For many people, 20 or more hours a week on the road, driving others where they need to go, is a job.
For VON volunteer driver Henry Boertien, it’s anything but.
“I really enjoy it so I don’t find it a challenge. I feel like it’s a holiday,” said the affable Palmerston resident who has been volunteering with the VON (Victorian Order of Nurses) program since 2004.
Boertien has been recognized for this services on several levels. Last April, he was the Town of Minto’s recipient of the Wellington Volunteer Service Award from the county. He has also been recognized by the Town of Minto and is a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal recipient.
But it’s the opportunity to help others, not the recognition, that motivates him.
“As far as I’m concerned the Lord has blessed us real good, so if I can pass that on to someone else … it’s a blessing to be in this country.”
VON Waterloo Wellington Dufferin manager Michelle Martin says Boertien is the ideal volunteer.
“I think Henry really is solely there to help support people … he’s in it for completely the right reasons. He always puts others before himself,” Martin said.
Born in Holland, Boertien immigrated to Canada with his parents and four siblings in 1950. He was 11 at the time and shares the feelings of many of his native countrymen about Canada’s role in liberating Holland from the Nazis at the end of the Second World War.
“I was a child at the time, but you never forget that – when the Canadian boys came over and liberated us – that’s something that stays with you for the rest of your life,” he said.
Initially, Boertien’s family lived in Ancaster Township in Renfrew County, but moved shortly thereafter to Perth County near Gadshill, where they lived until his father bought a farm near Monkton in 1957.
Henry married his wife Gladys Moore, of Palmerston, in 1962. He began working for the Campbell Soup Company in Listowel in 1963, later working for a time at Douglas Point, before joining the staff at Home Hardware’s regional warehouse in St. Jacobs, where he worked for 26 years, while at the same time running a mixed farming operation on Line 90 in Wallace Township.
After suffering a heart attack in 2004, Boertien underwent surgery to repair the damage.
“They put in a new aorta valve and I’ve never looked back since,” he states.
He did, however, decide to retire at that point and, after selling the farm, “had to have something to do.”
An invitation to a supper at the Palmerston Missionary Church provided the answer. The guest speaker was Martin, who shared information on volunteer opportunities with the VON.
After hearing Martin’s presentation, Boertien felt, “That’s something I could do,” and he signed up for the volunteer driver program.
He immediately recognized the need for transportation services for seniors and others unable to drive or lacking the support to get around.
“That’s a big issue in this country because the distances are so great,” he notes.
Boertien drives VON clients living in an area ranging from Mount Forest to Mapleton. Often the trips are to medical appointments, which could mean anything from regular dialysis at the Palmerston and District Hospital, to trips to hospitals in Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, Kitchener, Owen Sound or Walkerton.
“He’s even taken clients for MRIs in the middle of the night because they do 24-hour appointments,” notes Martin.
Boertien recalls occasions when he got up at 1 or 2am to have clients in Toronto in plenty of time for a 5am appointment.
“He does anything from taking people around town to taking them to Mississauga for surgery,” explains Martin, who has gotten to know Boertien very well over the years.
“He’s in and out of here probably at least four or five days a week,” said Martin, noting Boertien also brings people to the Seniors Day Out program at the VON office in Mount Forest. Many of the clients Boertien assists suffer from Alzheimer’s.
“He’s part of the team here. He’s really helping them, not just with the drive – he helps them to make sure they have all their things, make sure they’re dressed properly, makes sure they’re safe, make sure the doors are locked at home,” said Martin.
“He brings them in the car and then kind of transitions them when they get here. So it’s much more involved than just driving.
“It’s quite a commitment. A lot of coaxing, a lot of patience and a lot of persuasion. There’s also a lot of confusing moments that you have to deal with,” she adds, noting many of the clients deal with poverty and other issues.
She says Boertien has a special ability to put clients at ease.
“Some of our volunteers, and they are all wonderful, wouldn’t be able to handle the complexity of a client that Henry does because he doesn’t mind if it’s challenging. He’s in it solely for the client. Even if it’s not the most comfortable situation he just goes with it.”
