General News
26 September, 2022
Flying Doctors expand to Minyip
The highly-anticipated Royal Flying Community Transport service for Warracknabeal is expanding to service the smaller surrounding towns, starting with Minyip.
The highly-anticipated Royal Flying Community Transport service for Warracknabeal is expanding to service the smaller surrounding towns, starting with Minyip.
The service will be holding a drop-in community meeting at the Minyip Senior Citizens Centre on Tuesday, September 27, where residents can come for a cuppa and learn what the service will do for the community.
The service is due to commence for Warracknabeal and surrounding towns in October for a "soft" launch as the team continues to build their team of volunteer and their confidence within their new roles.
The service comes to town following an August announcement and extensive research and community consultation that identified a desperate need for the service.
Program coordinator Hayley Wallace said the upcoming transport service will be completely free and only require a phone-call registration.
"People won't need a doctor’s referral or anything like that, just give us a call and ask to be registered as a client. We'll go through some questions and get some details and as soon as they're set up, we can start helping them get to appointments," she said.
"Whether it's a doctor's, chiropractor or mental health appointments, radiation treatments or structured social support groups, we can help with the transport."
The doors for the event will open at 9am for a two-hour session.
"We’re encouraging community members to drop by for a cuppa and learn all about the new Community Transport service and learn how they can get involved by signing up as a Volunteer Driver or registering to use the service as a client," Ms Wallace said.
As the transport service requires volunteers to run, the event will provide insight to anyone interested in what their role would look like as a volunteer driver, how to get involved and how it aids the community.
The service is also hiring for a paid role as project coordinator, which will help to organise the transportation and keep the service running smoothly. Ms Wallace stressed that the team is looking to employ locally where they can.
"We'd love to see everybody there and anybody that wants to know a little more about the project. We're keen to be speaking to anybody interested in volunteering as a driver," Ms Wallace said.
"We've already got a couple of volunteer drivers who have put their hand up, which is amazing. I think we're going to have a killer volunteer team.
"If you can’t make the event, you can give us a phone call or send us an email and one of us will get in touch."
For more information regarding Flying Doctor Community Transport please call 1300 887 678 or email communitytransport@rfdsvic.com.au