NIAS Volunteers Drive Cancer and Kidney Dialysis Patients

Kindness, compassion, and free car rides can go a long way if you are undergoing hospital treatment for health issues such as terminal cancer or kidney dialysis.

In many cases, patients rely on the goodwill of strangers, many of whom become friends.

Volunteer drivers at Northern Ireland Ambulance Services (NIAS) are one of the lesser known roles in health services that go on a whim, and do everything for free.

“It's essential for Nias's running,” said Yvonne McMichael of Nias.

“They go beyond every day.”

More than 75 people across Northern Ireland will give up time and cars as part of Nias's voluntary auto service.

Among them is Willie Hutchinson, whose three children had all had kidney transplants.

Before the implantation, they underwent dialysis – a procedure to remove waste and excess fluid from the blood when the kidneys stop working.

“They used so much car service to reach the kidney unit,” the former truck driver told BBC News Ni.

For him, volunteering is his way of “paying”;

“Someone did it for them, so I'm doing it for someone else,” he said.

In 2023, six grandfathers were awarded the Order of the British Empire (BEM) for their services to health care.

Hutchinson's nominee was a patient he had brought hospital appointments for many years.

“The day I won the award, I brought him home – he wasn't well – and I took him home and he fell into the chair more or less,” he said.

“I told his wife to ring for the doctor.

“He passed away that afternoon, so after all the work he did to get me forward, I never knew I had won the award.

“It was a bit sad and bittersweet to not know I had it, but his family was a little excited for me.”

Volunteer drivers are not employed or paid by the NIAS and will only book and transport mileage allowances to transport patients in their own vehicle.

Voluntary services save NIAS money as they use less resources significantly cheaper than taxis and ambulances.

Tommy Nicole, former mayor of Mid and East Antrim, has been on dialysis for almost seven years and is dependent on services.

“We can tell you from experience that volunteer drivers are not just transport, they are part of a caring system,” he said.

“These volunteer drivers give us time freely. It's not just about lifting them up, but also about compassion and calming when patients like me need it.”

With ambulances in high demand and staff and resources expanding, Yvonne McMichael, who oversees volunteer car services, says the work volunteers do is “top-tier.”

“At the capacity level you have at the moment, you don't have enough ambulances to serve everyone who needs to get it,” she said.

“They will cover Northern Ireland, serve seven kidney organizations, move patients to two cancer centres, Belfast City Hospital and Altnagelbin, and take patients to other appointments.”

Before becoming a volunteer driver, Martin Garity worked in the office for 35 years.

“I wanted to change my pee,” he said.

“I was chatting with my friend who was driving spontaneously at the time, and he tried it out to me and suggested it 15 years later, I'm still here.”

For him, the best thing about it is the people he met.

“They are very grateful for the friendship between the patients and their families that they may have three times a week,” he said.

“You get closer to them and they open up to you about certain things. Sometimes there's bad news, and it's sad, it's difficult.”

So will he still volunteer in another 15 years?

“I hope so,” he said.

“The reward you get is worth it and I think other drivers will say the same thing.”