Keith Williams had already clocked up a few miles in his Skoda before he and his wife set off for three months around Australia earlier this year.
The semi-retired youth officer is a regular at Essendon airport, and crisscrosses the city often, dropping people off at hospitals and medical centres.
He doesn’t own a private jet, nor is the 78-year-old in need of regular medical attention.
For the past six years, Mr Williams has been a volunteer driver for an organisation called Angel Flight Australia.
The charity co-ordinates non-emergency flights and transport to help people who live in rural areas get access to specialist medical treatment, without facing the prohibitive costs of long distance travel and airfares.
Volunteer pilots use their own aircraft to transport rural patients to major cities for treatment. Volunteer drivers are then required to pick them up from the airport in their own car and take them to hospital.
Mr Williams said he was drawn to the charity years ago after watching an advertisement on television. He signed up right away. That was in 2010 … and Mr Williams is about to notch up his 100th drive by the end of the year.
“It’s a special service,” he said. The St Albans resident said most patients were battling cancer, and many were only children.
“You see them come down as babies, and it’s not long before you see them running around.
“You also see the hardship people go through. It becomes a heck of a strain to come down from the country area – it can be one hell of a drive to get to hospital [from the airport],” he said.
To volunteer call 1300 726 567.
