Bus-ted: Company goes above and beyond to help local family
A DUBBO bus company has gone above and beyond to provide daily assistance to a family struggling with health issues. A Langley’s Coaches school bus will actually drive off a public road and down a 300 metre farm driveway to help the Johnstons from Gilgandra, a family facing unique circumstances.
Sarah Johnston says she was having difficulty driving daughter Grace to and from the bus stop to get to kindergarten because she also had to transport two other younger children, son Ted who has Angelman Syndrome which created a twice-daily logistics problem as she couldn’t leave them unsupervised.
She approached Transport for NSW to seek a solution and explained that Ted, 3, is non-verbal, cannot walk and has an intellectual disability.
“Ted also has a sleeping disorder, motor, balance and co-ordination issues and life-threatening seizures. He has an excitable and happy demeanour, sensory processing issues and requires constant care and supervision,” Mrs Johnston said.
“When my daughter Grace
started school this year, I faced the added stress of having to get Ted all the way out to the shed and in and out of the car each day just to drive 300 metres to the bus stop at the front gate.
“It’s quite a task to handle at an early hour every day and again in the afternoon and adds a significant amount of time to the routine.”
Mrs Johnston said she often didn’t get much sleep which made it physically and mentally exhausting just to put
Ted into the car and get him back out again.
“Ted relies on me for everything so it’s not fair to him if I am exhausted. He deserves my energy to be better spent on helping him to play in the back yard,” she said.
“From term two I am beyond grateful that the bus will arrive at our front door. This sort of practical support is incredibly kind and won’t ever be forgotten.”
Langley’s Coaches’ Sarah Hansen said the company was
happy to help.
“We love to try to support families like the Johnstons with their transport needs where we can,” Ms Hansen said.
“The diversion will only take an extra few minutes, but will make a huge difference to this family, and we are more than happy that we are able to help.”
The route adjustment along the driveway is not expected to impact the timetable of the school bus service.