La Loma partnership helps residents reach medical care

When we got into this business, it was to solve a problem for our own family members.”

K.C. Kanaan, Envoy America co-founder and CEO

Community

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Jeannine Mapel’s recent ride home to La Loma Village in Litchfield Park came with a pleasant surprise: her driver was already waiting for her.

Mapel, who has lived at La Loma Village since 2022, accompanies a friend from the community’s care center to medical appointments. On one outing with Envoy America, she said, the driver waited about an hour.

“The Envoy driver, at least in one case, stayed with us and waited in the waiting room, and that was very helpful,” Mapel said.

That extra support is part of a transportation partnership between Sun Health and Envoy America that launched in February. The service helps residents and patients reach medical appointments and move between hospitals and La Loma’s Health & Rehabilitation Center.

The program has provided more than 885 trips for 193 patients and residents. It also facilitated more than 129 hospital discharges and admissions to the center, including 124 stretcher transports.

K.C. Kanaan, Envoy America’s co-founder and CEO, said securing transportation can be difficult for people who need wheelchairs or stretchers. Delays can leave patients waiting in hospital beds even after they are medically ready to move to another care setting.

“When we got into this business, it was to solve a problem for our own family members,” Kanaan said.

Envoy provides a dedicated driver and vehicle for La Loma, Kanaan said. Drivers receive training in safely using transportation equipment, communicating with older adults and assisting people with cognitive challenges.

Braxton Howard, La Loma Village’s vice president of operations, said the partnership eases the transportation workload for community staff and provides additional help when La Loma’s own drivers need backup.

“We really want to make sure we have a top-rated resident experience at every touch point,” Howard said.

Debbie Sables, the community’s associate executive director, said the service also helps La Loma bring in patients when hospitals are ready to discharge them.

“The other thing that they’ve really helped us with is timely admissions,” Sables said. “When the hospitals call, we can get there.”

For residents such as Mapel, the details of a trip matter, from how drivers secure a friend’s wheelchair to the conversations they share along the way.

Noah Flug
Reporter | Litchfield Park and Goodyear

nflug@iniusa.org

Community: Litchfield Park and Goodyear

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication with a minor in Digital Audiences from Arizona State University

Random Fact: I only have one biological cousin.

Hobbies: Watching movies and TV, spending time with my friends, aspiring stoic.