A drive to help others

By Jan Feighner
Special to The Mercury
Linda Voytilla of North Coventry celebrated her fifth cancer-free year in 2001 following her original 1995 diagnoses. While waiting in her doctor’s office that January she noticed a nondescript poster seeking volunteers and decided to give back to the community. She then made a very special phone call.
Sally Ludwick saw an article in The Mercury in 2000 seeking volunteers. She wondered why she was sitting in her Sanatoga home day after day instead of providing desperately needed aid to other people. She too made a very special phone call.
Gilbertsville’s Roland Wildermuth always believed in helping others whenever and however he could, from delivering food to various institutions to plowing his neighbors’ fields when necessary. He saw an advertisement in 2002 seeking volunteers and also made a very special phone call.
These people and dozens like them wanted to change the world by caring for one small part of it. Their special phone calls were to Nancy Drumheller, transportation coordinator for the American Cancer Society in Pottstown and its surrounding region. They began the rewarding task of driving cancer patients to and from chemotherapy, radiation, doctor’s appointments and the pharmacy sometimes several times a week.
They continue to do so.
According to the three, most but not all of their charges are elderly widows and widowers living alone with no means of transportation. Most developed cancer late in life after their grown children moved away, and they have limited resources. Minus the extended family support system of generations past, they turned to the ACS for help.
Fortunately, people like Voytilla, Ludwick, and Wildermuth are there to provide that assistance.
“I’m a 13-year survivor,” explained Voytilla, whose parents also had cancer, “and I think because I’ve been so lucky it’s important to give back and help others who are currently going through the struggle getting that diagnosis.”
Voytilla and her husband, Joe, own JL Machine & Tool Inc. and Precision Polymer Products Inc. in downtown Pottstown. Their two children are now adults, allowing her a flexible schedule. Two days a week, sometimes more, she donates her free time to drive patients in the Phoenixville, Pottstown and Reading areas where 90 percent of them receive care.
She transports a single person at a time, respecting their privacy and offering loving care and support. She knows them and the illness well and quickly notices when someone needs immediate attention. Some require hospitalization following their appointments and Voytilla is grateful that they receive help at just the right time. Others succumb to cancer’s cruel grip, making her job more difficult at times, but she feels honored that she knew them if only for a while.
Ludwick, a former sewing factory worker for over 50 years, drives two days per week, or more as needed, and often sees her new friends socially, going to lunch, exchanging phone calls, chatting with them, and remaining positive.
She politely nags them to stick to their often rigid diets, despite their treatment’s harsh toll on the body, and suggests easy-to-digest, nutritious substitutes like Ensure, puddings, yogurt, frozen yogurt, and Gerber baby food, which she swears by, having eaten it herself all her life.
The upbeat mother and grandmother said last summer she was out almost every day for two months because of a real shortage of drivers and an increase in patients. She confessed that she can’t say “no” when Drumheller calls because “the people are so nice” and “have such high hopes.”
“People always say, ‘Why do you do this?’ because I don’t get paid,” Ludwick said. “Today too many people put money before anything else. Material things and money mean everything and if you don’t have that they don’t talk to you. I always tell them, ‘I don’t have nuthin.’ This is volunteer work and I like doing it.”
Wildermuth, a farmer by trade and devout Christian, transports people whenever Drumheller needs him, no matter how many days per week. He views his mission as God’s will: that people are born to help each other, and it’s an integral part of his life. He feels blessed in his own life and believes he in turn should be “good to others.”
The modest, charitable man worked hard all his life, but still found time to help people in need. He worked and lived on his current farm beginning in 1954. Wildermuth made his living off the land, married, and adopted a niece to give her a better life.
When any of his neighbors were down on their luck or required an extra hand to silo grain, mend fences, or any of numerous chores, he willingly obliged. When institutions like the Salvation Army and various senior citizen and crisis centers need food he attends auctions and buys in bulk so strangers can eat. Some called him a Guardian Angel, but he is not boastful of his deeds.
“I know a lot people know what I do, but I don’t brag on it because after all, God will carry us through,” maintained Wildermuth. “He’ll never forsake us, never. That’s my way of living. If we don’t help others, what are we going to do? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Inspirational stories indeed: Three people giving of themselves to aid a small portion of the world and make it a better place in which to live. How can you help?
ACS volunteers must pass routine security and safety checks and possess valid driver’s licenses and current insurance, although the ACS insures them while transporting patients. They must receive training with experienced drivers to learn the routes and locations of various care-giving institutions.
They should call the patient a few days prior to appointments as a reminder and to inform him or her of their names and types of cars for which to watch. Some patients have walkers or physical disabilities, so drivers must accommodate their needs.
The drivers must leave their phone numbers with the institution, but need not remain at the facility the entire time. Rubber gloves, paper towels and additional supplies are provided, as are cell phones that only access Emergency 911 if the driver doesn’t have one. Occasionally, reimbursement for mileage is allotted if necessary.
“We really do need drivers,” added Voytilla. “It’s harder and harder to get people who have a flexible schedule.”
Contact Nancy Drumheller at 610-367-5732 to volunteer or for more information.