After 27 years of dedicated volunteer service, Charlotte Sanktjohanser is stepping down from her position running the medical equipment loan depot operated by the Canadian Red Cross in Osoyoos.
Without any other volunteers showing a willingness to come forward, the centre appears ready to close for good as of this Friday, August 3.
That would mean seniors from Osoyoos would have to make the trek to Oliver to use the depot there for medical equipment such as walkers, crutches, canes and commodes.
“I’ve been trying to find volunteers to help me out at this place for many years, but no one seems willing to come forward to help out,” said Sanktjohanser, who is in her 80s and has too many of her own health conditions to continue operating the medical equipment depot, which has been operated out of a small room in the Sonora Centre for the past several years.
“I hate to leave, but I’ve put in 27 years of dedicated service and I’ve really enjoyed it, but it’s time for somebody else to take over. I did this because I believe in the program and because it has helped so many people. It would be a crying shame if all the seniors who use this depot here in Osoyoos would have to travel all the way to Oliver.”
Maureen Schofield has been the only other regular volunteer to assist Sanktjohanser over the past five years and she’s also disappointed it appears the depot might be forced to close, said Schofield’s mother Trudi.
“My daughter has been there for five years and just loves it, but she’s a challenged person and can only manage one or two days a week for a couple of hours,” she said. “Poor Charlotte has done an incredible job there, but she has her own medical and health problems and she can’t do it anymore.
“It’s a real pity it looks like this place might have to close because there are an awful lot of seniors in this community who have been able to use the medical equipment they have there, all free of charge, for many years.”
An email from Red Cross management in Kelowna has made it very clear the medical equipment depot in Osoyoos is going to close for good unless a group of volunteers comes to the rescue in the next couple of days, said Schofield.
“This is really terrible news for this community,” she said. “This is a wonderful service that is used by a lot of people and it would be a real shame to see it close.”
Schofield believes the location would be better off at the Sagebrush Lodge, which she says has more space and is easier to access for most seniors in this community.
Val Paolera, a member of the Osoyoos Seniors Centre, agrees that closing this depot would be terrible news for hundreds of seniors in town who use it on a regular basis.
“This is the most volunteer-oriented community I have ever lived in or seen in my life, but there’s a small group who do a lot of the work and they are all volunteered out,” she said. “What we need is a group to come forward and get a few people to donate just an hour or two a week and we might be able to save this place and keep it open.”
Paolera said she is going to try and rally numerous seniors in the community to step forward to volunteer an hour or two each week to fill the breach being left by Sanktjohanser leaving and see if the depot can be kept open.
Management with the Red Cross and Interior Health know how valuable a service this has been for almost 30 years in Osoyoos and it would be devastating to lose it, she said.
The reality is many of the regular clients who use the depot are too old and fragile to make the trip to Oliver if the depot in Osoyoos were to close, said Paolera.
“Not only would they have to get to Oliver to get the medical equipment, but then they would have to bring it back as this is a loan service,” she said. “That just wouldn’t work for a lot of the seniors in town who are using this service.”
Once the public is made aware of this situation, Paolera is hopeful numerous new volunteers will step forward and the depot can remain viable and operational for years to come.