Families needing to travel to London for their children's health care can now go by Via Rail free of charge.
A new three-year partnership between the Children's Health Foundation and VIA Rail Canada will provide families with vouchers for train travel to London.
The Doerksen family travels from Leamington to London four to five times a month, with additional trips to Toronto and Montreal, for medical care for five-year-old Oakley. Oakley was diagnosed with a rare condition called Codas Syndrome. He was given a two per cent chance of survival at birth and is one of three known survivors worldwide.
Lisa Doerksen, Oakley's mother, said travel, particularly in the winter months, has caused a lot of stress over the last five years. She said the option of train travel will be a huge relief.
"It just helps us to be able to spend more time with him instead of focusing so much on the road, and it's just not as stressful. I feel like as parents, when you're driving, the weather is stressful and the kids are crying, it just makes the travel so much harder. So it will definitely give some peace of mind," said Doerksen.
Families can access this support through the Paediatric Family Resource Centre at Children's Hospital - London Health Science Centre.
"Our goal is to make them accessing care for the child that needs care at Children's as easy as possible when they have to make that trip," said Tim Tribe, Vice President of Philanthropy at Children's Health Foundation. "The voucher can be extended to as many people in their family as necessary."
Over 50 per cent of patients who go to London Health Science Centre for treatment travel from outside the London area.
"Our job at VIA Rail is to move people, that's what we love and moving families that need care at hospital, it's truly inspiring. This is just reminding us why we love our job," said Philippe Normand, Vice-President, Communications and Marketing, VIA Rail Canada.
Normand indicated they are working with the Children's Health Foundation to extend the partnership to other children's hospitals throughout the country.
