Liard First Nation's new van makes community more accessible

Moving around the community of Watson Lake, Yukon, just got a bit easier for citizens who live with mobility issues.

The Liard First Nation recently acquired a new accessibility van. 

The idea to purchase the van started a year and a half ago when Katherine Durocher started as the First Nation's health and social director.

"There was no way for a lot of the people with mobility issues to get back and forth to programs," Durocher said. "Or even getting rides to and from the hospital or physician's clinic."

"We had two older model vehicles there that didn't even have a step up for, you know, elders to get in and out."

The new van can hold up to six passengers and one driver, comfortably.

Durocher said the van is a modified RAM ProMaster 2500.

"It's got the bus doors on it so it opens out for easy access and there is a ramp on the side of the vehicle that comes down and goes out," she said.

This feature will accommodate citizens who use a walker or have issues climbing stairs or inclines, she said.

"There's winter tires so that we can actually take it to different places because a lot of times our other vehicles were getting stuck in the snow."

The van's interior was designed to have a designated space for a wheelchair, which can be comfortably secured in place during transport.

The van has been on the road for a short period of time but the service is being used so much now, Durocher said the First Nation is looking ahead at possibly adding another van to the fleet.

Durocher said she feels a sense of accomplishment now that her community is a little more accessible for people.

"There wasn't anything available before," she said. "We don't have the same capabilities that you have in Whitehorse with transit within the community, so for people that have mobility issues there wasn't a safe way to transport them."

"Now we have that capability and can offer that to the community."

Cruising the community in style

Donald Molloy has been the medical driver for Liard First Nation for a few years.

He said the new van has really improved accessibility for his passengers.

"The ramp makes it easier for some of the elders to be able to walk into it," Molloy said. "With the previous van I was using a stool and that's how some of the elders were able to step into the vehicle."

Molloy said the feedback he's received from people who use the service is also encouraging.

"They're rather happy with it," he said. "They're impressed and they're really happy about having a new vehicle."