't able. We weren't able to go see my mom for the first week. She was in the hospital and me and my two sisters had to trade, take turns. You could go in one person can visit a day and you had to stay all day, or unless nobody could go back, visit a day and you had to stay all day, or unless nobody could go back. So we would take turns, uh just visiting my mom.

Speaker 6: 7:27

My mom worked really hard to uh get out of the hospital, uh, and had a lot of fear in regards to covet and uh, now the doctors was going to place her in a rehab facility, uh, once she was ready to to leave the hospital.

Speaker 6: 7:39

Well, of course, of course, at that point we were like we don't want mom to go to a rehab facility. So we had to do some augmentation of the home, remodeling the home, make some ramps, opening some doors for the wheelchair and do those things, and so it's like, ok, how she's going to get to rehab, and that was my. That started the journey. And first I had to find a company that I didn't even know what. I didn't even know what to search on the internet, and so it's wild that I'm in this podcast right now, because I know what it's like to not even know that this exists. And so when I did do that, I identified four companies and their websites. I could tell that the websites weren't even looked at by the companies. I called one, I actually called the cheapest and the closest and, uh, sure enough, they pulled up and my mom refused to go all right, all right.

Speaker 2: 8:29

So so many people find their passion and what they do for life through experience right. I have a twofold question that y'all can just jump in and ask whoever wants to. How did your experience and your passion shape you going into the non-emergency transportation business? And also, how do you see your growth?

Speaker 5: 8:54

For me, the experience was on the medical side, because we would always take people to a higher level of care and that was always taking them from their home. And it was like when, when those folks went to higher level of care, how are they going to get back home? Because those transportation companies that were in the city never left the city limits. And so that's how we generated ours is that we, we took care of everybody on the outside. Ours is that we took care of everybody on the outside, so we did all the rural areas, everybody that was outside the city that you know couldn't get back home, and so that's where we came out of being able to do that. And you know, you get to travel with these folks for 45 minutes to an hour and a half and getting to listen to their stories. I mean, these were folks who were in Vietnam, you know, survived the depression. The stories they have are amazing.

Speaker 1: 9:52

If we would just take a little bit of time to sit and just listen, the value of the information they have is amazing right, right, and I too, I want to kind of break this down too, because we don't have just three different nemt companies sitting on the stage. There is a connection here, and so what I really want to break down because we you talked about the experience and it's pretty much a shared experience. Everybody either saw a gap, they were affected by it personally, so it's a shared experience. But also you, cliff, have some connections to both of these gentlemen that are sitting next to you. Kind of tell me a little bit about how this relationship kind of just formed, expanded and how it impacts the work that y'all do.

Speaker 5: 10:42

Well, ryan Safe has been in existence for 18 years, so we've been doing this a little while. So all there's lots of blood, sweat and tears that's come out of this. I've learned a lot, had a lot of failures, learned how to get back up and make things better. Yeah, sean, I actually met a few years ago and it was one of those times that you know he's a rival, he's a competitor. You know not going to, you know not going to share my information and you know, because it took me so much to learn you know, you know how to do this and do it right.

Speaker 5: 11:22

But I got to know Sean. He actually reached out to me and you know they're a faith-based company. They do everything well, they do the background checks. And then I started deciding hey, why? You know there is so much business out there, there are so many people that need transportation why couldn't we do this together? And so we created kind of what we call an NEMT care network, so providers that we brought together that we make sure we hold each other accountable, that we have the same insurance levels. We're doing the same training, customer service. You know our call centers, from dispatching to our mechanics making sure our vehicles are safe. You know the tires are inspected, the vehicles are inspected, our drivers clean their vehicles.

