Starter Kit. Idea 344 of 500. Cluster 17
Medical escort services: a nurse takes the parent to the appointment and reports back
The mechanism, from the book
Sri Lankans abroad have parents at home whom they cannot look after from Melbourne. They will pay, and the money stays.
The first step
Ask the outpatient receptionist at your nearest private hospital which days are busiest with elderly patients who arrive alone. Then offer three Sri Lankan families abroad a single escort for their parent's next appointment at a fixed price: pick-up, waiting, the questions asked, and a written summary sent abroad the same evening. One paid booking, and one summary the family forwards to a sibling, is your proof.
- Who pays first
- A child abroad whose parent has a specialist appointment next month and no relative free to take a day off to go with them.
- What leaves today
- Relatives now fly home or lose working days to sit in waiting rooms; a trained escort turns that cost into paid local work and a written record.
Ask first
- Data Protection Authority. Ask what care is needed when sending medical summaries to family abroad.
- Department of the Registrar of Companies. Ask which business registration suits an escort service paid from abroad.
Check before you spend
The nurse's registration and insurance, the patient's consent to share medical details with children abroad, and safe transport for frail patients.
Find out these three numbers
- What fixed price will a family abroad pay per escort?
- How many elderly patients arrive alone on the busiest days?
- How long does one escort take from pick-up to report?
A comparison from the book
Who starts which. Appendix
"yours too: your parents are the customer."
Families abroad pay for someone present at the appointment and a clear report home that evening.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.