The volunteers pick up their passengers within a 20km radius of Rochester, and can drive as far as Kyabram, Echuca, Bendigo and Shepparton to ensure the patients can access the healthcare they need.
RFDS program co-ordinator Hayley Wallace is proud of her team, which has grown significantly in the 14 months the program has been running.
“We’ve been operating in Heathcote since August 2018 — we piloted the program out there to start with with two vehicles, and then the uptake from the community in Heathcote was so huge that we had to bring on a third car really quickly,” Hayley said.
“We identified that Rochester was an area that could really use this program as well as a similar sized town, and REDHS was really keen to get something like this happening as well.
“We’ve got about 15 active volunteers, we’ve had a few recently move on, one has moved into a position with NSW Ambulance, one has moved into a paid role with our non-emergency transport team.
“We’re keen to find more volunteers to come on board and help to alleviate the pressure on our team in Rochester.”
Robyn Lucas, a retired school teacher, was one of the first four volunteers to sign on with the Rochester branch of the RFDS in December 2020.
“I was one of the four to start with,” she said.
“We did our training in early December of 2020, and we started on January 18.
“Four of us trained, but then one of us became ill, so there was only the three of us, so that first month until another group came on was very busy.”
Robyn’s experience with RFDS has been a busy one, recently averaging more than 100km a day in travel.
“Some people don’t have family living locally, or they do but the family is working; perhaps they have an elderly partner who no longer has their licence — the clients are so thankful that it’s there, that it takes pressure off their families, and to know they can just ring up and book the service when they need it.”
The team is always on the lookout for volunteer drivers, and is flexible with the terms for volunteers.
“Over January we were averaging around 10 to 15 trips a day, which is quite a lot----January this year was our second busiest month that we’ve had since we started,” Hayley said.
“We’ve got some volunteers who give a few days a week, we’ve got some that are able to give once a fortnight — we’re really flexible with what volunteering looks like.
“We’re just happy with anyone who wants to come and join us.”
Ideally, the program would have 20 to 25 volunteers on a regular basis to meet the growing demand of the program.
“If January was anything to go by, we’re only getting busier, there are some days we think we could do with another vehicle,” Hayley said.
The drivers have provided an invaluable service to so many people in the district, having completed more than 2933 trips for local community members since the program started, with 237 people from the Rochester area registered to use the service.
“We do a lot of those further afield trips for people, which is what people struggle with the most, especially the clients we have,” Hayley said.
“It’s not always feasible for them to catch public transport to Bendigo or Shepparton, and they might not be comfortable driving those long distances.
“Quite a lot of the clients that we transport from around here into Bendigo could be going in for cancer treatment, chemotherapy, radiation, so driving home after something like that is not on anyone’s wish list.
“Can you imagine sitting on a bus after receiving chemotherapy treatment? You’re already immunocompromised when receiving that kind of treatment, sitting with a bunch of strangers ... What we can do is provide a clean and safe way of getting to and from those appointments.
“I think the awareness of what we’re doing is increasing. I’ve seen a lot of people registering to use the service since the beginning of the year, but we know there is definitely more out there that could really use the service. ”
For more information about registering with the service or to schedule a one-off booking, contact the RFDS base by calling 1300 887 678, and selecting option 2 for the Rochester and Heathcote service.
