Thanks to an ambulance driver, elderly voters in Dharapuram, Tennessee, get free transportation to polls

An ambulance driver in Dharapuram on Friday helped people in need by driving elderly voters from their homes to voting places.

The good samaritan, Fazil Hussan (29), said to TNIE, “I have been managing the Sugam Ambulance for the last nine years.” In and around Dharapuram town, I mostly serve patients and the elderly.

The service was not scheduled in advance, he continued. “I watched stories on Thursday of old and handicapped persons who really wanted to vote but couldn’t because of their disabilities. I was prompted to share about the free service on all social media networks as a result. I also let my staff member, who is a driver, know that I would be there on Friday after the vote.

The initial contact came from 10 kilometers outside of Dharapuram town, near Thalavaipattinam. A 70-year-old lady suffering from age-related illnesses and a 50-year-old bedridden man both want to vote. They had their voter IDs ready when we got there, so we put them in the vehicle. On wheelchairs, we also brought them into the exhibit. Their happy expression after casting their ballot brightened our day, he said.

Later, three more elderly patients, a 65-year-old lady from Ponniah School, and two septuagenarians from Athikalam called. He said, “They were all led to their appropriate polling places.”

According to B Rajesh, secretary of the TN Different Abled Welfare and Rights Association (Tiruppur), “the district has thousands of elderly people and about 12,000 disabled people, and the majority of them were willing to vote.” However, some of them were unable to cast ballots owing to a shortage of facilities. Only with the help of NGOs and social workers like Fazil can their votes be guaranteed.

“The elderly and disabled will greatly benefit from this,” a Differently-Abled Welfare official said. We applaud these efforts and hope to see more individuals providing comparable services.