Wheels on the bus begin to turn July 17th

The (er, much anticipated, discussed?) debut of Northern Health's Connections bus will take place on July 17th, when patients will be able to board the passenger bus provided by NH to take patients from hospital to hospital.

The first route to be introduced will be a Prince George to Vancouver run, next comes the Prince Rupert to Prince George run on the 24th of July. Other runs are to be brought on line as the next few months progress. The Rupert to Terrace run will not debut until October 2nd. Patients will be referred to the service by their doctors, who are presently being briefed about the different parameters for the service.

The service has been a controversial change to the Northern Health strategy and has received more than a few critical comments about the scope of the project and the way it has been introduced.

The PG Free Press had this story on it's on line edition on Wednesday.

NHA Making Connections
By Arthur Williams
Free Press
Jul 12 2006

Northern Health will launch it's Northern Health Connections program, starting July 17.

The program will provide low-cost bus transportation for patients needing to travel for medical services.

The first route will be from Prince George to Vancouver and 13 additional routes will be phased in between July and Oct. 9.

"Physicians are going to be referring people to the service," Northern Health communications director Mark Karjaluoto said. "It's something we're going to ramp up."

Northern Health will be holding information sessions for physicians and staff throughout the region on the bus service, he added. In addition, information posters and an add campaign will begin appearing shortly throughout the region.

A patient taking the Connections bus to Vancouver will pay $40 Karjaluoto said "about 10-15 per cent of the cost of providing the service.

The Connections bus service won't be restricted to low-income patients and one family member or caregiver will be able to accompany the patient at the same $40 cost, he said.

The program won't replace air and ground ambulance transportation, Karjaluoto said, but will be available for patients who would otherwise have to arrange their own transportation.

"This is for people who are well enough to travel," he added.

Karjaluoto said the initiative is designed to meet a need identified by northern health care users.

The route from Prince George to Vancouver will leave the north on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and return on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Vancouver route is the only route leaving from Prince George, but routes coming online in July and August will bring people from Fort St. John, Prince Rupert, Valemount, Mackenzie and Quesnel into the city.

Fares will range between $20 for short routes to $80 for the longest routes, round-trip.

Northern Health has contracted Diversified Transportation Ltd. to provide the service, which includes wheelchair-accessible buses.

The provincial government provided $4 million in funding for the initiative.

For more information, go online to http://www.northernhealth.ca/.