Medical Transportation on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's in New Jersey

1. Holidays We Run, 2026-27

Dispatch is staffed every hour of every day, and Delta runs on holidays the same way it runs on any other day. These are the dates families are planning around this season:

• ThanksgivingThursday, November 26, 2026
• ChristmasFriday, December 25, 2026
• New Year's DayFriday, January 1, 2027

Every other holiday on the calendar is covered the same way. Christmas and New Year's Day both fall on a Friday this season, so many visits will stretch into the weekend. A Sunday-evening ride back to a facility is booked the same way as a Friday one.

2. Bringing a Resident Home for the Holiday Meal and Back

A parent or spouse living in a nursing home, rehab or assisted living can often join the family for a holiday meal if the trip is planned. The first question is how they travel:

• Wheelchair van if the resident can sit upright in a wheelchair for the whole trip and just needs a lift and secure seating. See wheelchair van transport.
• Stretcher if the resident cannot sit upright for the trip or has to stay lying down. See ambulance and stretcher transport. The nursing staff, who know the resident's care plan, can tell you which applies.

Plan it as a round trip: the ride to the family home and the ride back to the facility, booked together. Some visits are a quick meal and some run into the evening. Whether a crew can wait during a long visit depends on the trip, so tell dispatch how long you expect to be and ask what is possible for that ride.

What to tell dispatch when you book

3. What Families Often Don't Know About Leaving a Nursing Home for a Holiday

This section applies to a stay in a skilled nursing facility covered by Original Medicare Part A. Medicare Advantage plans and other coverage follow their own rules, so check with your plan.

Many families worry that a day out will cost their relative Medicare coverage. CMS's Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 8, section 30.7.3 says that a short leave, with a holiday meal given as one of the examples, is not by itself evidence that the person no longer needs skilled care. The same section adds that frequent or prolonged absences can lead a reviewer to ask whether the care can only be given in the facility, and that those decisions rest on the care the person needs and receives.

Families should also ask about holding the bed. Under the Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapter 1, section 30.1.1.1, a resident who leaves temporarily can choose to pay a facility to hold the bed. Those payments are optional, and the facility has to tell the resident about the option and the charge in advance. It cannot assume the resident agreed.

4. Hospital Discharges on a Holiday

Patients are discharged on holidays too, and the ride home or to a facility is booked the same way as on any other day. What changes is the people around the discharge. The receiving facility's admissions office, a pharmacy or a case manager may be on a reduced schedule, so ask the care team early who is reachable on the day.

If you are a discharge planner, or a family member who has just been told the patient may go home tomorrow, call dispatch as early as you can with:

• the pickup unit and the destination address;
• whether the patient travels by wheelchair or stretcher;
• steps or stairs at the destination, and whether there is an elevator;
• oxygen or other equipment that has to travel with the patient; and
• the expected discharge window (and call again if it moves).

Discharge times shift during the day, and a late-evening release is a common version of this problem. Our guide to being discharged at night with no ride home covers that case, and our hospital discharge guide walks through the full planning checklist. Details on the service itself are on the hospital discharge transport page.

5. Dialysis During Holiday Weeks

Every dialysis center sets its own holiday hours and chair times. Your center may keep your usual slot, or it may offer a different time for that week. Ask the center, not us, which applies to you, and ask when the schedule will be posted.

As soon as you have the new chair time, call dispatch at (973) 389-3110 with the date and the time. That lets your pickup and your ride home be planned around the center's schedule instead of your usual one. If you ride on a recurring schedule, say which days that week are different so the rest of the standing ride stays as it is.

More on how recurring dialysis rides work is on the dialysis transportation page and in the dialysis transport guide.

6. Holiday Travel Days: Airport and Long-Distance

Holiday weeks are when a relative flies in to see an ill parent, or a family heads south for the winter. For a ride to or from an airport, see airport medical transport. For a trip that crosses state lines or covers several hours, see long-distance medical transport, and for the New Jersey-to-Florida run in particular, the NJ to Florida route page.

For an airport ride, have the airline, flight number and terminal ready, plus the passenger's mobility needs and any medical equipment. Help inside the terminal is arranged with the airline. For a long-distance trip, call and talk it through before you settle on a date: the route, who is traveling, and the passenger's needs along the way.

7. How to Book

Call (973) 389-3110 any time, including on the holiday itself. Delta books rides subject to availability. The online booking form on this page needs 48 hours' notice, so use the phone for anything sooner. Calling ahead makes it easier to plan the pickup, particularly for a round trip with a return time.

Have these ready: the pickup and drop-off addresses, how the passenger travels (wheelchair or stretcher), any steps, oxygen, the return time, who is riding along, and how the ride will be paid for.

8. Insurance and Cost

Every Delta trip is quoted individually, so the way to find out what your ride will cost is to call. Our cost guide explains the general factors that shape a quote: distance, vehicle type, stairs, oxygen, and any waiting or return leg.

Depending on the situation, rides are paid through Medicare Advantage plans that include a transportation benefit, private insurance that covers non-emergency medical transportation, workers' compensation, or private pay, and we can provide itemized invoices for VA travel pay. NJ FamilyCare (Medicaid) rides are booked through ModivCare. The insurance page has the details.