Speaker 5: 12:16

And so then I went into I hate to say coaching, but more mentoring, like bringing people on. People would tell me you have this wealth of information, would you share it? And so I did with a lot of people and nobody would ever move on it. And then I had somebody tell me if they don't have skin in the game, they'll never move, right. And they were like you need to charge for your knowledge, right? And so I went that way and I was like, well, I don't want to make money off of it, but I do want to develop people and grow people Right. And that's where a lot of this came from. And then I met Alonzo at an EMT conference. He was like, you know, would you mentor me? And I was like, yeah, and I had already done a couple other gentlemen and they've started, uh, nemt transportation companies from the ground up and have been successful at it. And so I've just grown from there. Just, I love teaching, I love mentoring, I love watching people grow and have passion in this industry.

Speaker 1: 13:26

And I love what you said there in the beginning Accountability, right. That's what this is about. And so when you're, when it's just us, right. When we're going into a situation, and especially when you have people who don't know about the industry at all, right, and they're calling and looking for answers people who don't know about the industry at all, right, and they're calling, they're looking for answers you could go the cheapest and the closest route. And then the guy or woman shows up and you're like what is this Right? Like who is this person coming to pick up? I don't know this person that's taking my mom to the rehab. I don't know really anything about this company, I just know that they were the closest and they were the cheapest, but what you're talking about is actually a framework for integrity.

Speaker 1: 14:09

Absolutely, You're talking about hey, we have to do. We know that the audience that we're serving is vulnerable, so let's make sure that we're holding each other accountable and let's bring up other people to have this just amazing framework of of transportation, which is amazing.

Speaker 2: 14:21

And one thing, another thing. He said there's no competition.

Speaker 1: 14:24

It's no competition, right, and you helping others, right.

Speaker 2: 14:27

And you have all this wealth of knowledge and you said hey, let me share cause I was the same way. Listen, I'm doing this. I don't want to talk to nobody.

Speaker 3: 14:33

Yeah Right, don't come over here.

Speaker 2: 14:34

I'm going to keep it to myself, not us, serving the greater good for the people that need it at all.

Speaker 1: 14:40

Kudos up to you guys, yes, and so let's talk more about just the value in the importance of non-emergent medical transportation. So, first and foremost, the easiest question why is nemt so important? Why is it needed?

Speaker 6: 14:56

anyone can take that question well, I would say simply, simply, there's a there I forget the millions of dollars that it costs for just in missed appointments the overall health of our passengers. One of the things I always tell the rehabs and that we have contracts with is that they're your residents. There are passengers, they're a resident of our vehicle and we care about them just as much as you do, and them being able to be, have a comfort level, to know that they're going to be, uh, they're going to be treated, uh, you know, uh, comfortably, they're going to handle with care they're going to be, it's going to be timely, we're going to be communicated to well and we're going to handle with care, it's going to be timely, we're going to be communicated to well and we're going to try to build relationships, and so it's just the overall health of our aging community, the overall health of them. One of the things I ask my drivers is is it good enough for your mother?

Speaker 1: 15:58

Right? Is it good enough for her? The?

Speaker 6: 15:59

service that you're providing. Would you want that to be for your mother? Right, is it good enough for her? The service that you're providing, would you want that to be for your mother? And so, and that, me and me knowing that, when my mom did finally get that ride, yeah that she was going to be bought, took there and safely and make it to her appointment.

Speaker 6: 16:13

That was greatly needed. That you know. Other than that, I don't know how, how to get her there right, you know. So it's very important, especially to afford people with loved ones. Most of the people we serve are their, their kids or a family are calling and a lot of times we are. They family Right.

Speaker 1: 16:31

They don't even have that. Yeah, people.

Speaker 6: 16:34

Um, I had a passenger when I was driving telling me hey, I'm you're the only family I got. You're the person, you're the only person that I talked to. I enjoy these rides okay all right.

Speaker 2: 16:44

So why choose non-emergency transport versus the ambulance or ride and share service?

Speaker 1: 16:50

yeah, what's the difference between those?

Speaker 3: 16:52

I think you have continuity of. You hear the term of continuity care. Yeah, uh, you get same thing with us. You the continuity. We use the same drivers for the same folks you know that are going to the dialysis appointments or they have set urology appointments, you know something like that. We try to use that same driver for one for their comfort, you know if they, if they see that same face, you know there's a level of comfort there and, like Alonzo said, you know that's something that we preach to our team is, you know we're going to treat these people the way that we would treat your grandmother or treat because we advocate for them, because you're going to take them to a doctor's appointment. We're not going to just walk in and shove them off and walk out. We're going to make sure that appointment is good, that we're at the right place, because sometimes we don't get good information.

