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When Ruth, a 94-year-old client in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, needed to get to her eye appointment, a VON volunteer driver named Don was there — steadying her arm, walking her in, and waiting until she was ready to head home. For Ruth, who lives with vision and hearing loss in a town with no taxi service, that ride was everything. 

But it's also just one thread in a much larger web of support. Getting Ruth safely to her appointment is the work of VON's Community Support Services, and for the people it reaches, it can be the difference between simply getting by and truly living. 
                                                      
Just ask Crystal Allen (pictured here with Don), program coordinator for Community Support Services in the Annapolis Valley, who paired Don with Ruth. After decades watching people navigate aging and illness, she's clear about what these programs really provide. 

"Clients, at times, will tell me that these services are what allow them to keep their dignity intact under their own roof," Crystal says. "Practically, yes, we are arranging a ride. But really, we are giving them control over their own lives." 

Community Support Services is an umbrella term. It includes transportation to medical appointments and social outings, Meals on Wheels, Adult Day Programs that offer social and recreational activities in a safe setting, exercise and falls-prevention classes, and friendly visiting for those who might otherwise spend their days alone. While nursing and personal care are there when needed, it’s the partnership between home health care and community support services that creates the wraparound care seniors need to stay healthy, connected and living well at home.

For many clients, especially in rural communities, these programs are a lifeline. Transportation like Ruth’s helps seniors and adults with disabilities reach appointments and stay connected when there's no taxi service and public transit isn't an option. A ride to an Adult Day Program means an afternoon of company. A Meals on Wheels delivery means a nutritious meal, a safety check, and a familiar face at the door. 

"The real difference is that a visit from VON replaces the exhausting worry of managing everyday life with the comforting certainty of feeling supported," Crystal says. "It changes their entire outlook from just surviving at home to truly living there." 

What stands out most to Crystal is how the work knits people together. For clients who face isolation, the VON team is sometimes the only company they have. Ruth now counts Don and the VON team among her surrogate family. 

"Clients have told me on many occasions how our team might be the only voices they hear or the only faces they see throughout their week," Crystal says. "When a health struggle or lack of options forces someone to start pulling away from the world, it chips away at who they are. What we do goes so much deeper — we are giving people their life and their independence back." 

Those bonds run deep, and they often come full circle. Don himself was a VON client before he became a volunteer driver, and Crystal regularly sees former clients and their caregivers step up to give back. 

"People don't forget how they were treated when they were vulnerable," she says. "When someone brings light into your darkest hour, your natural human instinct is to want to carry that forward to your community." 

None of it happens without donors, a point Crystal hopes supporters never forget. 

"A donation doesn't just pay for a service," she says. "Their gift is buying peace of mind for a panicked caregiver. It is purchasing a morning of independent living for a senior with no other options. It is directly funding that human connection." 

For Ruth, it all comes back to a simple truth. "How fortunate I am that I can have help," she says. "Because of VON, I'm fine."

To give in support of life-changing Community Support Services, visit von.ca/ways-to-give.