For his part, Boertien takes it all in stride.
“You hear a lot of stories, but you keep them to yourself,” he says.
The VON volunteer driving service is available to seniors, or adults with physical disabilities who are not able to access other means of transportation.
Martin explains that could mean there is no other means of transportation available, as in most rural areas, or there could be other reasons why someone couldn’t take a cab or a bus.
“Maybe it’s cognitive impairment and they need an escort, or they really need a lot of assistance getting in and out of the car, or in and out of the hospital. Most of our clients don’t have a large family support system to take them to and from appointments. So we’re it.”
Martin says often clients are living in poverty “and there’s a lot of complexity to their situation, both physically and mentally.
“Some of the volunteer assignments are pretty challenging, especially emotionally challenging, for the volunteers,” she points out.
Volunteers are initially matched with “easier clients,” says Martin, in order to get used to the driving duties, but they also go through full orientation and training.
That includes ongoing training. For example, she says, if a driver was going to be working with a client with Parkinson’s disease, “we would work with that driver specifically, so he or she would know how to support that client with Parkinson’s disease. So sort of train as you go.”
Martin said the VON volunteer driver service has about 1,000 clients in the Wellington, Waterloo, Dufferin, and Guelph area.
“That’s a lot of different people with a lot of different conditions,” said Martin.
The service involves about 50 volunteer drivers in the region. There’s also a staff component in Guelph and Fergus, where accessible vehicles are operated.
All told, the VON provides about 20,000 rides a year, says Martin, noting, “I would say that the volunteers do about 60 per cent of that volume.”
Boertien, who Martin estimates volunteers about 700 to 900 hours a year, provides a considerable number of those rides himself, also providing some much-needed companionship for people who are often uneasy about an upcoming medical procedure.
“Everybody feels good when they’re around Henry, clients included, and that’s just so nice, because it’s more than a drive. Henry’s that gentle voice and that someone to talk to for that hour-and-a-half drive to Mississauga. It’s much more than a taxi service.”
Boertien insists his approach is simple.
“Most of it is compassion and common sense.”
For him, volunteer driving is simply a great way to spend a day.
“It gets you out of the house and you meet nice people … and they appreciate what you do for them.”
Boertien “highly recommends” the volunteer driver program for anyone with available time.
“The people at the VON are all very attentive and very helpful, there’s never a dull moment,” he says.
“VON is one of the best organizations that I know for helping people. Without them I don’t know what some of these people would do.”
About VON
For over 100 years, VON has pioneered health services in Canada. The organization has a proud tradition of often being the first to identify emerging health and social needs, and then providing innovative services that meet those needs.
The organization was officially founded in 1897 through a motion offered at a meeting in Rideau Hall by Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, inaugurating the Victorian Order of Nurses for Canada …. “as a mode of commemoration by the Dominion (Canada) of the Queen’s diamond jubilee.”
The first VON sites were quickly organized in the cities of Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver and Kingston. In 1898, a VON “cottage” hospital was opened in Regina to provide care to pioneers and early settlers on the prairies.
Prenatal education, well baby clinics, school health services, visiting nursing and coordinated home care programs have all had their earliest origins with VON.
More recent initiatives include home-based palliative care, adult day programs, foot care clinics, respite care, primary health care clinics and health services in shelters for women, children and youth at risk.
Today’s VON delivers its more than 75 different programs and services through 52 local sites staffed by 4,500 health care workers, and by a dedicated army of 9,016 community volunteers (source www.von.ca).
In addition to volunteer driving, programs currently offered by the VON in Waterloo, Wellington, Dufferin include adult day programs, Alzheimer day programs, congregate dining, Meals on Wheels, security/reassurance checks, SMART (Seniors Maintaining Active Roles Together) exercise program, supportive housing and volunteer hospice services.
Anyone interested in volunteering for or accessing the volunteer driving program, or other VON programs can call 519-323-2330 or visit www.von.ca for more information.