Speaker 3: 17:42

You know, rolling with what alonzo said, you know you, you learn so much about these people. Yeah, you know. You know what kind of music they like. You know that. You know everybody's got pandora, you know. So we can play pandora on the radio forum. You know this. It's just the kind of gives them a little bit of freedom.

Speaker 2: 17:58

So I want all three of y'all to ask this what sets you guys apart from the industry? What made y'all companies the non-emergency transport to be with to call?

Speaker 5: 18:15

I think for us it's customer service. I mean customer service in any industry today is almost just not, it's non-existent. You know, and we could easily, you know, farm out you know to a foreign country and save money as a company. But our folks, they love calling and hearing that voice, you know, somebody that they can connect to, that they can understand. And our team I would put them up to up against anybody else, I mean just like these guys. I mean they, they get to know and love their passengers. We get to know and love on them as well as our clients.

Speaker 5: 18:57

I mean we have large hospitals, corporations, rehabs and families that trust us and you know we show up with clean vehicles. Our vehicles are safe. They're routinely inspected. Our drivers are all well uniformed and have, you know, a good hygiene and have IDs on them. You know they're not smoking in the vehicles. You know they're sharing whatever radio stations that they want to have on at the time, because there's sometimes a lot of us are rural so we may be with them for an hour and getting to know them. Our drivers just love on them and once we take them home, you know they're taking them, putting them in their recliner, making sure their phone's beside them, they have a drink of water, they have a sandwich. My drivers will tell me that all the time.

Speaker 3: 19:46

You know that they've been there a little bit too long because they made her a sandwich or they made sure her phone was right there beside her Absolutely, and you know I say nothing to them but kudos, because they enjoy doing that and we've gained their trust and their respect right, I was gonna say absolutely for us as customer service, and that's one of the things is, I think that, and then being family owned and family operated for us, that gives us a little bit more of a touch. You know we're smaller, you know, so it's easier to do. Uh, you know, like I said earlier, my wife's the sweetest soul on the planet and my son that works with me. I couldn't be more proud of him. I mean just sharp. And so when they call, they're going to get a Shannon on the phone. Or if they get Kim, the lady that works with us, there's a Shannon sitting right next to her. You know they're not. It's not just a cold phone call that they're getting.

Speaker 3: 20:38

They're getting something. Oh yeah, I missed a so-and-so. We know her. Are we going back to the same place we went to last time? It's just a little bit. And then, being faith-based on top of that, when we get to do the hospice work, that's a whole other deal. It's really cool. You take a guy home for the last time, you get to pray with him right there at the end.

Speaker 1: 20:57

Love that. I love that.

Speaker 6: 20:59

Yeah, that, yeah, I.

Speaker 6: 20:59

I would say uh, ditto to what they said with the customer service, but for me, I'm gonna go back to my mother.

Speaker 6: 21:05

Uh, you know, on that ride she turned away for four vehicles, uh, and I did have to take her myself. And so at that point, when I finally decided, I always have to remember why I started, and what I started was because I didn't want to be like them and I consider a lot of this whole industry needs to be lifted. And I want to just give a shout out to Cliff again just for taking me on and mentoring me, because I think I have a true desire to provide that customer service, to be the transportation of choice over any other transportation, and so he provided me with the, with the framework of how to even get that done, because there is a temptation uh, not for me so much, but there's a temptation when it comes to financially, of not watching your vans, of not making your drivers where it is Right. It's like, cause everybody's looking for a cheaper ride and the cheaper thing and and cheaper thing, and a lot of times the people who book you are not the passenger right and they don't.

