Burdekin's Elderly Call For Transport Solutions

Across the Burdekin region, a lack of suitable transport services has left many elderly residents feeling isolated and struggling to access essential appointments and social activities.
The issue has become particularly pressing for those without family nearby or the ability to drive themselves.
June Bartlett, who cares for her husband aged in his 80s, highlighted the difficulties faced when transport is limited.
“When he became very ill and unable to do much, that’s when we really started to get stuck with transport,” she explained.
“From him needing so many appointments with physios, doctors, at the hospital, I started to meet a lot of older people in the area.”
As an involved community member and regular attendee of the Friends and Neighbours Craft Group, Ms Bartlett has noted firsthand that many in the community, especially older women who have lost their spouses, face similar challenges.
“Lots of people are facing transport problems in the future, not just because they can’t drive, maybe they don’t have a car or it’s broken down,” she said.
“There’s a great need for transport to be available at a lot shorter notice.”
Ms Bartlett acknowledged the “terrific” work of service providers including Burdekin Community Association (BCA), Bur-Del Services and Townsville’s TransitCare.
She also acknowledged the taxi and Uber services available in the Burdekin but cited technological and financial reasons for these not being suitable for everyone.
BCA CEO Debra Cochran said the organisation provides transport services to eligible people under the Home Care Packages Program, Commonwealth Home Support Program, Queensland Community Support Scheme and Burdekin Community Transport Service.
“We also provide transport to people not eligible for the programs, on a one-off basis, if we have a seat available on the bus and we are already transporting a client to the same destination,” she added.
BCA utilises two buses with wheelchair access that can carry eight passengers or, when there is a passenger in a wheelchair, four other passengers.
Bus transport is offered in Ayr, Home Hill and Brandon on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with the bus doing multiple trips to various locations around the towns for shopping, visiting, medical appointments, participation in events etc.
Bus Transport to and from Townsville is offered on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, the priority being to assist clients to access medical services that are not available at local public hospitals.
“We have capacity on our buses to provide transport to more people, eligible for the above programs,” Ms Cochran confirmed.
“Our capacity for Support Workers to provide additional Transport depends on the availability of workers.
“We’re not experiencing a demand to increase Transport services and we’d like to see more people from Home Hill, Brandon and Giru accessing services.”
TransitCare also does daily transport Monday to Thursday for over 65 and under 65 in Ayr, Home Hill and surrounding areas, transporting 30 to 40 clients per week mostly to medical appointments.
Despite this coverage of services, Ms Bartlett said an increase in appointments being booked later in the afternoon and on weekends leaves residents with few options.
“There needs to be a much more flexible and spontaneous system,” she said.
“When appointments get suddenly offered to you that day, it’s very difficult to get to things without having a well organised mind.
“Having an extra transport service here in the hours that the other ones don’t operate would be just terrific for all of the people who need to go to the hospital at 5 o’clock in the afternoon or need to get home from the hospital at 5 o’clock in the afternoon.”
Chrysse Theofanes shared her own struggles since losing her husband three years ago.
“When you lose your partner and there’s one person left in the house, you don’t go out, you don’t have friends, so if you’ve got to go to the doctor, I don’t know how you’re going to get there,” she said.
“Sometimes you don’t want to keep on asking for help; some people want to be independent and be able to do things when they’d like to do things.”
Christine Anderson, a nearly 75-year-old widow from Home Hill, relies heavily on her daughter for transportation.
“I can’t get into Ayr on my own and I can’t afford a taxi every time,” she said.
The weekly craft group is Ms Anderson’s only social outing each week.
“I think it’s very important, because otherwise I’d be sitting at home sleeping or watching TV or doing both at the same time.
“Having transport options is vital because otherwise people just don’t go.”
As Ms Bartlett concluded, "We must look after the people who made this country what it is today.
“People really do get stressed and worried about how they’re going to manage to get to things.”
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June Bartlett and Christine Anderson

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