The Dr. B. Bose Road to Home Program provides vital transportation for individuals living in rural Alberta who require travel to Edmonton for cancer treatment.
From the 1970s to the early 2000s, Dr. Bireswar Bose was a pillar of the Barrhead community, serving as one of the few surgeons in this small north-central Alberta town. His career was centered around the Barrhead Healthcare Centre, where he dedicated decades to caring for his patients.
Following his passing in 2018, the Alberta Cancer Foundation received a $1.3 million gift from Dr. Bose’s estate. Through this gift, the Dr. B. Bose Road to Home Program was established. Launched in 2019, this ride-share program provides essential transportation for patients in Barrhead and the surrounding area, ensuring they can safely travel to and from the Barrhead Community Cancer Centre and Edmonton for treatment or appointments.
“When you’re told you have cancer and have to undergo treatments and doctor appointments, it’s overwhelming, to say the least. I know this [firsthand],” says Violet Schriever, volunteer coordinator for the Road to Home Program. “I constantly get feedback from the patients saying that having this program and such caring drivers means so much, and it lessens their anxiety.”
Volunteer drivers like Jim Imes, who lost his wife to cancer, are at the heart of the program. “All the patients I have driven are so positive and grateful for the service Road to Home provides,” says Imes. “I hope that I am helping them as much as their positive attitudes are helping me.”
Thanks to the vision and generosity of Dr. Bose, hundreds of rural Albertans facing cancer have received the helping hand they need during their cancer journeys. His legacy of care lives on, continuing to make a profound difference in the lives of patients and their families. “The ability to offer this program to our communities has been life changing,” affirms Linda Knapp, cancer patient navigator at the Barrhead Community Cancer Centre. “We will forever be indebted to Dr. Bose.”