Speaker 6: 22:07

They don't even see your van, they don't even know what it is, so it's not incentivized to do that yeah and so what separates uh comfort care, where we are, is that we are, we are trying to be provide a quality service, a timely service. You know we, we have standards and we let people know those standards, and so, and a lot of times when, even when it's unappreciated, that's not what I got to remember while I'm doing that.

Speaker 1: 22:30

And I think you guys hit on a lot of cool things there, because most time again they're not thinking about all the backhand stuff that you guys are thinking about. They're just thinking I have to get mine from point A to point B. She can't even sit up all the way on her own to go into to ride in my car. So they're not thinking about, well, is the car that she's gonna get in clean, or is the driver certified for memory care? Or just like just random different things that you guys put into it that you don't think about.

Speaker 1: 22:58

And I think that's just. I think that, right, we'll talk a little bit about kind of mandates and things, but you don't have to. But those things do. Kind of it enhances the ride for the passenger and I love that you guys say that. But I also want to know ideal situation, right, because you have somebody listening to this episode and they're like OK, I do want to, mom does need a ride to go to rehab or wherever that may be. What is the ideal scenario? Like, give me a scenario of hey, this is what I should call right and save Shannon AMT Comfort Care. This is when you should call for our services.

Speaker 5: 23:40

So that's actually a great question because we actually did this in the city that we're based in with the Cleburne fire department. So they were getting a lot of calls for non-emergency transportation. So you're taking that ambulance, you know, a critical asset for the city for emergencies, to go take somebody to dialysis or to the hospital for x-rays. That is not urgent, you know, that can wait. You wait, you know, two, three, four hours. It's not something that has to be done right away.

Speaker 5: 24:14

So we did set that criteria with the fire department's help and did the training. And actually I just found out a few weeks ago when I talked to the chief, that we took 400 calls off of their manifest just last year, of their manifest just last year. And so with the growth of their city, the way that the city is growing so rapidly, they added on another 400 calls. So just think if they hadn't had taken, if we hadn't taken that burden off of the 911 system right, they wouldn't be able to serve these other true emergencies that are happening. So the same thing with our folks. You know we may, we may have folks that with have fractured a hip or broke a leg or something and just utilize this for six to eight weeks to get to and from their doctor's appointments, and then they don't use us again. So that's kind of what we. We do is just serve those who can't at the moment.

Speaker 1: 25:12

Right, awesome, I love that, and so I know you have spoken about rural areas, so let's talk a little bit about why is it a little harder in rural areas and pretty much what are your plans or projects that you have to currently improve in EMT in those areas?

Speaker 5: 25:33

Anyone can take that Okay.

Speaker 3: 25:35

The big thing for that is just that they're limited on the access to the options that's the big thing. And they'll be charged like to come from Fort Worth out to Granbury or somewhere like that. They'll charge them miles out there, miles back to the doctor, then miles back to their home, you know. So they're getting hit quite a bit. That's something that we're we're real sensitive about. You know what I mean. You can't go upside down, but we're going to give them. We're going to give them a good break. You know, on that Cause we tell everybody my wife and I we're country people, you know we are, and so we have a heart for that. We love the rural, you know thing and they and they get to stay at home, you know, as if we get to help them stay at home that much longer than we're doing what we need to do.

Speaker 6: 26:18

Right, right, I'm actually located in the heart of our city and so I'm in right dead in the middle and so, uh, but what I found was is that, um, there's a lot of demand for that because, like you said, there's not a lot of people providing that service for them, and so we do go out on the outskirts of the city.

Speaker 6: 26:38

One of the things that we're doing in order to serve them better is set up little satellite offices. I do, I got from Cliff and so to set up the satellite offices where our drivers in uh, we're stationed. Also, I have, uh with our contractor facilities. I have, uh, I'll have the ability to park at their, at their locations, if my driver doesn't live there, and so, uh. And then I got a little uh, so we have little small refrigerators, maybe a couch, somewhere the driver can take a break and he uses that place as a station, and then, uh, even in that community now, people can call us to to actually go out that way, and then we can leave the van out there. So what I'm also looking to do is hire drivers from those areas, and so, uh, and just strategically placing them, and what I found, as soon as they, all I got to do is let them know that I'm there right and then they make that call yeah and so.

