By Callum Ludwig
Confirmation that the 683 bus service will not be able to make its way all the way to Warburton during the highway closure has caused concerns for residents who rely on it, but luckily the community is stepping up to help each other out.
A Warburton Community Support Network has been started by resident Rachael Tsoumbakos with a Facebook page to go with it, offering a place residents can turn to get answers to questions about the Warburton Highway closure or ask to carpool.
Ms Tsoumbakos said she is also a bus user and knows of the people on the bus line who use it all the time.
“It’s important that they can continue to do that if they need to get out to shop, if they need to go to a doctor’s appointment, even if they just need to get out, for sanity’s sake, they need to be able to do that,” she said.
“Hopefully we can get people who are travelling in and out to give them some help to achieve what they need to achieve.”
The Warburton Highway will be closed to all traffic between 26 April and 10 May at the site of the landslip, with regular traffic being diverted onto Old Warburton Road during this time, which is not suitable for larger vehicles.
Ms Tsoumbakos said it’s good that everyone has jumped on board to support really quickly.
“I’ve noticed a lot of people are jumping in to offer help, and not so many people complaining about who should have fixed this or how things should have been approached,” she said.
“It’s just vitally important to make sure people’s lives aren’t disrupted and that they can access help if they need it.”
For those who aren’t on Facebook or have trouble navigating the internet, the physical noticeboard at the ADRA Redwood Centre will also be open for residents to find information or let people know they may need a lift.
Manager of the ADRA Redwood Centre Kate Barratt said residents need to try to stay positive and constructive during this time because they can’t change the situation.
“I really love the idea of the support group, and I’d encourage people to join the Facebook group, hopefully, this noticeboard and the Facebook group can flow on for a variety of different reasons, this is just a good opportunity to get it up and running,” she said.
“Also if people have other concerns about things like appointments with doctors or specialists or Allied Health, we have spoken to many of their services and they’re really happy to work out other arrangements, such as telehealth or even video calls, and we can help facilitate that.”
Anyone interested in joining the Facebook group can find it by searching ‘Warburton Community Support Network.’ If you need to organise for carpooling, make a post on the page with where you need helping getting to and when and keep an eye out for responses from group members.
