Brad Tice says doing patient transfers for palliative care is usually depressing, but a trip on May 7 was out of the ordinary.

“We walk in and here's this guy sitting on his bed, just smiling happy and full of energy and we're like 'K, this is a nice change,'" Tice said.

According to Tice, all of the nurses came to bid farewell to Donn Hale, who was being moved from palliative care at the General Hospital to hospice care.

Saskatchewan Patient Transfer Service often take people for a final trip to the park, or a destination of their choice. Since the service is not for emergencies, Tice says they often have more time to transfer the patients.

Hale had been in hospital since Good Friday, with stage four cancer. His daughter April Boldt made a point of bringing him an ice cream treat every day while he was in care.

On the day he was transferred to hospice, Boldt hadn’t gotten her father a treat yet, and asked if it was possible for the attendants to take him for his ice cream.

"We had gone down to the ambulance bay and we were loading him, and April looks at me and goes 'so you'll go anywhere?' I’m like yeah, where do you want go? And she goes, do you want to go to Milky Way for ice cream, I’m like, yes I do," Tice said. “Wheel him in a stretcher right up to the window, and he got this big sundae with Skor chips. I'm sitting with my ice cream cone a little jealous of what he's got,”

Hale spent about 20 minutes enjoying his treat outside the store, making sure he got every last bite.

"They were so kind, gentle and treated my dad with such respect," Boldt said. “"I was so shocked and so appreciative they could and would take the time and effort."

Boldt called it an amazing experience and says the workers and her father told stories like they were old buddies.

Hale was loaded back into the vehicle and taken to hospice.

"I shook his hand and told him it was an absolute honour to meet him, and he goes, 'this was the best day ever,'" Tice said.

"This is the goal. To serve the people of the province the best we can, and in a unique way that's not an everyday part of the healthcare system," Bryan Schooley, Founder of Saskatchewan Patient Transfer Service said.

With files from CTV Regina's Colton Wiens.