Te Puke St John Health Shuttle volunteers celebrate the service's first birthday.
St John Te Puke Health Shuttle volunteers celebrated the service's first birthday recently.
The service, which began on July 1 2018, has had demand increase steadily throughout the year, with the busiest day experienced in May 2019 assisting with 17 patient trips.
February was the busiest month, with 126 trips booked.
St John Te Puke area chairwoman Lyn Govenlock praised the team's effort in providing 913 trips for Te Puke and Pāpāmoa locals to Tauranga for medical appointments.
"Our shuttle volunteers contributed 1923 hours to provide this service," she said. "That's nearly the equivalent of a full-time position that has been willingly provided collectively by the team members voluntarily."
St John Te Puke has received approval to continue the service permanently, with fundraising to start shortly to buy a vehicle to replace the former St John Marton shuttle that has been the mainstay of service delivery through this first year.
