New Wheels for Wheels van brings holiday joy to Rosetown
EAGLE STAFF
The new Wheels for Wheels van arrived earlier than expected and carried people around town to view residents’ Christmas decorations.
“We’ve had it for at least a month,” Bernard Mullis, who chairs Rosetown and District Wheels for Wheels, said last week.
The Rosetown Lions and staff with the Orange Memories care home used the van—which can carry people in wheelchairs securely—for Christmas light tours, Mullis said.
Residents of the Orange Memories Care Home were touring the town on Dec. 23 looking at Christmas lights. FACEBOOK
It can carry five people in wheelchairs and nine others plus the driver when seats are installed.
Staff with Motion, formerly Golden Mobility, obtained an empty bus and “built all the inside—everything,” he said. “They installed everything we asked for. They did a really good job.”
The colder weather before Christmas caused a bit of trouble, but it’s being stored inside with ambulances at the complex housing Rose Villa and the hospital, he said.
It arrived “a little earlier” than promised—“not much but a little bit,” he said.
The organization’s fundraising drive had generated enough money to pay for the van, which cost about $130,000, he said.
Drivers of this bus and the one it replaced don’t require a more advanced licence, which is based on the number of passengers a unit carries, he said.
“That’s why we bought this and not the next size up,” Mullis explained. “We didn’t want its drivers to require a licence other than a regular driver’s licence,” he said.
The organization is waiting for a few more decals from major sponsors, he said, hoping to install them all at once.
“We’ll get it inside and get it all cleaned up and then get everything put on it,” he said.
The group will also prepare a plaque identifying contributors to install in Rose Villa, Mullis said.
Changing from its wheelchair set-up to bucket seats “is easy, and the wheelchairs are even better yet,” he said. Each seat has wheels plus two pins and levers to secure them.
“Lift up the pin on each side, pop the lever, kick it back and wheel it out,” Mullis said. “It doesn’t take very long. It’s quite efficient. It’s not hard to do. When you can wheel it, you don’t have to pick it up.”