Volunteer drivers

Escorted rides available for vaccination appointments

On hold for the past year, the volunteer driving program offered by the Prince Edward County Community Care for Seniors Association has been able to start up again, all while conforming with public health safety protocols. Many of the usual medical appointments drivers would normally take clients to have been reduced considerably in the past year. The focus for the agency at the moment is ensuring seniors are able to get to vaccination clinics in order to get a Covid-19 vaccine. “It became clear that transportation to the vaccination clinics was a barrier for some seniors, and public health was looking at ways to reduce that barrier of transportation,” said Debbie MacDonald Moynes, Executive Director with Community Care for Seniors. She explains that having the volunteer driver program is important because the driver stays with the client, and that’s where this program is unique because it’s an escorted program where the driver remains with the client for the duration of the appointment. “It’s not like getting dropped off and then getting picked up later; the driver will stay with the client.”

When Community Care put a call out to its pool of volunteer drivers this spring to advise them the program was starting up again, most were willing to go back out on the road. “Right now, there are 19 active drivers waiting to take people to their vaccine appointments, whether that’s in Picton or Belleville, or anywhere in the Hastings Prince Edward region.” While there is a small fee of $0.40 per kilometre to cover the driver’s mileage, MacDonald Moynes said that shouldn’t be a barrier if anyone is unable to pay for the service. “People can tell us the fee is a barrier and we have access to a funding pot from the United Way of Hastings Prince Edward to help with the cost of the ride.” All safety protocols are in place where drivers wear a mask and have hand sanitizer and cleaning solution on hand, where the client must sit in the back seat of the car to be distanced from the driver. “Any clients interested in a ride, be sure to call us: we have capacity, we have these amazing drivers who want to do this volunteer work, and especially if there is anybody where the transportation is a barrier to get that vaccination, as it remains our top priority until everybody gets a vaccination.”

The volunteer driver program was started in the 1980s and has been successfully offered ever since, until the program was put on hold in March 2020 due to Covid-19. The volunteer drivers, who go through extensive vetting with security and reference checks, drive their own cars to take seniors in the community to medical appointments. Under normal circumstances they will take people anywhere they need to go, whether it’s Toronto, Ottawa, Peterborough, Kingston, Belleville or Trenton, as well as locally. The program is available to any older person aged 60-plus where they must become a client of the agency, a simple process that requires the client to answer a few questions ahead of time. “I decided to become a volunteer driver simply because people needed help and my thought was I might need the help myself sometime,“ said Nick Nikolaiczuk, who has volunteered as a driver with Community Care for Seniors for over 15 years. Proud of his age, the sprightly 77-year-old says over the years, he has put about 12,000 kilometres a year on his car, at least up until the last year.

“I used to take people to the dialysis clinic in Kingston regularly, once or sometimes twice a week.” Nikolaiczuk says he likes driving and prefers the longer distances and has taken people to medical appointments in Ottawa, Toronto, Pembroke, Oshawa, Belleville and Trenton. “I have been to the Kingston hospitals hundreds of times over many years,” he says.

Whether it’s taking someone to a vaccination clinic to get their Covid shot, or further afield to a medical appointment, the service offered by Community Care for Seniors is one-to-one. “The driver stays with the client the entire time; the only time there is an exception to that would be if the driver is taking the client to dialysis for example, as there are staff there, so the driver will come back at the appropriate time and pick them up and take them home,” she says. Again, if the mileage fee is a barrier, MacDonald Moynes encourages seniors to talk to staff at the office about having the fee reduced or waived. “The good thing is you meet a lot of nice people and you get an opportunity to talk to people and see what’s important to them. I’ve not met anybody that wasn’t nice picking them up,” Nikolaiczuk says. “I’ve had a few funny experiences, but we have a little rule that everything that is said in the car stays in the car.”

MacDonald Moynes says people really depend on the program. “It is an amazing program and we have incredible volunteer drivers who are ready and willing to do this, and it’s really key for people to know that the volunteers chose this for their activity in their retirement, it’s what they chose to do,” she says. “The volunteers tell me that they get so much out of this, they learn things from the clients and they really have a great experience,” she says. “I have been told by drivers over all the years that they get more out of doing this than the client they are driving. The client is really doing the volunteer a good service by using the program.“ For any senior aged 60-plus who requires transportation to get a vaccine, or to attend any other medical appointment, please call Community Care for Seniors at 613.476.7493 or email info@communitycareforseniors.org, or visit communitycareforseniors.org.