Hospice Whanganui medical staff get new wheels, thanks to sponsors

Gaylene Kellick (left) and Sandy McDougall of Hospice Whanganui collect the keys from Gareth Jones cheered on by Steve Ellis, Hans Vanderschantz and Sue Ellis. Photo / Stuart Munro

A brand new Suzuki Swift will enable Hospice Whanganui medical staff to visit patients without vehicle stress, says manager Sandy McDougall.

" We applied to the Harcourts Foundation and they awarded us $10,000 towards the cost of a new car," said Ms McDougall.

"We are so thrilled because the national fund is $50,000 and I did not think they would be able to give Whanganui a fifth share."

David Jones Motors has helped out with a generous trade-in deal on one of the old cars in Hospice's fleet.

"We have a long-standing partnership deal with Hospice,'" said Gareth Jones.

"The little Swifts are great cars and they are reliable but their other one was getting old and this new model has great safety features and bluetooth for hands-free phone calls."

Steve and Sue Ellis and Hans Vanderschantz of Harcourts Whanganui were on hand to help celebrate.

"It is always great to see Hospice getting support and we always like to help out with local fundraising events when we can," said Mr Ellis.

Ms McDougall said the old car was getting to the stage where nurses and doctors were not keen to drive it.

The new car will have the Hospice Whanganui logo painted on the back panel soon.