Jean Moore-Lemoine
Community Development/Transportation/Home Support Coordinator
Smoky River Transportation Program
We live in rural Alberta! Unfortunately “rural” means we lose services which in turn means we have to go long distances for many of these services. Fortunately, we live in the Smoky River region where our local governments saw the need for people to access services and made the decision to help people access doctor and health appointments. Our original bus, bought in 2005, was totally paid for by the MD of Smoky River, the towns of Falher and McLennan and the villages of Donnelly and Girouxville.
These same municipalities continue to support the Smoky River Transportation with annual money from their own budget…NO extra dollars from the province!
As indicated earlier, the Smoky River Transportation program began to provide access to medical appointments.
Today, Smoky River Transportation provides trips to Grande Prairie twice a month for medical access, for shopping and socialization.
We also make monthly trips to Peace River and High Prairie. In addition, the vans are used for scheduled youth trips and for taking Summer Day camp youth to various venues in the region.
Special “Trips with Jean” are scheduled where we discover the many highlights of our beautiful province.
A trip to Drumheller to see the annual Passion Play, Rosebud for a fantastic dinner theatre and Stettler for the prairie train ride, was the highlight of 2017. This year we are planning trips to Grande Cache and Jasper as well as doing a part of the Cowboy Trail and going to an Elvis jamboree.
In 2015 we saw usage of 570 for these special trips while in 2017 we have more than 904 people go on special outings!
If you or someone you know enjoys getting out but does not want to travel alone, please call and join us for a funfilled time.
Renew old acquaintances, meet our fantastic drivers and enjoy a healthy laugh or two!
See you on the Smoky River Transportation van!!