West Island seniors find relief in medical accompaniment service

Linda Jones-Dion became frantic when she found out her husband Claude Dion was in line for a month of near daily doctor's appointments at the Notre-Dame Hospital in downtown Montreal.

Jones-Dion wasn't only worried about the arduous, oftenbumper-to-bumper drive from the West Island into the city.

With her husband, Claude Dion, dealing with dementia while undergoing cancer treatment, she knows he needs more than just a ride to the hospital.

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Relatives are rarely able to pitch in to help, she said, and leaving him to wait alone at the hospital isnot an option.

"I'm not allowed to leave him unsupervised," Jones-Dion said. "It is very upsetting and you feel very alone."

"It was tough enough that sometimes you wished were dead," Jones-Dion said, looking exasperated even while cracking a smile.

Jones-Dion and her husband are among hundreds ofWest Island seniors who use ABOVAS, a non-profit organization helping those who require transportation to medical appointments on the island of Montreal.

Volunteers with ABOVAS also stick around for the duration of the appointment.

"In the West Island, many people are isolated and they don't have family members that are available five days a week to help them out," said Denise Hup, a coordinator at ABOVAS.

"There are also a lot of appointments that are done where [because of] the medication you are given the hospital won't let you leave if you're not accompanied."

A total of about roughly 900 clients use the service, paying volunteers a nominal fee based on the length of the drive.

Someuse the service once a month. For others, it's become almost a daily necessity.

"I couldn't face the challenge todriveevery day in the traffic and you don't know what time they're going to give you or where you are going to park," said Jones-Dion, who has had to take overdriving duties since her husband's dementia diagnosis.

"They really did take a lot of stress of my shoulders."

ABOVAS has more than 60 volunteers, but Hup says they are always looking for more, as more and more West Islanders reach out.

"There is a lot of 'puzzle making' since some volunteers aren't available in the summer," Hup said. "And more and more people are calling for the service.".

Jean-Claude Malka, who has taken Dion to the hospital, has spent the last year volunteering forABOVAS. He saidhe's seen first-hand how many seniors in the West Island are in need of assistance.

"A taxi just drops you off, right?" Jones-Dion said. "They go right into the hospital, stay with you and bring you home so you know your loved one is safe."

The appointments and the wait beforehand can take hours. But he considers the volunteer work neither a bore nor a chore, given how well he gets along with clients, inlcuding the Dion Family.

"We have fun together and they are very pleasant together," he said. "I get rewarded when you people tell me, 'Thank God there are people like you.'I have some spare time so I want to help as much possible."