Saskatchewan Winner Gravelbourg Care Shuttle Service up for additional $20,000 Prize
Gordon Edgar - Moose Jaw Express/MooseJawToday.com
The Gravelbourg Cares Shuttle Service, which transports residents of south Saskatchewan to medical appointments they might not get to otherwise, is up for a potential $20,000 award from WinField United’s “Raise the Barn” community service contest.
“This prize money will be used to potentially replace our travel van and really to keep the service running,” said Lynn Holmes, director of the Gravelbourg Cares Shuttle Service. “We’re an organization of volunteers, we’re maintained by donations. If we win this prize money, it will keep us going.”
+DZN¶V $JUR QRPLQDWHG WKH FKDULW\ IRU WKH ¿UVW SRUtion of the contest, which looks for local projects in the areas of mental health, hunger, education, or community spirit.
Three projects won that initial round and were each awarded an $8,000 prize: the Community Garden and Greenhouse project in Foremost, Alta.; the Classroom and Meeting Space for Indigenous Teachings project in Miami, Man.; and the Gravelbourg Cares Shuttle Service
in Gravelbourg and surrounding communities in Sask.
“So, we won the provincial contest and we won $8,000,” Holmes explained. “Now, they’ve nominated us to move further. We’ll be competing with the Alberta winner and the Manitoba winner for $20,000.”
The service was founded when a group of Gravelbourg residents were confronted with the reality of trying to “age in place” — in other words, could they keep living in their small town despite being forced to travel farther and farther for their medical care?
“We were kind of confronted with that, ‘Do we move? Do we stay?’ dilemma, so that’s how we started,” Holmes said. “We look after the medical and the mental well-being of people in the small towns of southern Saskatchewan by getting them to their appointments without a lot of stress.”
The service started slowly, with door-to-door service in Gravelbourg, transporting a few people each week. When COVID-19 hit, the Saskatchewan Health Authority ordered the shuttle to cease operations. They were eventually able to negotiate some conditions, namely that only one passenger could ride at a time with proper protections.
Expansion beyond Gravelbourg
Post-pandemic, the Gravelbourg Cares Shuttle Service has rapidly expanded.
Jean Hébert has been dispatching for the shuttle for three years. He enjoys the social aspect and the challenge of coordinating passengers and pickups.
“I’ve never done anything more satisfying as a volunteer,” Hébert said. “You’re talking to people all the time, and they’re entirely grateful that this thing exists.
“This is a service that started very slowly … it started in Gravelbourg only, with three or four passengers a month. … Fast forward a couple of years, this year, since February or March, we never carry fewer than 15 passengers a month.”
That might not seem like much, Hébert said, but they DUH RQ WKH URDG ¿YH GD\V D ZHHN GRLQJ WKHLU EHVW WR KHOS everyone who calls.
At this point, they give between 400 to 500 rides a year. Clinics and hospitals in the bigger cities are starting to refer rural patients in Gravelbourg and surrounding area to the service, even rescheduling appointments to help volunteer drivers accommodate bigger groups.
Beginning in Assiniboia with the Masonic Lodge — driving a courtesy car generously offered by Nelson GM — people and organizations in other communities have begun meeting the shuttle on its way to and from appointments.
“We cover 14 towns now,” Hébert said. Glentworth, 3RQWHL[ /DÀHFKH 0RVVEDQN +D]HQPRUH DQG .LQFDLG are just a few of them. “The compromise for those people is they drive in to Gravelbourg, park at a local gas station, grab a coffee, the van picks them up for their appointment, and then we drop back at their car afterwards. It’s a lot of fun.”
The service is at a crossroads, Hébert believes, because they can’t really handle an expansion. Adding another vehicle, for example, would overwhelm the current number of volunteers. In addition, the van is putting about
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“This prize, if we get it, is going to help an awful lot,” Hébert added. “It’s a horrible time to be in the health system … We’re not replacing ambulances, you know, we can’t help with emergencies, but for some people this is one less headache and we’re playing an important role.”
If you’re in the area and need a ride, call the Gravelbourg Cares dispatcher at (306) 650-7333.
How to help
To help the Gravelbourg Cares Shuttle Service win $20,000, check out their Facebook page at facebook.com/ gravelbourgcares and vote on the WinField United “Raise WKH %DUQ´ FRQWHVW SDJH DW ZLQ¿HOGXQLWHG FD HQ UDLVH WKH barn.
The grand prize winner will be announced the week of December 13, 2022. Each individual email address can vote once per day.