"Our families are dealing with so much – pain, finances, and an uncertain future – and are quite honored that someone cares enough to gift them a flight.”
In 2010, a group of pilots got together to offer free flights for medical care for sick children undergoing treatment and it’s still going strong.
The impactful nonprofit, Patient AirLiftServices (PALS SkyHope), encourages pilots to use their skills for the greater good. These caring pilots donate their time, aircraft, and fuel, while donations and various fundraising efforts pay for the recruitment of pilots, and passengers, and the coordination of flights.
A staggering 6.5 million miles have been flown by the 600 active volunteer pilots who have helped some 3,200 families on 31,000 flights. Headquarters are at the Republic Airport on Long Island, New York, and there is also a strong presence at the Montgomery County Airport (the Gaithersburg Airpark). One Gaithersburg pilot has flown 32 charity flights in the year and a half since he joined the PALS team.
Another important aspect of this endeavor is that many of the patients are children with rare diseases, so instead of long drive times to premiere medical centers, they benefit from private air travel and less exposure to crowds.
“Most of our young patients either have a rare disease or cancer and they don’t reside near a specialty center that treats their particular problem or they are eligible for a unique clinical trial, and an eight-hour car drive will take too much toll on them and their families,” explains PALS Director of Development and Marketing, Brook Leighton.
“PALS makes traveling for their needed medical treatment a lot less difficult,” Leighton says. “Our families are dealing with so much -- pain, financial issues, and an uncertain future – and are quite honored that someone cares enough to gift them a flight. For children, the flight is a fun adventure they look forward to amid all of the non-fun stuff they are confronted with.”
Families typically hear about PALS from doctors or social workers, and their initial reaction to finding out that they will be flown as many times as the child needs at no cost is that it’s too good to be true. “Hearing about our program allows everyone involved to breathe a little bit easier,” she says.
“We have a gentleman who travels from Maine to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer in New York. I do not doubt that without the treatment, this lovely man would not still be with us.”
PALS also provides combat veterans with PTSD camps with adaptive sports, retreats, and morale-boosting Major League Baseball games where they are often given special seats and recognized by the announcers.
“There is a serious mental health crisis for U.S. veterans,” Leighton says, “we fly them to therapeutic programs where they can re-invent themselves with support; it’s something we are extremely proud of.”
After four years, Leighton has grown to know many families extremely well, and her work has become personal. “It starts with random names and random pilots, but then it becomes very emotional. Soon, all of us are rooting for them,” she explains.
“The patients love and appreciate the pilots so much, and the pilots are in awe of the patients, and so, we’re the glue that puts them together,” she says. “There are times when we can see that these children are in a terrible state, but later on the parents will send us a video of them running around their backyards or even skiing!”
For More Information, Contact:
Brook.leighton@palservices.org
To donate go to: Palsservices.org/donate
Call: 1-888-818-1231
“Our families are dealing with so much – pain, finances, and an uncertain future – and are quite honored that someone cares enough to gift them a flight.”