A volunteer car scheme that provides patients with transport to medical appointments has issued a rallying call for more volunteers to come forward to allow the service to continue.
Killin and District Volunteer Car Scheme (KDVCS) offers a door-to-door car service to residents of the village and the surrounding areas, who find it difficult to use public transport to access NHS and other services which support and maintain their health and wellbeing.
Patients can contact the service to book transport to make it to appointments.
At present, the scheme has three volunteers, but has issued an appeal for more to step forward and chip in as the relaxation of restrictions of coronavirus continues and the hospital services get back on track with the outpatient clinics and procedures.
KDVCS organiser, Don Fraser, said: “The scheme is more than just meeting health needs, it can support the social and daily living needs of people that meet our criteria. The organisation aims to assist people in and around Killin by providing support for those who find it difficult or impossible to use public transport.
“The scheme has become popular with many people living in the villages in and around Killin. The idea of the service began through the discussions of the Killin Medical Practice Participation Group, which recognised the need to have a service that reflects the needs of the locality. Previous attempts to run similar schemes failed for a variety of reasons, mainly because people working from call centres do not necessarily understand the local needs of passengers or drivers.
“With financial support from Stirling Council the scheme quickly recruited 16 volunteer drivers and whilst people living in villages have always relied upon family, friends, and camaraderie for support, KDVCS fills many important gaps. There are around 75 people on our list at any one time and when the Covid-19 restrictions came into place the number of journeys lessened, and so did our volunteer group.
“Most of our volunteers are past retirement age and the majority had to stop volunteering due to restrictions and their potential vulnerability. Despite the impact on volunteers, we managed to keep a skeleton group of three people working hard and achieving an incredible 60 journeys so far this year.
“The volunteer’s vehicles are now provided with personal protection equipment (PPE) and each car has a protective screen between the driver and passenger.
“Passengers now must use the rear seats and follow guidelines to reduce the risk of infection.
“As hospitals are beginning to return to previous levels and hopefully, clubs and day centres will also begin to get back to normal we need more people to volunteer for us, and whilst most volunteers stay in Killin, we also want to recruit more drivers that stay in the outlying villages between Tyndrum and Strathyre.”
Click here for more news and sport from the Stirling area.
The scheme was launched in September 2018 and there is a 20p per mile charge for the scheme to cover fuel costs and wear and tear on volunteers’ vehicles.
Anyone interested in volunteering can find out more by emailing kdvcscheme@gmail.com.
