Volunteers needed for Dannevirke health shuttle service

Annette Waterman wanted to give something back to her community and signed up to volunteer for the St John Health Shuttle. Photo / Leanne Warr

When Annette Waterman lost her husband, she decided she wanted to do something for her community.

The Dannevirke resident chose to put her hand up to volunteer for the Dannevirke St John Health Shuttle.

Now a team leader with the service, she was putting the word out for more people to volunteer their time.

Waterman said that many of those who had been volunteering had retired from driving or wanted to reduce their hours so she needed more people to fill the pool of drivers and assistants.

She said she was looking for people who were either retired, semi-retired or had some spare time on their hands who could work at least one day a week or even a fortnight.

"We don't stipulate how much time they have to do. It's entirely up to them."

Those who put their hands up would have to go through a police check, a first aid training course and a driver's assessment, and they would need a current driver's licence.

No special class of licence was required to take on the role.

Volunteers would also need an outgoing personality to be able to relate to the passengers.

The shuttle picks up passengers from Norsewood to Woodville and transports them to medical appointments, such as to Palmerston North Hospital.

Waterman said she had recently taken up the job of delivering items from the Dannevirke Pharmacy.

She said owner Hamish Pankhurst had advertised the role so she had suggested that he make a donation to the shuttle service instead and she would make the deliveries.

"He has been more than generous. He is absolutely amazing."

The service relied wholly on donations but lately there hadn't been that many coming through.

Waterman said that was understandable as people's circumstances had changed through Covid.

"People didn't have that extra dollar to donate," she said.

The shuttle service was originally started in 2005 by St John officer Don Stewart and his wife Kay.

"They had the foresight to see there was a need and with Don's hard work, we now have four vehicles," Waterman said.

"If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have this service. We are very thankful for what they've done for us."

Waterman said Don, who lived in Norsewood, had been involved with St John for more than 50 years by the time he retired.

Kay worked as the coordinator.

"She would ring and tell us where we're going, how many passengers and that sort of thing."

The service lost a lot of drivers when it went to a computer system, Waterman said.

She said they used to have about 45 drivers but now had only 16.

Those who wanted to volunteer their time could decide to be a driver, or could be an assistant.

"It's a second pair of eyes. It's the person who can ask the people in the back how they're doing. And they help with wheelchairs.

"It's hard when it's just a driver on their own, because they have to do the lot."

Waterman said volunteers would be provided with full training and guidance and uniforms would also be provided once training was completed.

Those who were interested could contact Annette Waterman on 027 438 9056 or email Annette at annette.sandy@xtra.co.nz.