SALISBURY — Care Transport Group, which just celebrated its fifth year of business, continues to grow and expand, both in its coverage area and the increase of vehicles it uses to serve the community.

Located at 1620 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Salisbury, the business is a non-emergency medical transport company, which partners with long term care facilities in the area and the Rowan Salisbury School System along with working with insurance companies.

The company hit its five year mark on July 1, and since its beginning in 2019, has increased its fleet from two vehicles to 16, said Rusty Misenheimer, CEO of the company.

These vehicles are a combination of what Misenheimer called ambulatory vehicles, meaning that individuals who can walk on their own or if they need the use of a cane or walker can get in and out of them. The others in the fleet are wheelchair or electric scooter accessible vehicles with a ramp, whether it be one that may fold down in the back or has a hydraulic ramp.

Beyond that would be classified as a stretcher transport and they don’t do these types of calls or anything that would be considered an emergency. 

In addition to the increase in vehicles, Misenheimer said they expanded their coverage area, telling that it was “earlier this year when we brought on Davie and Davidson counties, so we’re starting to expand in those areas as well, growing out from Rowan County,” plus he said they are always looking for areas to expand in, but they do stay within the borders of North Carolina.

The primary areas they currently service, he said, are Rowan, Iredell, Cabarrus, Davie and Davidson, but they have transported someone as far as Durham.

As for the number of transports they make daily, he said they do approximately 150 a day, which would equate to an average of 3000 a month, a combination of using each of the vehicles, running Monday through Friday.

“Some days are more. Some days are less, but generally speaking, about average,” he said.

Their primary business includes calls to transport people from doctor’s appointments and medical facilities or to and from dialysis. They also partner with the school system to assist in transporting students who may be disabled or perhaps the bus can’t get to where the student lives or other family circumstances, he said.

“It’s not a lot of kids, but we do provide that partnership with them. They’ve been a fantastic partner,” Misenheimer said.

Since it opened in 2019, the company has grown each year, even growing through COVID, “which is kind of an anomaly to say,” he said, “but each year we’ve grown probably 60-70 percent” and that is through word of mouth, by working on their relationships with both long term care facilities as well as on the insurance side with those plans that cover transportation.

“So really just developing those relationships and growing those and then expanding outside of Rowan County has really helped our growth as well,” Misenheimer said.

The company started as a vision of the family, he said, noting that his dad, Alan Misenheimer, chairman of the board, saw a need on the insurance side and therefore, “we decided as a family to open up the business back in 2019,” pointing out that they have family members and friends of the family working there. “So we really kept it as a small family oriented company,” he said, with a mission of “leaving people in a better position than when we found them.” 

To be able to do this and help them grow and have the success they have had, Rusty credits multiple things including drawing off the various strengths of the family members, the fantastic drivers they have, the partnerships that they have established and, he said, “God has very much blessed our business.” 

They didn’t have a community celebration for their July 1 anniversary, he said, but are planning to have an in-house event on Aug. 1 to recognize their drivers and associates.

As for what he would say to those who have supported them and helped them grow during these years, Rusty said, “we couldn’t do it without them.”

He continued by saying one of the biggest things is their drivers, calling them the “lifeblood of our organization. We would not be where we are without our drivers. The drivers that we have are phenomenal.”

And Alan added that “our drivers, they are the best part of what we do.”

Rusty went on to say they also have their partners, which includes the facilities and school system, and the brokerage companies who they are contracted with to get the transports.

“None of it would be what it is today without both of those working hand in hand and being able to build the business that we have,” he said, and credits them for the success they have. “So, I can’t say thank you enough to those folks. We’ve been very fortunate and very blessed for sure.”

As for how they receive clients to be able to provide these services, the process involves contacting their insurance company and checking to see if their plan covers transports and then providing the details of doctors’ appointments, etc. to them, and if so, the insurance company contacts a transportation broker who then reaches out to them to see if they are available for the transport.

The rule of thumb, Rusty said, is it typically takes approximately 72 hours or three business days in advance to go through insurance and get the transport scheduled.

The thing that Alan said he is most proud of about the company is the impact it has had on the riders.

“And that’s our goal to make their day better,” he said.

Rusty said he tells the drivers “it’s leaving people in a better position than when we found them because there are folks that ride with us that we may be their only communication.”

He said that those they transport may live alone and not have family nearby so they should be that someone who is “there to listen, to greet them, to smile, to make them feel better.”

Having compassion in mobility, which is at the heart of their business, is on each of their vehicles, he noted. This heart behind why they started the company is what Rusty said he thinks sets them apart. 

The family has several businesses, Senior Solution Group, which is the insurance side, and the Care Transport Group, which takes people to and from appointments and their family business is preparing to grow in another way, and that is by opening up Care Medical Supply, which will be durable medical equipment. 

“There’s a theme there working with the older community and folks of the baby boomer generation, geriatric age, things like that,” said Rusty. “We just have a heart for them as a family in general.”

Drawing off the family’s strength, they have been able to grow organically, Rusty said, plus he and Alan both give God the glory for blessing them and helping them to be a success. 

“We’ve been very blessed to be able to grow like we have with everyone’s strengths,” Rusty said, which have included his dad’s knowledge of and experience in insurance, his mom, Angie Misenheimer, who serves as president of the company, and her administrative experience having worked in the office of a long term care facility for years, Rusty’s business and real estate knowledge, his sister, Laura Phillips, being an LPN and having a nursing background, his wife, Kendall Misenheimer, working in a commercial furniture dealership, his brother-in-law, Nate Philliips, having served with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Department and is now director of dispatching operations with the company, and Chuck Misenheimer, director of scheduling operations.

The family, all coming together and serving the community through their businesses and showing compassion.

“If we can show compassion with people, if we can just empathize with people and be there for them, then we’ve done our job,” said Rusty, “and we’re leaving them in a better position.