Irish Cancer Society partners with Tesco Ireland to roll out national ‘Care to Drive’ serviceToday (Friday, 5th March, 2010) the Irish Cancer Society announced that it will partner with Tesco as their new Staff Charity of the Year for 2010 & 2011, with all funds raised through the partnership going towards the rollout of ‘Care to Drive’, a national volunteer driving service for cancer patients.
The Irish Cancer Society launched its pilot volunteer transportation service called Care to Drive in June 2008. This scheme is operated by the Irish Cancer Society in partnership with the Social Work Department at St. Vincent’s University Hospital.
Carefully selected and trained volunteers collect the patients from their homes in South Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Wexford and drive them to their appointments and back to their homes following these appointments. Since the launch and up to the end of 2009, 117 drivers had completed 1,355 journeys for 118 patients and covered approximately 42,000 kms. This pilot scheme has provided a blueprint for a nationwide volunteer-based system of transport.
Speaking about the national rollout of the Care to Drive service and the Tesco Charity of the Year announcement, John McCormack, CEO, Irish Cancer Society said ‘Transport to and from cancer treatment has become a significant issue for patients and their families across the country, especially since the centralisation of cancer services in the eight cancer care centres. Other issues around travelling to and from treatment can include the age of cancer patients, the nature of their treatment, stresses on their families taking time away from home & work and the overall cost of travel. Our pilot Care to Drive service in South Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Wexford has had enormous uptake and has provided a safe, comfortable and confidential transport service. We want to extend that service and are delighted with this new partnership with Tesco and the extensive network for fundraising that that will offer.”
“In addition the roll out of Care to Drive across the country from mid 2010 on a phased basis, will not only support cancer patients, but will also give people who want to volunteer an outlet to help out. Our experience with our pilot Care to Drive service is that volunteer drivers are often people who have had a cancer experience themselves so know what travelling to and from treatment can entail” continued Mr McCormack.
Also speaking about the new partnership with the Irish Cancer Society, Mr Tony Keohane, CEO, Tesco Ireland said “We are delighted to welcome the Irish Cancer Society as our Staff Charity of the Year for 2010 & 2011 and that we are in a position to open up our 119 stores nationwide for a wide range of staff and customer fundraising activity. This is turn will allow the Irish Cancer Society roll out this immensely valuable volunteer driving service to cancer patients within local communities across the country.”
Cancer, and its prevention, diagnosis and treatment, is a major challenge for our society. Approximately 30,000 people will be diagnosed with cancer in Ireland in 2010 and cancer will affect one in three people in Ireland during their lifetime. New cancer cases are expected to reach over 43,000 in the year 2020.
The mission of the Irish Cancer Society is to play a vital role in achieving world-class cancer services in Ireland, to ensure fewer people get cancer and those that do have better outcomes. Our goals are cancer prevention, early detection and fighting cancer with three programme areas to achieve them: advocacy, cancer services and research.
Since its introduction in 2001, the Tesco Charity of the Year campaign has raised over €8 million for various Irish charities.
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John McCormack, (Irish Cancer Sciety), Tony Keohane (Tesco), Anna Nolan (RTE) Aisling O'Loughlin (TV3) at the launch of the Irish Cancer Society as the Tesco Charity Of The Year |
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