Speaker 1: 27:30

I love that.

Speaker 2: 27:31

So y'all talked about your drivers. Okay, what type of training goes into preparing a non-emergency transport?

Speaker 1: 27:38

driver, Because if I'm there, this is not regulated right.

Speaker 2: 27:43

So specialists.

Speaker 1: 27:46

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 27:47

What training goes into preparing your specialists?

Speaker 5: 27:50

well, we, we all pretty much have the same thing and but our drivers, we're very picky about um who we choose, because this is a very special population that we do transport on a regular basis. So our background checks and again mine coming from the, the ems and firesireside it's pretty stringent and we follow the Medicare and Medicaid guidelines, even though we don't have to. So they have to have a clean driving record, they have to have a clean background and we can do the training. So we actually do in-house training. When we bring somebody in, we onboard them. They have to have passed all those things, they have to have passed a drug test and then they go through two weeks of in-person training. So they're actually with another driver, one of our trainers. So we have three trainers in-house and so they ride along with them for two weeks and they must complete 25 trips in that two-week period. But we also have our own simulator, so when they're in-house our lead trainer is actually teaching them how to load and unload, how to properly secure, going through different scenarios that they might encounter.

Speaker 5: 29:05

Some people don't think that parking on an incline is going to be a problem, so certain ways that you park, we try not to ever put our vehicles to where we have to back up. Always leave them to where you're headed out All kinds of things. We have people on dialysis. When we pick them up, take them back. They're pretty tired, they're pretty exhausted, and so they become leaners. They fall asleep and they lean. So our chairs are equipped with shoulder harnesses and body cross belts that won't if they do fall asleep. They're not going to lean, and I think our three we're the only ones in the industry that I've seen so far. We buy more expensive chairs. Ours will actually recline so we can actually lay them back just a little bit. We can put their feet up, put them in a position of comfort and just let them sleep on the way home if they want to right.

Speaker 2: 30:01

So so you told me what you do to train your specialists, your drivers. Okay, what do you guys look for in a person that's going to be the driver after the training? Before you do the training, what are you looking?

Speaker 6: 30:14

for, yeah, the main thing is a passion to help people, a love for people and care for people. Um, my drivers, uh, I've been blessed, because a lot of times I, when I first got started, you know I was watching before I got with cliff, I was watching youtube videos and trying to, and I was trying to put people in seats and but, uh, I've been blessed. Uh, god looked out for me because I it's just my name, I think it's the name that attracted the right drivers comfort, care and because the drivers was a common thing I kept hearing from even all our customers, all our passengers, was that we provided the best, we had the kindest and the cleanest and the most courteous drivers, and it's like they do. I might always say that's what I look for, though, when I'm talking to, I'm interviewing, uh, or when anybody my staff is interviewing, they want to, they want to get a driver that really cares about it.

Speaker 3: 31:12

We're looking for compassion, you know. So that's one of the things we get them talking about their family. Yeah, tell me about your grandmother. What are some of your fondest memories? You know, if a guy can sit there and tell you about his grandmother's peanut butter cookies or her fried like, for me her fried chicken. And my mamaw used to make. She called it soul food.

Speaker 5: 31:30

Fried potatoes and red beans. You know just like that was soul food.

Speaker 3: 31:32

So you get a guy if he's got good memories and talk like that, that's somebody that I want to move forward with. You know they say, oh yeah, I didn't know him very much. We kind of move on, you know. I just I want to hear the warm fuzzies because you're going to come across people when you're taking them. There was a lady that was so precious to every one of our guys and the first time I picked her up I'm like I've got my mamaw. I mean her mannerisms were the same. I mean she would say the same thing and she'd always say how you doing baby? And I said, oh, we're busy, tell God, thank you.

Speaker 2: 32:09

So you're looking for compassion. You're looking for family, so you're looking for compassion.

Speaker 3: 32:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:12

You're looking for family and you're looking for their heart. Yeah, right, so great.

