Senior citizen starts disabled parking campaign

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“They don’t care. It’s only my wife and me. I drive myself to appointments.

“Rent and electricity account for 80 per cent of our pay cheques.

“We can’t afford to get a taxi to drop us off.”

Although at this stage Mr Gaffney won’t be escalating his complaint he did encourage locals with disabilities to join the fight for better parking conditions.

“Complain, complain, complain.

There needs to be community involvement to get things going,” he said.

A hospital spokeswoman said: “We recognise that parking near the hospital can sometimes be a challenging experience for our patients”.

“Parks for people with a disability are all in very close proximity to the hospital via the Esplanade, Lake St and Grove St,” she said.

“The Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation also provides parking at the

Digger St car park with discounted rates for pensioners and health care concession card holders.”

The council responded via a letter to Mr Gaffney on May 25 that the ticket had been withdrawn “as a gesture of goodwill”, but he couldn’t be exempt from being fined.

Additionally, council’s director of lifestyle and community Destry Puia said: “Council officers always show empathy for challenging or emergency sce- narios”, but infringement notices must be served when parking regulations are breached.

“There are 16 on-street disability bays located at the hospital, including five just to the left of the main entrance, another six directly across the road (on the Esplanade), and five on Lake Street,” he said.

“There are also stop/drop zones fronting the Emergency Department and on Lake St for urgent situations.” l CREEK UPGRADE

SALTWATER Creek in Cairns is to receive an Albanese governmentfunded $1.5 million clean-up to improve its water quality. OzFish, a not-for-profit organisation, will undertake the project to control aquatic weeds, plant native trees, and remove barriers to fish passage l BLOOD DONATION PLEA

WITH the flu season approaching, Australian Red Cross Lifeblood is urging Cairns residents with blood types O and A to help prevent possible blood donor shortage in the coming weeks. Lifeblood is calling for 50 blood and plasma donors in Cairns in the next fortnight. Lifeblood spokeswman Belinda Smetioukh said data showed an increase in donation cancellations due to COVID-19, colds and cases of flu compared to last year. “We expect those cancellations to increase over the coming weeks, so we’re asking people with O and A blood types to book a donation,” she said. Make an appointment to donate this winter by calling 13 14 95, visiting lifeblood. com.au or using the Donate Blood app.