Pahīatua volunteers needed to help Cancer Society

Hayley Puketapu is the volunteer coordinator for the Cancer Society Central Districts who believes they would 'absolutely' not be able to do what they do without volunteers. Photo / Leanne Warr

Cancer Society Central Districts is looking to add to its pool of volunteers in the Tararua District to help those going through cancer.

Volunteer coordinator Hayley Puketapu says they’re looking for people to put their hands up, particularly in Pahīatua.

Volunteers can do anything from volunteering their time to the Cancer Society Central Districts, providing baking, going to visit people with cancer, driving or holding group sessions.

Hayley, who has been with the Cancer Society for a year, says it’s been one of the most rewarding roles she has ever had.

She had been working in HR, but was looking for something more fulfilling where she could help people, and decided to apply for the role.

“I can say out of all the jobs that I’ve done this is probably one of the most fulfilling and most rewarding jobs I’ve ever done. The people that I’ve met and opportunities that have come into my life have been endless.”

Hayley says the volunteer base in Pahīatua is small and ideally she would like to build a pool of volunteers.

“It’s not an absolute commitment,” she says.

“If you can give us one day a month, that is more than enough.”

Alongside volunteer roles such as visiting patients and their families, Hayley is looking for people interested in helping with fundraising.

The society runs various fundraising through the year, including Daffodil Day and Relay for Life.

Daffodil Day is one of the ways the Cancer Society raises money to help those with cancer.

“What we’re looking for is sort of forming a group in Pahīatua that could help us with the fundraising side of things [such as] Daffodil Day, Relay for Life, Marathon in a Month - all of the things that we need help with in our smaller rural communities.”

Hayley is also looking for people to help with driving.

While there is the health shuttle, which is funded, she says many cancer patients feel the shuttle isn’t ideal.

“It’s understandable because people go through a lot of different treatments,” she says.

She adds that when people are coming out of an eight-hour chemotherapy session, for instance, “they’re just zonked”.

There are also other reasons why patients might not want to use the shuttle - either because they don’t want to be around other people or just have a lot of symptoms that might make others feel uncomfortable.

Hayley says having a driver instead “gives a lot of patients a sense of security to feel kind of safe and relief that there is going to be somebody to take them straight home”.

Pahīatua has had one driver and Hayley says the driver took on doing it for a month back and forth, which means using one of two routes - the Saddle Road or the Pahīatua Track - to Palmerston North Hospital.

“I don’t think I could do this drive every day,” she says. “It’s quite windy.”

Cancer Society Central Districts is a volunteer-focused branch and Hayley believes they have the biggest volunteer-based cancer society in the country.

She says they “absolutely would not” be able to do things without the volunteers.

“They are our everything.”

She adds many of them have lost a child, a spouse, or a relative, or they’ve gone through cancer themselves and says it’s one of those situations where unless a person has gone through it, they would “never grasp or understand the important the value that these volunteers add”.

Hayley says having group sessions is also important, which is why they also need volunteers to help facilitate them.

“If you’re not in an environment where you don’t have people going through the same situation or the same experience as you, it can feel very isolating and it can feel very lonely at times.”

She says people will remember what the Cancer Society or the volunteers have done for them and that is often how they are able to get funding - through building connections and relationships.

Anyone interested in volunteering for the Cancer Society can contact Hayley on 027 212 0169 or email Hayley.Puketapu@cancercd.org.nz.