Stranded.

When Amy lived with Mom, she had PACE ADA and apparently PACE para-transit through Dundee Township.  We never realized it was township specific, or fully appreciated how great it was.  Amy could take rides, delivered door-to-door, in the immediate are for $1.50 for the first ten miles and then a per-mile rate, or get rides outside of zone at a straight per-mile rate.  The per-mile rate was expensive, going to Aunt Jane and Uncle Ken's was over $65 depending on the day, BUT we could do it if we needed to.

Some time ago, we learned this was a Dundee specific service and seeing as how Amy didn't live in Dundee anymore, it was taken away.  We had to jump through hoops to get enrolled for Aurora township service.  I talked to half a dozen nurses and doctors, and followed up countless times in order to get a proof/description of Amy's disability since Aurora wouldn't allow us to use the one that had been submitted to Dundee some years back even though Amy's disability has remained the same.

Then, Amy had to make an appointment and  go to downtown Aurora with a photo ID, in person, so they could make a copy.  So, the disabled person in need of transportation needs to travel to show their ID... so they can have transportation.  Not to mention, what if Amy didn't have an ID?  How would she get to the DMV to get a new one WITHOUT TRANSPORTATION.  To make this happen, Annie drove an hour to Amy, picked her up and took her to the office (yes, in theory, Amy's house should have facilitated this, but there seems to be a 3 month to 1.5 minimum waiting period on everything with them -- like getting glasses, or going to the doctor) 

Finally, we have service again!  Except, this service isn't like the last one. Amy can only travel door-to-door in very specific zone.  That's it.  That is as far as she can travel.  She has the option of using her PACE ADA outside this zone, but that would require THREE transfers, and scheduling three different busses to pick her up, in order to get "home" to Jane and Ken's.

Aside from the fact that Amy has limited vision and mobility and might have a hard time making those transfers or a problem being left in a parking lot god knows where, this would take HOURS for her to travel the 50 minutes.  Amy has a limited time frame for independent travel.   Let's not dance around it -- how many hours can Amy go before she needs to go to the restroom?  If she takes the bus, she doesn't have her equipment with her.  If she wanted to join her family to out to eat and head home, it could take 2+ hours each way, plus a 2 hour dinner.  6 hrs of either holding it or having a truly unpleasant trying to use a public restroom without a appropriate equipment saga, which doesn't always work out.

So, that is it.  

I'm just so tired.  We just through hoops for things that turn out to be nothing helpful -- like paying through the teeth for her birth certificate in order to qualify for her death benefit from our mom, which turned out to eliminate her need based SS, and only increase her income $18/month, which is seized by her agency anyway and so doesn't change anything for her.