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Car service boon for older people

Tristan WheelerManjimup-Bridgetown Times
Community Home Care CEO Sue Clements, Warren-Blackwood MLA Terry Redman and Boyup Brook Pharmacy's Kathryn Westphal with the volunteers who drive the car.
Camera IconCommunity Home Care CEO Sue Clements, Warren-Blackwood MLA Terry Redman and Boyup Brook Pharmacy's Kathryn Westphal with the volunteers who drive the car. Credit: Manjimup-Bridgetown Times

Elderly Boyup Brook residents have received a boost with the deployment of a Community Home Care transport vehicle to the town.

The vehicle will be driven by volunteers and will help elderly clients of CHC with transport to medical appointments, shopping and visiting family members.

Boyup Brook Pharmacy’s Kathryn Westphal approached CHC to see if it could provide the service after the State Government’s Home and Community Care program ceased in December last year.

“I identified with the closure of HACC, that that was when our transport service had finished up, in December last year,” she said.

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“It’s so frustrating as a health professional, you know a patient needs to see a doctor and you don’t have a pathway to book these people in, but now we have a pathway.

“It’s really, really exciting, it’s just a gap in services that has now been filled.”

Mrs Westphal said one of her patients at the pharmacy had been forced to miss appointments due to lack of transport.

“I had patients that had to cancel appointments because they couldn’t get to them, specialist appointments in Bunbury,” she said. “A patient was having regular strokes and a particular specialist had travelled from Perth for the day just to see him and he couldn’t attend that appointment.”

So far 12 volunteers have signed up to drive the car, which has been operating for the past two weeks.

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