Gympie Medical Transport grows from strength to strength

Gympie patients will have easier access to their medical appointments with Federal Member for Wide Bay and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Llew O’Brien announcing a $13,990 grant for Gympie Medical Transport.

“Gympie Medical Transport has grown rapidly since it began 16 months ago, its 70 volunteers have driven 250,000 kilometres in 1570 trips and helped 555 people travel to their medical appointments, so it’s making a real difference to hundreds of people in the Gympie community,” Mr O’Brien said.

“This funding will go towards a sixth car for its fleet so they can assist more people in getting to medical appointments and expand the service further.”

Gympie Medical Transport secretary Sally Carkeet thanked Mr O’Brien for the funding and said it would ease pressure on the growing service.

“We have people on a waiting list for our busiest days, so this means that we won’t have to say no to people,” Ms Carkeet said.

“We have just trained seven new volunteers, and an anonymous benefactor has paid for repairs to another car, which just goes to show how much people value and rely on this service.”

Nestlé and the Gympie Regional Council also contributed to the cost of the new vehicle.

The federal funding was provided through Round 7 of the Stronger Communities Programme, which is providing $22.7 million to community organisations in Australia, delivering investment in regional areas, supporting jobs to drive our economic recovery, and ensuring our regions remain great places to live and visit.

“The Coalition Government is continuing to back regional and remote communities, investing in opportunities for them to get ahead and prosper into the future as well as delivering much-needed infrastructure and equipment, and supporting local jobs,” Mr O’Brien said.

Through the Stronger Communities Program, the Government has provided more than $158 million in total for projects for community-building and job-creating projects across Australia.
More information is available at business.gov.au/scp