The Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society is in need of folks who can help drive patients to their cancer treatments.
Since it started two years ago, the Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society has grown to a team of 148 drivers, seven dispatchers and a 10-person board of directors. In 2017, volunteer drivers made a total of 6,300 trips (384 of which were from New West) and drove 363,000 kilometres (including 9,300 from New West).
At the society’s recent annual general meeting, New West resident Orrie Babiuk was re-elected to its board of directors for a one-year term.
“I’m glad that I can help provide cancer patients with some peace of mind by solving their transportation needs this way,” she said in a press release.
February marked the second anniversary of the society’s role in providing cancer patients with free, reliable transportation to and from cancer-related treatments in most of the Lower Mainland. Former CKNW reporter George Garrett, Garth Pinton and the late John MacInnes founded the organization in February 2016 after the Canadian Cancer Society announced it could no longer provide the service.
“Modern medications and therapies are helping ensure a positive prognosis for many cancer patients, but their hope for a cure or period of remission often depends on their ability to actually get to the cancer treatments their oncologists have prescribed,” Babiuk said in a press release. “For many, family and friends are not able to help.”
For more information about the Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society, visit www.volunteercancerdrivers.ca or call 604-515-5400.
