Angel Flight Northeast is a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) organization that provides free air transportation to patients and their families needing medical treatment whose financial resources would not otherwise enable them to receive care and other compelling reasons.
We also provide humanitarian flights. We are here to help whenever there is a compelling need.
Angel Flight NE’s primary area of operation is the six New England States (Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut,) as well as New York, New Jersey, and areas of Pennsylvania. In August of 2009, Angel Flight Northeast was extremely honored and grateful to have been awarded a very generous grant from the Charles Lafitte Foundation. With that grant, Angel Flight NE was able to continue with our service of providing free flights of healing and hope to those in need. In 2010, requests for flights were up nearly 15% on a year-over-year basis with a 25% increase in children’s flights alone. The grant received from the Charles Lafitte Foundation assisted us in meeting the increase in demand for our services.
Since Angel Flight Northeast’s inception in 1996 we have:
- Scheduled more than 54,000 flights; averaging 100 flights coordinated per week;
- Provided nearly 60,000 children and adults air transportation to medical care;
- Angel Flight NE 1,000+ Volunteer Pilots have flown patients and families nearly 9 million miles
Grants awarded to Angel Flight NE from the Charles Lafitte Foundation are helpful in a variety of ways. The most compelling is it enables us to continue to provide lifesaving medical flights to those in need. Grant money will be allocated towards enhancements to Angel Flight NE’s IT infrastructure with has not been updated for nearly 8 years. Enhancements to the IT infrastructure will enable Angel Flight NE to leverage more up-to-date technology and carry out our mission more efficiently. As well, grant money provides us the ability to bring about awareness of Angel Flight NE and the services we provide through community outreach efforts to hospitals and other medical facilities, business and civic organizations, police, fire, and churches. In addition, grant money is allocated towards Pilot recruitment throughout the Northeast as well as recognition and retention programs. The pilot development program is built on a commitment to safety including strong credentialing and orientation, on-going safety education and resource management.
The grant Angel Flight NE has received from the Charles Lafitte Foundation provides us with a foundation and supports our mission of Changing Lives One Flight at a Time.
MEET ANGEL FLIGHT NE’S PRECIOUS CARGO …
KYLE
- 6 years old
- Scarborough, Maine
- Chronic Lung Disease / Dysmotility
Kyle was born prematurely and spent his first nine months in Maine Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. He has lung disease and severe dysmotility, a disease of the muscles in his digestive system. At the age of 3, he lost the use of his stomach. Since then he has had 14 surgeries, and now has an intravenous line that pumps nutrition into his tiny body. With few options left, Kyle’s mother, Kate, needed to get Kyle to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio to seek treatment from a specialist. Kate reached out to Angel Flight NE and we have flown Kyle and his family back and forth from Maine to Ohio so he could receive the medical care he so desperately needs to survive.
ALEXIS “LEXI”
- 7 years old
- Salem, Virginia
- Esophageal Atresia
Lexi was born with esophageal atresia, a disorder of the digestive system in which the esophagus does not develop properly and connect with the stomach. As a result, food is unable to travel from her mouth to her stomach and she must receive food through a feeding tube. In the first four years of her young life, Lexie went through eight surgical procedures to try and correct the malady. Unfortunately, none of them succeeded. Not to be deterred, Lexie’s mother, Beverly, did further research on esophageal atresia and learned of a procedure that a doctor Children’s Hospital Boston could perform with a high success rate. After getting the initial appointment with the doctor, Beverly needed to find an affordable way to Boston. She began asking around and a cousin who was supposed to receive a transplant referred her to Angel Flight NE. Since Beverly called Angel Flight NE, our volunteer pilots have flown Lexi and her family over 20 times to ensure Lexi gets the care she needs to have quality of life.
SUSAN
- 70 years old
- Burlington, Vermont
- CNS Lymphoma
Susan has flown 55 times with Angel Flight NE since 2008 to receive treatment at Mass General Hospital for CNS Lymphoma (brain cancer). She was driving 4 hours to and from her treatments. Our volunteer pilots shortened her trip to 45 minutes allowing for her to focus on her treatments. During a follow-up visit in November 2010, she was told by her physician that she is cancer free which she credits to her ability to get the best medical care by using Angel Flight NE’s service.
To learn more about Angel Flight NE’s, feel free to visit www.angelflightne.org or call 800-549-9980.