Our Shriner Drivers: Great Ambassadors of Our Hospital and Our Care

Patients and Families Transportation: Why Shriners are Doing It!

It all started in 1996 when Del Dumoulin was Potentate of the Karnak Shriners in Montreal. He and his colleagues decided that transportation of patients would be a great way to help the hospital, while giving Shriners the opportunity to meet patients they were helping through fundraising or other community activities. In 1998, only two years after the beginning of the Karnak patient transportation services, the first car was donated by four of the northeast Shriners chapters. Nowadays, even more Shriners chapters are supporting the transportation services and their names are recognized on the Karnak patient transportation van, as they were on the first car.

When asked if he likes to drive patients, Emile Chaikowsky laughed and replied, "Well, I wouldn't be a volunteer since 1996 if I didn't like it!" Del Dumoulin, Emile Chaikowsky and Mike Olinik are all saying it: It's not a job, it's a joy! These three, and all the drivers that we have yet to meet, have so many stories to tell.

"I remember this one time," said Del with smiling eyes, "I picked up a child coming from Mexico at Mirabel Airport. We were coming down in the snow and he had never seen snow before. Because of the look on his face, we stopped the car and there we were, with this child, his legs wrapped in a barrel, unable to walk, having a snowball fight. But the best part is that two years later, after several treatments, the same child was running up and down in the hospital throwing a football and having a good time."

"This is what it is like to be a Shriner." said Mike Olinik. "Being a Shriner is not just parades and circuses and driving funny cars, it has more to do with doing something that makes you feel good while helping kids." Mike has been picking up children and families at the airport since 2002. He thinks it is a privilege to drive the Karnak patient transportation van. Seeing the complete cycle journey of a patient is rewarding.