Diane Steps Out of Retail and Into The Care Car

Only a few weeks after Diane Sinclair officially retired, she was signing up to drive the Care Car as a Southern Cross Care volunteer.

She credits (blames) her husband Jim, who is a bus driver for Southern Cross Care, for inspiring her to take up the role.

“It’s Jim’s fault,” Diane said.

“Jim came home one day and said ‘now that you’re retired, you should go back to blood donations… and they’re really desperate for Care Car drivers’.

“I said, ‘yeah well you can back off and get in your corner and leave me alone’.

“And then I thought, ‘it won’t hurt to throw my hat in the ring and see how I go.”

The Care Car program gives older people an affordable, safe and age-friendly transport option to help them live independently at home.

Diane said the clients are definitely a big attraction for the volunteer driver role.

“I like being around people, I like helping them out. I enjoy meeting people and seeing what they’re about, it’s interesting,” she said.

Driving the Care Car for a four hour shift twice a week is fitting nicely into Diane’s well-balanced retirement lifestyle.

It leaves time for her babysitting gig, occasional work in her former retail job when they need a fill-in, and plenty of time to catch up with her family and friends.

Plus, she is finding she has time to enjoy her sewing, making brightly coloured scrub tops that she donates to Flinders Medical Centre to brighten up the days of staff and patients.

For fitness she does three personal training sessions and a weekly Parkrun with Jim.

Diane explained that the Care Car shifts are set up well to accommodate her lifestyle, “I don’t want to give up all my time and if you did you wouldn’t like to do it”.

Southern Cross Care is currently in urgent need of more volunteer Care Car drivers to support our clients to live independently.

For more information or to apply, visit the Care Car volunteers page.