Seniors at Dufferin Place Long-Term Care Centre were able to hit the road this week, thanks to a newly refurbished fully accessible bus purchased by the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation.
"This new bus is in fantastic shape and it is also able to configure to different needs," said Danica Zaric, Dufferin Place's activities coordinator. "So if we have more wheelchairs we can change the seats, put some seats up – if we have more walkers we can put some seats down. It's going to really work for our facility."
Due to the challenging three-year journey it took to get the bus, it has earned its own special nickname within the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation, who undertook the initiative to fund it.
"It's the miracle bus," said Barney Ellis-Perry, foundation CEO.
The long-term care centre's last bus broke down three years ago, and since then they've been having to borrow one from Trillium Lodge, leaving multiple week stretches without outings for the centre's residents. At the time, cost estimates placed a new bus at $170,000.
By spring, 2024, that cost had climbed to $280,000, when adding the necessary features and cost inflation. This put Dufferin Place and the foundation in a difficult position, because while recreation needs for the seniors are important, $280,000 is not a small purchase.
"The needs are so big here at Dufferin for equipment and other things, and at our other long-term care facilities, it's hard to justify $280,000 for that one vehicle that's going to be used a couple times a week," Ellis-Perry said. "That was almost like an ethical debate we got into."
As a result, the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation included bus rentals as part of that spring's senior recreation fundraiser for local long-term care homes, but with very few donations, and difficulty finding a company who would be willing to rent an accessible bus for two days a week, the project was a failure.
About three months ago, conversations changed, as the foundation approached Island Health about the possibility of purchasing a used bus. Island Health was interested, but it would have to be from a reputable supplier.
A month later, the 'miracle bus' was found in Manitoba from a supplier that Island Health has used before when purchasing new vehicles. The total cost, including bringing it to the Island, was $70,000.
"Island Health fleet said it was almost impossible that we got this bus at this price in this condition," said Karen McCarthy, foundation manager of strategic initiatives and grants.
In the meantime, an unexpected large donation came the foundation's way.
"A family came forward that has experience with Dufferin and they said they wanted to provide approximately about $100,000," Ellis-Perry said. "That's enabled us to pay for all the bus purchase, because about $35,000 was raised through a scrub sale, individual donors and Eldercare Foundation...They're able to buy some equipment as well."
Some of these donated funds came in the form of stocks from Meta, the company which operates Facebook and Instagram.
"We can't say the family name, but it was a gift of appreciated securities by an elderly gentleman [that] tipped the scales."
By Friday, June 6, the bus had arrived, and residents got to take it out for a spin to Maffeo Sutton Park.
One of the seniors in attendance, Diane Barett, said she likes to be surprised on the bus trips, and prefers to not find out where it will take her until she boards.
"I love them all because they're all different," Barett said. "I would go every day, but they can't afford that. It's really the best."
Zaric said the trip locations are chosen based on conversations with the residents, and include parks, restaurants and community events.
"We get a lot of ideas from our residents," Zaric said. "But we go out for drives, sometimes we go to neighbourhoods they used to live in and it's really good to reminisce on that. We go out for picnics, we go to the mall... so many different ideas, just being part of the community is so important."
