St John HealthCare will be taking its stock of mobility scooters, wheelchairs and walking aids to a pop-up shop in St Peter Port to help support access for all on Tuesday 13th November, Purple Tuesday.
The wheelchairs and scooters will be available free of charge and staff from St John HealthCare will be on hand to answer questions. Other accessibility items will also be on display at the pop-up shop, which will be located at the Bus Information Shop at the bus terminus on South Esplanade.
Jacquelyn Llewellyn-Jones, Relationship Manager at St John HealthCare said “We know there are lot of people who feel unable to get into the heart of St Peter Port or get around town freely.
With the right support and sometimes the right equipment those barriers can be overcome. We really hope that people will come and see us to make use of the scooters and chairs to help them get around St Peter Port more easily. We also look forward to working with partner charities to improve the access issues that sometimes prevent people leaving their home or getting into town.”
People will also have the opportunity to try the wheelchairs and scooters on a CT Plus ’Accessible Bus’ at the terminus on the day. A member of CT Plus staff will be there so that people with mobility aids or those who want confidence boarding can do so at their own pace.
St John HealthCare Retail Manager Martin Plowright added “We are very grateful to CT Plus for allowing us to set-up in their shop at the bus terminus. We are very lucky that we have good access and parking right outside our shop at the Rohais, however this gives us the opportunity to take our services into the community and for people to try the chairs and scooters.”
Purple Tuesday is a national event to make shops and businesses more aware of the challenges around access and provides the opportunity to inspire them to make changes to improve the disabled customer experience.
In Guernsey, Purple Tuesday is a pilot event and one of the initiatives of the larger ‘Accessible Town’ project which focuses on improving accessibility, in its widest context in Guernsey. By increasing accessibility and the disability confidence of businesses the project hopes encourage more disabled islanders and there carers to shop, eat out and take an active part in our community.