Each week, Paul Doherty is one of 50 volunteers that offer rides to seniors through Vineyard Village at Home, a nonprofit that gives rides and other assistance to seniors.
Doherty’s journey to the Island, and eventually his work with Vineyard Village at Home, is a long one, and had a life-changing bump in the road.
Doherty, a retired actor turned photographer, has been coming to the Island for over 20 years. Starting as a seasonal visitor, Doherty and his partner, David Behnke, eventually began coming in the off-season with the intention of buying property. It was in the midst of trying to find a Vineyard home seven years ago that Doherty began to get frequent headaches, short-term memory loss, and couldn’t focus on reading scripts for acting roles.
He was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a fluid buildup in the brain. He received surgery and felt better, but three months later things got worse.
“I had a CAT scan that showed this massive growth in my head that wasn’t there three months before,” Doherty said. “It wasn’t cancer, but they said, ‘It’s so big and it’s still growing, you should get your life in order.’”
Despite being told he had less than a year to live, and still in the midst of wanting to buy a full-time home on the Vineyard, Doherty’s stars began to align. Doherty and Behnke got a full-price offer for their home in Connecticut, and the William Street house they had been eyeing dropped. Behnke retired, and the two became wash-ashores.
“I went through all kinds of horrible testing, walking on eggshells, thinking I could die tomorrow,” Doherty said. “Every day started becoming a gift.”
It took 14 months, but Doherty recovered. What was thought to be a tumor was scar tissue that eventually healed.
It was during those uncertain 14 months that Doherty came upon an article about Michael Adell, a former volunteer for Vineyard Village at Home.
Having driven seniors to church while living in Connecticut, and wanting to give back after his health scare, Doherty quickly signed up, and has been driving seniors ever since. On Fridays, a spreadsheet is sent out detailing who needs rides for the upcoming week. Each week, Doherty has three regulars, but he often picks up other rides. Volunteers are free to choose how much they want to drive. Doherty is one of roughly 50 drivers offering rides to about 55 seniors each week.
“I do a lot of driving as a result, but I love it,” Doherty said. “Some of these seniors are really funny, they’re interesting, they all have stories, a lot of them live alone, and for some of them, this is their only time getting out.”
Drivers for Vineyard Village at Home will take seniors to the grocery store, creative workshops, walks on the beach, and any other place they want to go. One of Doherty’s regulars is in the same playwriting workshop at the senior center as he is, so he picks her up on his way in.
“I’m a senior too; somebody should be driving me,” Doherty joked.
Often seniors request rides to medical appointments, so Doherty makes sure he is available to drop off and pick up those who are visiting the doctor. This tended to result in long waiting times. Working with hospital administration, Doherty decided to start visiting seniors at Windemere.
“Just try to brighten someone’s day for two or three minutes,” he said. Now Doherty doesn’t have as many frequent hospital trips, but it’s something he wants to start doing again.
While some may think Doherty is giving a lot without much return, he says it’s quite the opposite.
“Actually, they’re giving back more to me than anything I get from giving to them,” Doherty said. “Since I’ve been through what I’ve been through, I want to give back and I want to make days count, and I want to do something good for other people.”
I love this. We need more like him. Hey, Paul… if you get the itch to tread the boards again, head on over to THE VINEYARD PLAYHOUSE!
I only know Paul through Islanders Talk and FB, but he is an amazing human being. He does so much good for MV and I love following the antics of his “Goofy Gordons”!
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