Angel Flight of British Columbia is an aptly named organization.
The Sidney-based organization was initially formed in 2002 to make life a little easier for children with cancer who had to travel from Vancouver Island or other remote locations to the mainland of B.C. for their treatments.
“Parents who needed to get their children to appointments were experiencing difficulties in covering transportation costs and in managing the logistics of getting to those appointments,” said Jeff Morris, president and CEO of Angel Flight.
“In 2010 we expanded our service to carry adult cancer patients as well and we’ve now carried more than 2,100 clients,” said Morris. "It’s something of which we’re very proud.”
The service has been provided despite the lack of government funding.
Now, Angel Flight is expanding its service once more and will be accepting clients who need the same sort of transportation services for medical conditions that are not cancer.
“We found that we now have the capacity and decided that there are people who are suffering from illnesses other than cancer who need our help, and we’re stepping up to provide that help,” Morris said.
What makes Angel Flight special is that it is 100 per cent volunteer-driven. There are no paid employees and clients are not charged for the service. The flights are provided by Morris’ cadre of 29 volunteer pilots who use their own small aircraft to ferry patients to appointments without the expectation of any compensation. The only money those pilots receive is a reimbursement of their direct fuel costs.
“These are wonderful people who are willing to give up their time and use their own aircraft to do some good, and they are really the angels of Angel Flight,” said Morris.
The real reward for Morris and his volunteers was illustrated in a story that he recently recounted.
“We helped this one child years ago, back when the cure rate for childhood cancer was only 20 per cent. It’s gone up to 80 per cent now and that’s amazing,” said Morris. “Anyway, this boy’s mother wrote me and told me how, when her son was 5 or 6 years old, he would tell her that he didn’t think he was going to live that long now. That boy is now a grown man who is a lawyer and doing well. That’s what makes this all worthwhile.”
The move to take on non-cancer patients is a big step for Angel Flight.
“We found that we have the capacity to do more, and whilst cancer patients will always be our priority, we can expand our client base to include people with other medical problems,” said Morris.
“They have to be fully ambulatory, be free of a communicable illness and have a medical need to travel within our area of operation. If we can help them, so much the better. We want to be there for them too.”
Further information on Angel Flight can be found at www.angelflight.ca/. That’s also where folks can send their donations to help this service stay in the air and help others in the community.