Speaker 1: 32:17

And one thing that I did hear you guys say you guys talked about, like, the safety aspects of like how you have the crossbody harnesses and all these different things. So it's a twofold question question why should safety be the core value for upcoming NEMT companies? But also again, I just want to harp on this because there is no regulations for it. So why do you all care to?

Speaker 2: 32:47

even go the extra mile if you don't have to go to action, especially concerning safety and we see it all the time, I mean day in, day out.

Speaker 5: 32:54

But again, my side of it, it's always in my career path. It's always been about safety. Whether you're on the EMS side and you're on a rec scene, it's about is the scene safe? How do you go about keeping yourself safe first and then keeping the people that you're caring for Also on the fire side? I mean you know when you go about keeping yourself safe first and then keeping the people that you're caring for Also on the fire side. I mean you know when you go into a burning building, it's all about safety and reading the scene and knowing how it's going to react and how you're going to react. So, safety with our passengers I mean we see it all the time. Like people they I mean I've seen ratchet straps to secure patients. I've seen where they're not even using seatbelts. We've seen, you know, vans on the side of the road with a passenger in the chair in the floor.

Speaker 3: 33:41

In the floor with their wheelchair out there waiting for the EMS to get there to get them out of their floor. Whoa.

Speaker 5: 33:47

And so you know and it's there again where these people are our family, you know, and their families or themselves are entrusting us to take care of them. And so, if, if that's how I'm going to take care of my mother, my grandmother, that's how it's going to be done. And you know, we all spend a lot of money in safety equipment, in our chairs and in training tires.

Speaker 6: 34:11

Yeah, lord, we spend a lot of money on tires and, uh, an incentive is, man, what I didn't know when I started is the insurance cost, and this whole industry needs to be lifted when it comes to safety, because, uh, when those things happen there, man, there's this that drives up that price, and and then also it gives you less ability to serve people just because they can't pay that cost. And so we can keep our costs down and provide that safety I mean, more importantly, the safety of those individuals and we really care.

Speaker 3: 34:43

And at the end of the day y'all we're sowing seeds, and if I'm mean to an elderly person, it's going to happen to us somewhere down the line. I'm not going to treat my wife properly or my grandbabies properly, I just we're sown a seed with every breath we take.

Speaker 1: 34:57

I love that. We have to. I love that, I love that, and so we're going to wrap up here, and so final, final question that I want to have at you guys. I've asked you guys, what should families who are looking to order get a ride set up for their loved ones go rehab, dialysis, whatever that looks like One? What should they expect in the ride? But what are some questions they should be asking these non-emergency medical transportation companies?

Speaker 5: 35:24

Well, we all get it a lot, and so the one thing reason I love that you're doing this is because a lot of people don't even know that we exist until it's too late. And then they're. They're doing an internet search and we don't know what they're going to get. So, you know, the big thing for us is being properly insured. You know, how are our drivers trained?

Speaker 5: 35:47

Um, when, when they call in, they're going to get a series of questions to make sure that we are the right fit for him, because if we're not the right fit, we're not going to do the transportation. You know, sean may do things different and he does have things different. He's got a different weight limit. We'll refer to them, you know, to do the transport and I know he does the same thing back for us. But again, it's all going back to that safety. You know, when they call, they're going to get an actual person. You know they're not going to get a recording and they're free to ask all kinds of questions and our ladies in the call center will answer all those questions for them and if they can't, they'll reach out to me and then I'll take the phone call.

Speaker 3: 36:28

Awesome. We tell them also to get referrals. You know I'm happy to say I'll give you a couple of our customers you call them. See how we're doing over there. You know that's so important and the hard thing is the reality of it is it's expensive. And if the money, if they're saying well, the cost is the first and foremost, there's people out there cheaper than us.

Speaker 1: 36:51

Right, and so it is private. Private pay at this time. Okay, private pay at this time.

