Care Shuttle

UGGS has launched a new project called The Care Shuttle. This is an initiative to assist cancer patients attend treatments at Albany Hospital and Genesis Care where they may have difficulty in driving themselves or finding someone else to drive them.

The Care Shuttle came about through the fundraising efforts of Ms Mary Williams. In 2017 Mary commenced a fund-raising project (with the assistance of the Denmark Community Foundation Inc) for a Radiation Therapy Machine. This was spectacularly successful when later that year, the Federal Government (through support from Rick Wilson MP, Member for O’Connor), committed $6.6Ml to the project if the State Government reciprocated. 18 months later the WA Government committed $13.2ml and radiation treatment became a reality in Albany. Patients no longer had to travel to Perth.

The over $40,000 raised by Mary was now not needed for a machine. In February 2023 Genesis Care opened to patients at their brand-new facility at Albany Hospital. They shortly noticed that a number of patients where experiencing difficulty in getting to their appointments and so Mary devised the idea of using the funds raised across the Great Southern for the Radiation Machine to purchase a transport vehicle for this purpose. 

Mary and her group approached UGGS to take on the project and lo and behold, The Care Shuttle Project was born. Mary continues her involvement on the Board of UGGS.

The first vehicle will commence operations at the end of May. Mr John Wauters, Chair of UGGS said, “We are delighted to add The Care Shuttle Project to our operations and hope that it will provide better cancer outcomes for the patients we assist.”

UGGS hope to eventually have a fleet of Shuttles working across the Great Southern to remove the barriers of location and disadvantage from cancer treatment for the people of the region.