Stronger After Stroke · Norton Neuroscience Comprehensive Stroke Center and Resource Center

Driven to Thrive: Tackling Transportation After StrokeDriven to Thrive: Tackling Transportation After Stroke

·21 min·2 clips

You know, I think it goes to connect to that loss of independence that can come

Rosa Hart sits down with Caitlin Zoller on Stronger After Stroke. Hart introduces Zoller as her longtime coworker and a social worker, then guides the discussion toward the transportation challenges that can shape life after stroke. The focus stays on rides. Hart talks through the familiar family question of whether someone can leave work on a lunch break to take a loved one to an appointment, and she points out how a routine follow-up can become an all-day commitment when the specialist is several hours away. Distance changes the equation. The pair use Louisville and Lexington as examples of trips that may require a caregiver to miss work, and Hart asks whether FMLA can protect that time. Zoller says yes. She explains that workers who have been in a job for more than a year may be able to use FMLA as a caregiver, including intermittent FMLA, which allows time to be taken as needed instead of all 12 weeks at once. The HR step still matters. Zoller says employees should speak with their employer and human resources about the paperwork, and she makes clear that the time may be unpaid even though the job itself is protected. That detail is the practical one. Hart and Zoller then move to transportation assistance for stroke survivors, where Medicaid programs, local company services, and area-specific options all come into view. TARC 3 gets a mention. Zoller identifies it as a non-emergency medical transportation service in the Louisville area and notes that similar systems may exist elsewhere. Volunteer help can matter too. The conversation points to volunteer organizations, including options that may be especially helpful for veterans, as another route families can explore when regular transportation does not fit the appointment schedule. The tone stays straightforward. Hart keeps translating the details into everyday terms, asking the sort of follow-up questions that turn policy into something a family can actually use when it is time to arrange a ride, protect a job, or plan for a specialist visit. The resource center remains part of the picture. The close points listeners back to the Norton Neuroscience Institute Resource Center, where classes, resources, and patient navigators are available virtually and in person, and it also notes that Stronger After Stroke is part of the Norton HealthCare podcast channel.

As heard by us

A practical look at transportation, caregiver leave, and access to follow-up care after stroke.

Stronger After Stroke turns its attention to a practical recovery problem: how stroke survivors get to follow-up care, and how caregivers keep work from unraveling while helping.

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Why you'd press play

If you are stuck on the ride home from stroke care, this one gets useful fast.

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