Kees Veldboer is a former paramedic from the Netherlands working through the coronavirus pandemic by driving people who are terminally ill to the one place they want to visit before passing away.
https://www.facebook.com/StichtingAmbulancewens/photos/a.547790041916906/3383915078304374/?type=3&theater
“We fulfill wishes even now with the coronavirus. We are not in a complete lockdown so we are able to make those wishes come true,” Kees Veldboer told the Daily Mail.
The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has put the country on an “intelligent lockdown,” which means the only businesses that are allowed to stay open are the ones where people can distance themselves 1.5 meters away from other people.
https://www.facebook.com/StichtingAmbulancewens/photos/a.547790041916906/3275167492512467/?type=3&theater
This includes his Ambulance Wish Foundation (also known as Stichting Ambulance Wens) that was founded on April 1, 2007. The Foundation consist of Kees and a custom made paramedic ambulance that he has used to fulfill over 14,000 terminally ill people’s dying wishes to be taken to a place of their choice.
During the lockdown, most people have chosen to go somewhere outdoors, like the beach, a field of flowers, or an empty zoo. Some people ask to go see their family members one last time at their homes and one woman even requested to be taken to see her horses in the field.
https://www.facebook.com/StichtingAmbulancewens/photos/a.547790041916906/3410100469019168/?type=3
Kees said he came up with the idea one day when he was transferring a patient to a hospital and there was a delay. With time to spend, he asked the patient where they wanted to go and they said they wanted to go to Rotterdam Harbour one last time.
After taking that patient and seeing how happy they were, it sparked the idea of doing this for other terminally ill patients. A year later he started up the foundation and began granting folks their one last dying wish to be taken somewhere. It’s made many people happy and you can watch stories of the individuals in the video below.