‘A very tough decision’: COVID-19 prompts pause in Volunteer driver program for Lower Mainland cancer patients

A volunteer program that provides free rides to cancer patients say it’s had no choice but to halt its services amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Isabelle Raghem explains.

VANCOUVER (CityNews) — A Metro Vancouver program that helps people with cancer get to their medical treatments has been forced to shut down due to COVID-19.

The Freemasons made the difficult decision to halt their Cancer Car Program in Metro Vancouver Friday.

“We don’t want to risk getting clients with the disease or getting our drivers with the disease. So we’ve decided for the first time in our history to actually pause the program in the interest of safety,” explains program chair Bill Wray.

The program which has been running since 1989 and makes dozens of trips daily.

Volunteers pick up patients at their homes and drop them off for appointments at the BC Cancer Centre in Vancouver.

The Freemasons say they’ve had to make the hard decision to stop the service at least for now, to protect both its senior drivers and the patients. Both groups are considered vulnerable.

“We have to factor in the age of the of our drivers, which is a really important factor because they’re all seniors. We have to factor in the possibility of either us transmitting it to the to the clients, or the clients transmitting tit to  to one of our drivers,” Wray says.

Hanna Daber is now cancer free and no longer needs the service on a regular basis, but says the news is horrible. She knows from experience how daunting it is to plan daily hospital trips while undergoing treatment.

“I had to endure six months worth of chemotherapy. Half of my jaw was removed,” she explains.

“Buses, public transit–it just really isn’t an option when you have a compromised immune system like chemotherapy patients do. And the Freemason service was so much nicer than a taxi.

Wray says he’s had to break the difficult news to dozens of passengers.

“It has been a very tough decision because we’re really concerned about the clients being able to get to their their treatments,” he says.

The Freemasons program is set to be back up and running in early April, but that could change if the outbreak gets worse.

There are other, similar programs in the lower mainland, but these volunteers know this shutdown will reduce transportation options for the patients who rely on them.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today