ST. PAUL - After Ken Parks died in 2023, his wife Sheila didn’t want to stay home “just sitting and vegetating,” so she started driving seniors and people with disabilities to their medical appointments. Now nearing 72 herself, she’s so busy helping out she has to keep a calendar and a day planner to keep it all straight.
“Right now I’m driving about 26 individual people whenever they need me,” said Parks, who doesn’t advertise, but whose name has gotten around the Elk Point Heritage Lodge by word of mouth.
During her husband’s last years with Parkinson’s disease, Parks had her van modified with a special mobile seat so she could easily transfer him from a walker or wheelchair. She also cares for a non-verbal cousin with autism.
“I volunteer because I want to make sure that these people, the individuals who need to see a doctor, actually can. I know that there have been people who needed to see a doctor and didn't go because they didn't know who would take them and they're shy about asking,” said Parks. She couldn’t give an estimate of how many hours she spends volunteering, but knew she only had two days in February when she didn’t.
“There is such a need out there. If anyone can help, it's like the Snow Angels program in St. Paul. If you can help, and a neighbour needs to go somewhere, do that,” said Parks.
The Snow Angels program is administered by St. Paul FCSS, which provides lawn signs to indicate people who need help shovelling their driveways and sidewalks during the winter.
Parks said typically the people she drives pay for parking and gas, “And sometimes they will say . . . you have to take that little bit extra, put it towards that tire or put it towards an oil change, but I don't charge a wage. I'm a volunteer.”
She adds, “I treat them as my family. I don't just drop them off. I'm with them the whole time. We get parking. We go in. I wait with them. Sometimes they say, ‘Sheila, can you come in? I need a second set of ears."
Her recent trips have included locations in the Edmonton area, as well Lloydminster and Cold Lake.
Asked how she keeps herself from burning out, Parks almost admitted she gets tired sometimes, but immediately dismissed the idea. She focuses on the way people say ‘Thank you for driving.’
“It fills my glass. It makes me feel like I'm doing something positive in this community . . . I feel warm, I feel connected. I've developed such wonderful friendships with some of the seniors in our community that maybe I would never have known otherwise,” said Parks.
