In order to drive away cancer, volunteer drivers are needed.
The Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society is imploring North Shore residents to give up their time and wheels in order to provide some needed companionship for cancer patients, as ride requests have increased 21 per cent in North and West Vancouver recently.
From January to the end of April on the North Shore last year, 297 trips were undertaken on behalf of the program. During that same time period this year, volunteer cancer drivers have made 360 trips, a release from the society notes.
“We even help them out even after they’re done treatment with follow up appointments, should they need it,” said Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society North Shore dispatcher Tina Poole.
“A lot of the clients they just don’t have any family members or friends – they’re kind of the only ones that can help them out.”
Volunteer drivers provide cancer patients with free, safe, and reliable transportation to their next treatment appointment throughout most of the Lower Mainland.
Poole, like many who have decided to volunteer as a driver, has firsthand experience with the disease.
“I got a lot of family members, like everybody else in this world, that have succumbed to cancer,” she said.
She has been with the drivers society since its inception in 2016, and worked as a dispatcher with the Canadian Cancer Society for three years prior to that.
She volunteers approximately 10 hours per month as a dispatcher for the society, ensuring that cancer patients are matched with appropriate drivers who can shepherd them to their appointments and treatments on time.
But, as chance would have it, she recently lost five drivers to various other commitments, leaving her reeling for more drivers to help service the North Shore.
“I’m actually critically short more on the West Van side. I’ve only got like one or two, period, on the West Van side right now,” she said, adding that less drivers mean some cancer patients are left without a ride.
“I hate it. I hate having to tell someone I can’t find them a ride,” she said.
Poole encourages North Shore residents to take a look at becoming a volunteer driver for the society.
“It’s very rewarding, you get to meet new people, it’s a relatively easy job on the physical side of things. … They’re all very nice clients, they’re all very grateful for our services,” she said.
Visit volunteercancerdrivers.ca to volunteer or donate, or for more information.
