For cancer patients, the road to recovery can be a long one, especially when there is no spouse, child or friend to drive them to appointments or treatments.

American Cancer Society's Road to Recovery, a national program, operates free of charge locally through its chapters in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.

The program provides rides for patients from home to the medical facility where they receive treatment.

"These are life-saving treatments the volunteers are helping the patients get to," says Teresa Segelson, community cancer control specialist for the Westmoreland Cancer Society in Greensburg.

Jean and Brian Schieman of Mt. Lebanon are volunteer coordinators who match Allegheny County's 22 volunteer drivers with patients in need of rides.

Many areas have drivers who live in close geographic proximity to patients in need, but there is a shortage in the East Suburbs, McKees-port, South Hills and the City of Pittsburgh.

"We literally have zero drivers in Penn Hills, Turtle Creek, Monroeville and Murrysville," says Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan, senior community cancer control specialist for the Pittsburgh chapter.

The Westmoreland chapter has only seven drivers for the entire county, Segelson says.

Last year in Allegheny County, the program provided 375 rides, but had 190 unmet needs in the last quarter, she says.

When volunteers are not available, Road to Recovery provides vouchers for cabs and buses or reimbursement to family members and friends who provide transport.

"The cancer patients sometimes have to take a bus or multiple buses to get home," Jean Schieman says.

Public transportation is not the first choice, given that patients may have compromised immune systems and feel ill following treatment, she says.

The Westmoreland program has its own van, which may be used by volunteers who don't want to put mileage on their own vehicles.

Pagel-Hogan points out that money spent on transportation is not available for research, medication and items such as wigs.

There has been an increase in demand for Road to Recovery services in the past 10 years, she says.

The demand is expected to increase with the 32 percent rise in the 60-and-older population as baby boomers age over the next decade and 90 percent increase in the over-85 age group as life expectancy increases.

Road to Recovery relieves a financial burden for some patients, says Elaine McCullough, director of radiation-oncology at Alle-Kiski Medical Center in Natrona Heights. She calls Road to Recovery "wonderful" for patients because drivers are present and provide support during treatment.

Sometimes, they act as advocates when patients discuss problems with them that they don't feel comfortable talking about with medical professionals.

Many volunteers have had friends or family members affected by cancer. Brian Schieman's uncle died of colon cancer, prompting the couple to help others afflicted by the disease, Jean Schieman says.

That's why Suzy Tush of Pittsburgh volunteers. Two decades ago, Tush and her sister had to take turns missing work to take their mother to treatments for cancer.

She was one of the early volunteers in Pittsburgh at a time when she worked shifts at U.S. Steel's computer service center. Now retired, Tush started driving for Road to Recovery again last August.

Both local cancer societies run motor vehicle checks on prospective volunteers to assure they have safe driving records. Segelson says volunteers receive training in how to talk to patients and "dos and don'ts," such as not smoking in the car with a passenger aboard.

Aside from the reward that comes from helping others, the mileage accumulated by volunteers is tax-deductible.

Pagel-Hogan says one woman who winters in Florida flies in for her treatment and is picked up at the airport by a volunteer driver.

"This is what we do," she says. "This is what we're here for."