Wrinklies ready for integrated health changes
It’ll be business as usual for Wrinklies Express should all Golden Bay’s medical services get relocated at the Community Hospital site.
That’s the message president Roy Reid gave to the organisation’s AGM lunch meeting on Wednesday 28 April. “There’s been a lot of speculation in the community as to what service we will provide if this happens. Our trust deed makes it very clear that we will provide assistance with transport for all our members, from their homes to the place of the appointment and return, wherever that is. We have no intention to change those criteria, even if it means more driving around.”
Wrinklies’ 250 members currently pay a $15 annual subscription (open to anyone over 50, or disabled) plus a donation at the time of service. Their newsletter suggests an appropriate amount would be $20 return to Nelson or $10 within the Bay.
Roy also reported that passenger numbers had nearly doubled over the previous financial year. Although the number of trips had not increased that much, from 201 trips to 269, passengers numbers rose from 352 to 658 last year, compared with just 151 two years ago. Says Roy: “Our two vans are on the road nearly every weekday now. We are very pleased to see this big increase because it helps the financial viability of the trust, which is in very good shape. But certainly without the support of the volunteer drivers (currently around a dozen) we would have difficulty continuing to offer the service that we do.”
It’s now been seven months since Wrinklies Express purchased their brand new nine-seater Kia Carnival van, complete with plush swivel leather seats and chair hoist, at an on-road coast of $52,000. Bridging finance was arranged at the time to enable Wrinklies bank investments to continue until maturity to prevent lost interest on broken investments, but this loan has now been fully repaid and they own the van outright. Their second (and previously main) van, a 1998 Toyota Lucida, is now used around the Bay for medical appointments here.
Hard cash support from the community has not been slow coming in. AMI provides the vehicle insurance while the Naked Possum Community Charitable Trust paid $6862.50 to cover the installation of the van’s hydraulic chair. First National donated $2450 from their last seven months of sales (at $50 per sale). Trash Palace again gave $200 and even the collection box at Anatoki Salmon netted around $100 for the cause.
Just how keen people here are for the service was shown a few weeks back when an elderly woman phoned Wrinklies transport organizer Henk Visker at 9.15am from the Visitor Centre questioning the whereabouts of the van supposed to be taking her to Nelson for a hospital appointment.
“I told her it was the following day she’d booked, and asked her to check her appointment card. Upon doing so she was rather red-faced to realise she had turned up a whole day early!
Gerard Hindmarsh
