VOLUNTEERS

The Transportation Committee of the Durham Leadership Council of the American Cancer Society has adopted the program and hopes to recruit a pool of 35 to 40 volunteer drivers in the Triangle area soon. It will hold the next training session for volunteers Jan. 11. The American Cancer Society can be reached at (919) 490-5787.

BY KELSEY FAVRET

news@heraldsun.com; 419-6500

DURHAM -- In North Carolina, there were 40,420 cancer cases in the year 2008 with deaths reaching 17,450, according to the American Cancer Society's Web site.

Some patients face the added obstacle of getting to and from treatment to battle the disease.

"If you can't get to treatment, you can't survive," said Tracey Smith, the Community Manager for the American Cancer Society. So the American Cancer Society created the nationwide program Road to Recovery in 1983, which involves volunteers driving patients to and from their treatments.

The program connects volunteer drivers with patients in need of transportation. Volunteers must have a valid driver's license, have safe and reliable transportation, insurance and a clean driving record.

Barbara Germino has been a dedicated volunteer with the American Cancer Society for about 30 years. She has lived in several states and has helped keep the Road to Recovery program around. She is helping to get the program here in Durham on its feet.

"I haven't realized that this was such a problem until I came here," said Germino. She described that many people living in rural areas in Durham county and those surrounding are struggling to get to facilities, such as Duke, for treatment. "The solution is relatively simple but not easy," Germino said.

Germino has witnessed the importance of transportation from three sides. She has been a volunteer with the program, she used to be an oncology nurse and she has been a patient. Germino is a breast cancer survivor. She was fortunate enough to be able to drive herself to Duke, which was 10 miles from her home, but she can relate to the difficulty that comes along with treatment.

"Some days it was really hard," Germino explains. "It is a whole hub of your life for a period of time," Germino said. She explained that chemotherapy is often every day for six weeks with sessions lasting two or three hours. Getting treatment is critical, yet time-consuming.

"I know from having talked to social workers or nurses that people have literally died because of this," Germino said.

With transportation being such a problem right here in our county and those surrounding, Germino is motivated to pick up the Road to Recovery program locally. "We started out at square one in Durham county," Germino said.