Hospital Operates A Van Service

Gritman Medical Center administrators have realized patients cannot drive too well after cataract surgery or other operations.

If they cannot see, they should not drive. Yet patients often do not realize that until after the visit, said Scott Gray, surgical services director at the Moscow hospital.

Other patients would come in for outpatient surgery and forget that the sedative they received prohibits them from driving. And then there was the patient with a broken leg who no longer can motor to his appointments.

Their problems are over with a transit van, bringing patients to and from the hospital free of charge.

Gray developed the idea, but the main push came from the Gritman Auxiliary volunteers who raised almost $15,000 for the van’s purchase.

The van’s drivers help patients in and out of the van, and a wheelchair lift has been added.

The van might be made available for other groups such as the elderly, Gray said.