Free community transport on Thursdays

LEONGATHA Community House and Gippsland Southern Health Service have partnered up in a trial to support vulnerable community members to access free transport.
Eleven eligible community members will be able to travel return, for free, from Leongatha to Wonthaggi to attend essential social service and medical appointments. 
The service will run every Thursday between November and February in an initial trial, with the potential for the transport service to become permanent, as determined by the success of the trial.  
Both Christine Slavin, Manager of Leongatha Community House (LCH) and Sandra Panagiris, Transformation Lead for Gippsland Southern Health Service (GSHS) had heard within their respective roles, that there was a great need for the service.  
“We were listening to our community, and our community was telling us that community transport was an issue,” said Sandra. 
After discovering that LCH had recently received a government grant for the purposes of providing community transport, Sandra approached Christine, and both discussed how the service could be established and delivered to the community. 
“It was a need from community, particularly in the health aspects, with the focus very much on health appointments and appointments that people can't easily access here. Then we broadened that slightly, and its other kinds of things like Centrelink, banking and other social services within the area,” explained Sandra.  
The service named ‘Thursday Essentials’ can be accessed by those who can no longer drive or who don’t have access to a car. It is also available to vulnerable community members with support workers who are welcome to accompany clients to give them the support they need to attend an appointment.
To be eligible for the service, community members pick up address must be within a ten-minute radius of Leongatha or are able to be dropped off at Leongatha Community House at 9am and picked up at 4pm.
Community members wishing to use this service must be unable to access other means of transportation, be able to manage their own entry and exit into a vehicle and be able to walk unassisted. 
Appointment times in Wonthaggi must be between 10:30am and 1:45pm on a Thursday. 
The trial service will run between November 16, 2023 and February 15, 2024, except for the period between December 22 and January 15. Bookings must be made on Mondays by 12pm for that weeks run.
For those interested in using the service or for any other community groups who would like to form part of an ongoing community transport service, please get in touch with LCH on 03 5662 3962.