Speaker 6: 36:56

One of the things that I'm teaching my call takers and dispatchers to do is manage the expectations, like, because people don't know the questions to ask, so we actually tell them things to look for when they, because they usually call and ask for the price and you know that I'll call you back. Well, I'm gonna tell you. Well, not to you speak down on any other company or anything, but I'm gonna tell you, just like you asked, what separates us and the reason why we might not be the cheapest. I'm like we don't cost the most and we're not the cheapest, but we are theest, we are the most courteous and we take the measures to provide a safe ride and make your loved one comfortable, and so we let them know that. And so, even when it comes to our communication, how we communicate, make sure what we're going to do. We're walking them in and checking them in and we're not going to leave them in some place where you're not ready, or we make sure that we're going to communicate.

Speaker 6: 37:53

We'll even communicate to you that we actually dropped them off safely, right, you know?

Speaker 6: 37:58

and so a lot of that is is letting them know that, because a lot of times they're like, well, I didn't know, yeah, I was like well, is this a will call, a will call, okay, well, from the time you call us, we're probably 20 minutes away, and that's what we, that's what we, that's our aim, and so. But what we will do is communicate with you in eta, right and so, uh and so. But if you want to, if you, then we offer them the option. So if uh us staying with them, uh, we offer them the option of not making it a will call and saying, okay, you're gonna know when you're gonna be ready, and if you make that, then then we'll treat that as an appointment.

Speaker 6: 38:33

Right and so now they start working with their, they start asking questions of their how long is this appointment going to take and what door are we going to pick up? What suite are we? Going to yeah and so a lot of things. We don't have that information if we just take the order and then we just show up at a building like this and be like where are we taking this money Right?

Speaker 3: 38:53

You know another thing. They really need to be there for the first one or two or three times. You know when your family member is going to ride, especially if it's coming from your home. Walk out there and look at that vehicle, see what the tires look like. Do all four tires match? Are they just something that they got from a?

Speaker 5: 39:10

man, I'm serious man.

Speaker 3: 39:15

I mean the little things matter.

Speaker 3: 39:17

When we first started talking I mean when we started we knew just this much and I would see one of his vans. They'd go into the hospital. They'd leave the doors open and the hatch up. I know they saw me on the dash cam. What's he using to clean with? Because COVID had exploded. You know I was going to see what's he cleaning with, what kind of wheelchairs he using. Is it like mine? And I looked at all his tires. You know I'd walk around and look at his tires on his vans. You know I'm like this guy's in it, right, we man. You see where one the outside edge is just smooth.

Speaker 6: 39:48

I'm like that's a junker my very first trip. I was my only driver. My very first trip, first facility I rode up to. There was a van, like he said it's open. They got all the doors open, I promise you. I saw a blood stain on the carpet and it was old and I looked in there.

Speaker 1: 40:18

I was like people getting in that and I was like, oh man, it matters. It matters. Everything you guys have talked about today matters, and I am just so honored to have had you, gentlemen, on the podcast today, because you're transporting, but it's also about bringing up the next people who are going to start any of these companies and how to do it right and how to do it with efficiency but also integrity, and so I appreciate you guys.

Speaker 2: 40:43

I thank you guys for coming on and just giving us all this knowledge. I think you're passionate. Yes, right, and taking those little details and making it worth that patience. Right, yes, right. And taking those little details and making it worth that, uh, patient's ride, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 40:55

So listen, god bless you guys. Thank y'all, and I hope this was just as informative and just like awesome as it was for me, like I just love sitting here being able to answer and ask all these amazing questions that they had. So, you guys, if you don't know about riding safe, shannon EMT and comfort care, please, please, please, just click the links in the bio. We're going to have everything set out for them. Please just go ahead and ask those questions, get the next appointment set up, because you're going to be in really great hands. And if you have any more questions for them, that's when you want to reach out to these gentlemen and just ask all the questions that you can. And if you are a guy or lady who wants to open up their own company, hey, you got the mentors right here, so please feel free to reach out to them. I hope you guys had a blast today. This was an awesome episode and we will catch you on the next one. Peace out, peace. Thank you.