East Parry Sound Community Support Services needs volunteer drivers to take its clients to medical appointments. Program coordinator Leslie Price called for more drivers after the organization experienced a drop in its volunteer base.
The organization offers several services, including getting people to their medical appointments in North Bay, Sudbury, Toronto, Orillia, Barrie, Huntsville and even to their local doctor.
Price says pre-COVID-19, the agency had a network-wide base of more than 100 volunteers and about 50 people in that group were drivers.
However, due to a variety of factors, the total volunteer base has dropped to about 50 people and that’s taken the number of drivers to approximately 25.
Price says, fortunately, the smaller number of drivers hasn’t affected the transportation part of the agency because it does not get as many requests for rides as it did before COVID-19.
She believes the reasons for this are that during the pandemic doctors were filling prescriptions over the phone and more people began using the Ontario Telemedicine Network and consequently didn’t have to leave their homes as often.
Price admits that had the clientele numbers not dropped off, there is no way the present number of drivers could handle the pre-COVID-19 requests for rides.
“With only 25 drivers it would not have been sustainable,” she said.
“On the plus side, we have some volunteers who do extra drives for which we are grateful because that helps, but we don’t want to burn them out."
Price believes volunteerism, in general, has fallen off in Ontario, which would account for the people who no longer drive for community support services.
At the local level, many of the drivers are also seniors who for years have been taking people to their appointments and in the case of some of these drivers, the time has come to end their participation.
Price says as the call goes out for more volunteers, she wants potential drivers to understand they can drive as much or as little as they want, and for short or long distances.
“We’re happy with whatever they are willing to do for us,” Price said.
Price says, without the local program, she has no idea how people would get to their appointments.
“For municipalities in East Parry Sound and the Almaguin Highlands, there are no buses or taxis and even if there were, you’re not going to take a taxi from South River to a specialist in Toronto,” she said.
Price adds even though long-distance bussing is available, once a person arrives at the bus station in Toronto, there is still the task of getting to the medical appointment or the hospital for testing, which can be costly for people on fixed incomes.
Price says the local transportation service gives clients a "door-through-door" experience, where the driver goes in with the client after getting them to their destination and waits for their visit or appointment to end before taking them back home.
The majority of the rides are medical, and in some cases, Price says the drivers will take seniors on grocery runs, or to the bank, “but we prioritize medical over everything else.”
Price says so far, the agency has been able to accommodate everyone who has called for rides “but I’m not sure how sustainable that is without us getting more volunteers."
“We’ll always do our best to get people to and from their appointments,” she said. “And the more notice people give us, the better chance we have of finding someone to drive them."
Price said she can’t emphasize enough how grateful the community support services organization is to the drivers. “We have some drivers who change their own personal appointments to help others, they are that dedicated,” she said.
Price also says there are drivers who do several trips a day, and these are older drivers.
“If that person decides to pack it in after so many years and retires, it may take two or three people to replace that one person because they were so accommodating."
Price says the organization has been providing the transportation service since 1997 and drivers are reimbursed for using their vehicles.
She says community support services personnel can help volunteers with the application process.
Prospective volunteers can email Price at [email protected] or call 1-888-521-0000.
Price says the Highlands and East Parry Sound are a unique situation because of their rural nature and it’s not acceptable that people may have to miss medical appointments because of where they live.
“People in these rural areas deserve to get to their appointments just as much as people who live in urban areas,” she said.
“And people in rural areas tend to have to travel to and from their appointments a little more than someone who lives in a more urban setting."
Price says the clients are very grateful to the drivers who get them to their destinations and it’s been her experience that the drivers also enjoy helping the clients.
“It’s very rewarding,” Price said, adding it’s a win-win for everyone involved.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
