THE Junee community’s fight to save its day care bus has been won.
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The Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLDH) last week did a stunning about-face on its decision to axe the service, which transported sick and elderly patients from Junee hospital to outings across town and the region.
Following a community backlash, the MLHD on Friday announced it would extend the bus’s lifespan to June 30 next year, and form a committee to help determine its viability beyond that date.
Former Junee mayor Dal Eisenhauer, whose wife is a regular user of the service, said the bus’s stay of execution was an example of people power.
“It’s back in operation and we’d like to sincerely thank the MLHD for listening,” Mr Eisenhauer said.
“The health service exaggerated the state of the bus. Yes it is a bit old but to suggest it had frequent breakdowns is simply not true.
“It’s never broken down since it was commissioned here – the most it ever had was two flat tyres.
“It’s just passed its RTA inspection and it was probably just a case of MLHD beancounters wanting to save a few dollars.”
The MLHD had argued the bus was in poor condition and that community health and hospital cars could fill the void if the service was discontinued. But Mr Eisenhauer said if it had been decommissioned, trips to other centres such as Wagga would not have been viable.
He also said the bus was more friendly to wheelchair passengers than a car. MLHD’s director of operations Brett Thompson said a lobby group in Junee had presented compelling reasons to keep the bus.
“Members of the Junee community approached us with a number of reasons why we should retain the bus and, in response to this, we will not be selling the bus at this stage,” Mr Thompson said.
“Over the coming weeks, we will form a committee that will meet regularly to monitor its usage, the availability of drivers and any time lost due to breakdown. The original plans to sell the bus would not have affected any services as there are other vehicles in the fleet to provide the same transport, but the community feel the bus should be retained so we will work with them over the next 12 months regarding future recommendations for the bus.”
Members of the new committee have not been announced.