Patient transfer extension for Mandurah

The volunteer service run by St JohnAmbulance has added two new vehicles to their fleet to help reach more patients across the Mandurah area.

St John Ambulance is extending their volunteer patient transfer services to reach further out into the Peel district.

General Manager for Patient Transfer Services Alan Clyne said two new transfer vehicles have been added to the fleet to help reach patients further than northern Mandurah area, which was the previous cut off zone.

"At the moment we cover into the northern part of Mandurah but the launch is about extending our services out as far as the Murray district hospital in Pinjarra and across the Dawesville region and those transports will be anywhere into the metro area," he said.

The service has been a Godsend to people who don't have access to private transport or find public transport difficult and uncomfortable.

"We identified a void in the market some two years ago that said there was a group of elderly folk and others that were in need of some assistance in relation to getting to their primary care givers," Mr Clyne said. 

Back in 2015 St John launched the community transport service with two patient vehicles but have since grown their fleet to 16 cars.

Two new Honda Odyssesy's will be added to the group to help cater for Mandurah patients at a launch in Mandurah this morning.

The new cars will be stocked with first aid equipment and an external defibrillator and will be driven by a qualified first aid trained volunteer.

The drivers of these vehicles are all volunteers, and offer up their time to help move patients from home to their appointments and back again. 

St John provide a 'door-to-door' service where volunteer drivers will greet patients at the door and accompany them to the transfer vehicles before dropping them off at care giver facilities and do it all again in reverse at home time. 

Mr Clyne said the service was designed for people who would usually ride in an ambulance to get to and from appointments.

"Our service is intended for those who are 'ambulance people' who need to get to appointments with their primary care givers, who don't have transport of their own and require someone who can get them to appointments on time without the stress of uncomfortable nature of public transport potentially," he said.

Around 200 volunteers are signed up and trained for the service, but St John is open to taking on more people, they just need to be able to offer up some time, be willing to take the free provided first aid training and have a caring kind personality.

Mr Clyne said St John is always looking for more volunteers in the Peel region. 

"I'm amazed at our volunteers' commitment, these people who have a general desire to give back to the community," he said

"Some people do it because maybe they do have time on their hands and some might have been the recipient of someone else's services at times and this is their way of giving back to others."

While run on a volunteer base there is a flat fee for patients.

For trips less than eight kilometres a $20 fee is charged, anything over eight kilometres requires a $35 fee but this is then uncapped to how far a patient needs to travel. 

The two new Mandurah vehicles are funded by the services people are taking advantage of through the greater metropolitan area.

"We invest that money back into the system and it's one of the reasons we're now able to go that little bit further into the Peel area," Mr Clyne said. 

People who want to get involved can go to launch this morning at the Mandurah Seniors and Community Centre on Ormsby Terrace.

The launch runs from 9.00am - 11.00am.

All volunteers are provided training up to the right standard, including a first aid level. 

"The act of volunteering is a rewarding process," Mr Clyne said.